Sodom and Gomorrah A Look Through the Lens of Archaeology

A paper in Submission to BIBL 471 LUO Religious Archaeology

            Though the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have not been physically located, the Southern hypothesis of their location is the most historically and geographically accurate location for the lost cities.  There are few who hold to the theory of a Northern location for the lost cities, but they lack the evidences that are most substantial that the Southern locations do show to support.  While ultimately the locations are lost, archaeologists can with most certainty support the Southern locations with evidences as the city of Zoar and the bitumen pits from Genesis 14. ¹  Strong support for the Southern theory comes also comes from the finds of 1973 when,

“at that time an archaeological survey of the area southeast of the Dead Sea was conducted by Walter Rast and Thomas Schaub in conjunction with their work at Bad edh-Dra, and Early Bronze (ca. 3300-2000 BC) … discovered four additional sites south of Bad edh-Dra, which they suggest might be related to the Cities of the Plain of the Old Testament.” ²

Northern theorists hold that this Southern theory is inaccurate because of a passage in, “Genesis 13 unequivocally locates the five sin cities on the eastern Kikkar north of the Dead Sea.” ³ (Collins)  Undoubtedly both sides have evidences which clash, but the Southern theory holds the strongest weight because of the lack of the bitumen pits in the Northern location and because the

            Steven Collins is the leading voice for all Northern excavations for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and,
1. Bryant, G. Wood. Associates for Biblical Research. 2008. “The Discoveries of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,” http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/04/16/The-Discovery-of-the-Sin-Cities-of-Sodom-and-Gomorrah.aspx (Accessed 02-04-2013)

2. Ibid

3. Steve, Collins. Biblical Research Bulletin, “The Academic Journal of Southwest University,” “If You Thought You Knew the Location of Sodom and Gomorrah… Think Again,” http://www.bib licalresearchbulletin.com/uploads/BRB-2007-4-Collins-Location_Sodom.pdf (Accessed 02-04-2013)

city of Zoar was never lost, the city gives a starting reference because that is where Lot and his family relocated after disaster struck the cities of the plain (Gen 19:21-23). ⁴

What is more, Collins believes he has located the actual site of Biblical Sodom on a high bank overlooking the valley. The site, Tell el-Hammam, is one of the largest mounds in the plain and supported almost continuous occupation from the Chalcolithic to the Byzantine period. Although the site has substantial Early Bronze Age remains (as at Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira), Collins believes that the extensive and well-fortified Middle Bronze Age city (c. 2000-1550 B.C.) ⁵

Reasoning also comes from “…the passage describes Lot’s territory as the “circular” or “disc-shaped” plain (Heb. kikkar) of the Jordan, a term which Collins argues refers specifically to the broad alluvial plain of the southern Jordan valley just north of the Dead Sea.” ⁶ Collins himself writes that, “during Iron Age II, several significant cities and towns flourished in the area, as demonstrated by archaeological survey work and recent excavations on the eastern Jordan Disk (Kikkar), notably at Tall Nimrin and Tall el-Hammam.” ⁷ Verse 10 of Genesis also supports locating Sodom and Gomorrah near Kikkar because Genesis reads, “Lot lifted up his eyes and saws the whole Kikkar of the Jordan…” (Gen 13: 10) The Kikkar is also directly

4. Bryant, G. Wood. Associates for Biblical Research. 2008. “The Discoveries of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,” http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/04/16/The-Discovery-of-the-Sin-Cities-of-Sodom-and-Gomorrah.aspx (Accessed 02-04-2013)

5. Bar Magazine Biblical Archaeology Review, Bringing The Ancient World to Life, “Search for Sodom and Gomorrah,” http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/sodom-and-gomorrah.asp (Accessed 02-04-2013)

6. Ibid

7. Steve, Collins. Biblical Research Bulletin, “The Academic Journal of Southwest University,” “If You Thought You Knew the Location of Sodom and Gomorrah… Think Again,” http://www.bib licalresearchbulletin.com/uploads/BRB-2007-4-Collins-Location_Sodom.pdf (Accessed 02-04-2013)

 

 

eastward from the point that Collins supports that Abraham and Lot parted ways because, “… when one travels eastward from Behel/Ai �" you wind up crossing the Jordan River, and land on the verdant eastern edge of the Kikkar…” ⁸ Troubling also to the Southern theorist is that no cities were found under the Dead Sea during archaeological excavations in any Southern location after parts of the Dead Sea had dried up due to industrial damming which supporters had theorized covered up the remains of the lost cities.

