Scientists have now discovered an impact crater dating from the fourth or fifth century in the Italian Apennine mountains. They believe the crater in the Sirente mountains, which is larger than a football field, could explain the legend of Constantine’s conversion. Swedish geologist Jens Ormo discovered the crater after spotting a photograph of an unusually round lake in Italy’s Sirente-Velino Regional Park. The seasonal lake, 140 metres across, had a pronounced raised rim and no inlet or outlet, being filled by rainfall.
A visit to the site quickly identified several tell-tale features of an impact crater, New Scientist magazine reported. Ormo’s team believe they were made when an asteroid about 10 metres in diameter shattered during entry into the atmosphere. New Scientist said: “From the crater size, Ormo estimates that the impact had an explosive force of a kiloton – equivalent to a very small nuclear weapon. Indeed, it would have looked like a nuclear blast, with shock waves, earthquakes and a mushroom cloud.”
In a related story about important Christian rocks, a stone box touted as the oldest archaeological evidence of Jesus is, in fact, a well-crafted fake, Israeli archaeological experts say.