The Wabar Craters
An explorer went into the Empty Quarter to find a lost city destroyed by fire from heaven. He found craters made by a meteorite.
What was reported
Arab legends told of Wabar, or Ubar, a wealthy city in the deserts of Arabia destroyed by fire from heaven for its people's wickedness. In 1932, the British explorer Harry St John Philby set out across the Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter, guided by Bedouin who described ruins and pieces of iron at a place called al-Hadida.
Philby found no ruins. Instead he found several craters in the sand, littered with black glass and chunks of iron.
Explanations offered
The craters were made by an iron meteorite that broke up and struck the desert, probably only a few hundred years ago. One fragment, the 'camel's hump', weighs over two tonnes. The legend of a city destroyed by fire may have been inspired by the impact.
- When
- Found in 1932
- Where
- Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter), Saudi Arabia
- Witnesses
- Explorer Harry St John Philby
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.