Clay Tablet mystery deciphered

The mystery of clay tablet at the British Museum was deciphered by British scientists Today.

It was believed that a huge asteroid hit the Köfels in the Austrian Alps about 5000 years ago which was the cause of the puzzling land shape. There was no proof that the asteroid was the cause for the mysterious land shape at Köfels.

 But now Alan Bond, the managing director of Reaction Engines, space propulsion company, and Mark Hempsell, the senior lecturer of astronautics at Bristol University have deciphered the cuneiform code.  They used a computer program which traces back the night sky thousand of years ago to provide an explanation. They say that the symbols denote the trajectory of a large object travelling along the constellation of Pices is liable that it  has hit Köfels within one degree distance. Their theory also mentions why a crater was not formed inspite of the huge impact.

According to Hempsell, the size and route of the asteroid meant that it was likely to have crashed into the Austrian Alps at Kofels. As it traveled close to the ground, it would have left a trail of destruction from supersonic shock waves and then slammed into the Earth with a cataclysmic impact.

Debris consisting of up to two thirds of the asteroid would have been hurled back along its route and a flash reaching temperatures of 400C (752F) would have been created, killing anyone in its path. About one million sq km (386,000 sq miles) would have been devastated and the impact would have been equivalent to more than 1,000 tonnes of TNT exploding.

“The ground heating, though very short, would be enough to ignite any flammable material, including human hair and clothes,” said Hempsell.

“It is probable more people died under the plume than in the Alps due to the impact blast,” he added.