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Michael C. Luddeni

Amid the destruction debris was this 4.5-inch-long pottery sherd from a Middle Bronze Age storage jar. The glassy appearance of the sherd’s surface indicates that it was briefly exposed to temperatures well in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the approximate heat of volcanic magma. Similar “melted” sherds were found across the site, suggesting the city and its environs were catastrophically destroyed in a sudden, extreme conflagration.