            The south yet remains the most viable source of archaeological finds and holds more evidence that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah did in fact rest around the Southern portion of the Dead Sea.  Bad edh-Dra is very important to the southern location argument because of the burning of the city and also the mysterious burning of outlying cemeteries.  It has been theorized that the cemetery houses were burned for hygienic reasons,

“but as they investigated exactly how this burning took place, they had to change their opinion on this.  In one particular instance when they were excavation one of these charnel houses, they cut what we call a balk through that building as they were digging… what they discovered was that the fire did not begin inside the building but rather the fire started on the roof… and this was the case in every single charnel house… how do you explain the burning in a cemetery located some distance from the town?” ⁹

Similar ash deposits from Bag edh-Dhra were also found among the other sites which scholars believe to be the sites of Sodom in the northern part close to the Wadi Kerak and Gomorrah to the south close to the Wadi Numeira.  These Wadi’s around the area of Ghor strongly supports

8. Ibid

9. Price, Randall. The Stones Cry Out: What Archaeology Reveals About the Truth of the Bible. Texas: Harvest House Publishers, 1977

the establishment of towns that were in alliance to one another because they had to be, “politically unified because an upstream community could have diverted the water for its own use.” ¹⁰ The northern city of Bad edg-Drha is the largest and most prominent of the cities and Numeira is close second to it; inside of these cities finds of burnt bricks that turned red and large stores of foodstuffs also provide scholars with ample evidence to verify their theories and also references (Ezekiel 16:49). ¹¹ The best dating for the southern positions of these cities is during the Early Bronze III around 2650-2350 B.C. with “the probable reference to Sodom in one of the Ebla tablets.” ¹²

            Its hard for the non experienced student to truly put a stamp on the truth between the lines of those who theorize for either a Southern location or the Northern location of the cities of the plains.  Ample evidence remains buried away, and a working knowledge of land geography is very necessary in solving the riddle.  Geography pushes the notion for the southern locations, although the northern edge of the Dead Sea holds a very viable place for the existence of the towns, it does not seem to have the supporting systems for a series of politically synced townships.  The Wadi’s that flow and help make up the irrigation systems around Ghor show that if any of the northern cities had issue with a southern location they could of easily diverted the southern town’s water supply.  Strengths of the southern arguments also include the burning of outlying cemeteries with the same ash type being found over a large overlaying area which includes finds of intense heat.  Norman Giesler writes for Moody press, “The fact that the Bible mentions the cities being destroyed by fire and brimstone (sulfur) from heaven is very interesting, because the whole area around the southern portion of the Dead Sea is ridden with

10. Ibid

11. Ibid

12. Ibid

 asphalt and sulfur. Even the stones in this area are more prone to burning.” ¹³ (http://www.bible-history.com/biblestudy/sodom-and-gomorrah.html)  It is the combination of all these evidences that tip the scales in leading towards a belief that the southern locations are truly where scholars need to continue in their archaeological digs to forth more evidences that Sodom and Gomorrah are laid to rest in those locations.  Also important to this decision is how many commentary authors locate Sodom and Gomorrah in the Southern locations including: Sherrill Stevens, Charles Fritsch, Joyce Baldwin, and John Davis.  John Davis agrees with the idea that an earthquake was the leading factor in the destruction of the cities, ruling out volcanic activity, he writes, “suggested by J. Penrose Harland, is that a massive earthquake resulted in enormous explosions: “A great earthquake, perhaps accompanied by lighting, brought utter ruin and a terrible conflagration to Sodom and the other communities.” ¹⁴ (Davis 203)  It is strongly without doubt that the southern location is the true resting place of those punished in the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah.

13. Bible History Online “Ancient Sodom and Gomorrah: Ancient Manners and Customs, Daily    Life, Cultures, Bible Lands,” http://www.bible-history.com/biblestudy/sodom-and-gomorrah.html (Accessed 02-04-2013)

14. Davis, John. Paradise to Prison. Wisconsin: Sheffield Publishing Company, 1975

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bar Magazine Biblical Archaeology Review, Bringing The Ancient World to Life, “Search for Sodom and Gomorrah,” http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/sodom-and-gomorrah.asp (Accessed 02-04-2013)

Bible History Online “Ancient Sodom and Gomorrah: Ancient Manners and Customs, Daily    Life, Cultures, Bible Lands,” http://www.bible-history.com/biblestudy/sodom-and-gomorrah.html (Accessed 02-04-2013

Bryant, G. Wood. Associates for Biblical Research. 2008. “The Discoveries of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,” http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/04/16/The-Discovery-of-the-Sin-Cities-of-Sodom-and-Gomorrah.aspx (Accessed 02-04-2013)

 

Davis, John. Paradise to Prison. Wisconsin: Sheffield Publishing Company, 1975

 

Price, Randall. The Stones Cry Out: What Archaeology Reveals About the Truth of the Bible. 

Texas: Harvest House Publishers, 1977

 

Steve, Collins. Biblical Research Bulletin, “The Academic Journal of Southwest University,” “If

You Thought You Knew the Location of Sodom and Gomorrah… Think Again,”

http://www.bib licalresearchbulletin.com/uploads/BRB-2007-4-Collins-Location_Sodom.pdf (Accessed 02-04-2013)