Officially, a group of archaeologists from the American University of New Mexico announced on October 15, 2015, that they had discovered the ruins of the city of Lot’s people, or the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, according to the biblical story.
The head of the excavation team, Professor Steve Collins, explained on that occasion that such a conclusion had been reached after serious research for 10 years at the site of the ruins in an area known as “Tell el-Hamam”, an archaeological site located in the eastern part of the lower Jordan Valley. Near the mouth of the Jordan River.
Stephen Collins said about this exciting discovery, “The ruins of the ancient Bronze Age complex that we found are the ruins of a large city-state, which was unknown to scientists before the start of our project,” adding his assertion that his team of archaeology specialists had discovered “a veritable gold mine of archaeological structures.” And ancient artifacts.”
The American academic believed that comparing these ruins with the remains of other ancient cities nearby allows us to speak of an extreme coincidence according to a number of criteria known about Sodom mentioned in the Bible.
In 2006, scientists from the University of New Mexico began excavation work in the town of Tal el-Hamam, located at the southern end of the Jordan Valley, located at a level of 400 meters below sea level, 14 kilometers northeast of the Dead Sea.
This work, led by Professor Stephen Collins, Dean of the College of Archeology and Biblical History, resulted in the discovery of a large ancient settlement surrounded by a strong wall.
Archaeologists then excavated year after year in the ruins of the thick brick-walled houses; Until ovens were found for baking. Specialized researchers have concluded that humans lived in this place between 3500 and 1540 BC.
Collins stated in this regard, saying: “We know very little about the lives of people in the Bronze Age in the southern part of the Jordan Valley,” adding that “most archaeological maps of this region are empty, and before our work began, no one would have guessed that such a giant settlement existed in the region.” This area.”
This scientist confirmed that he was completely convinced that the discovered city could not be anything other than “Sodom” (the city of Lot’s people): otherwise history would have preserved some written evidence about it.
Professor Stephen Collins, while speaking about the preliminary results of many years of work carried out by his team, mentioned that the walls of the city’s citadel, mentioned in the Holy Books, reached 30 meters in thickness in some places, while bread ovens and many other relics indicated a developed civilization and a good life. Nutrition and free.
In his book, “The Discovery of Sodom,” Collins presented a variety of evidence regarding the city’s sudden disappearance. The archaeologist stated that a thick layer of ash and charred walls indicates the outbreak of a massive fire, and there is debate among specialists about its possible causes.
Before announcing the discovery of the “city of the people of Lot,” five excavations took place on the eastern Jordanian coast of the Dead Sea during the period from 1965-1967 and from 1973-1979, but they were unable to determine the location of the city of the people of Lot, “Sodom.”
Previously, biblical archaeologists believed that the city of Lot’s people existed under the surface of the water. A specialized British mission led by scientist Michael Sanders announced in 2000 that it had been able to most accurately determine the ruins of Sodom at the bottom of the Dead Sea.
American Professor Collins’ announcement that his team had discovered the city of the people of Lot was not unanimously agreed upon in specialized circles, and was questioned by a number of archaeologists.
In this regard, Andrei Lotmentsev, a professor at Saint Tikhon Russian Orthodox University, points out that since 1940, archaeologists have discovered “several Late Bronze Age cities.” Many of them have been studied archaeologically in some detail. Among this diversity, it is difficult to determine whether the relics found by Collins belong to Sodom and Gomorrah. Dates are determined mainly based on ceramic samples found during archaeological work. However, the period itself is not yet evidence. Currently, active archaeological research is underway in the ancient city of Bab al-Dhra’, whose remains were discovered by NASA scientists thanks to photography from space on the Lisan Peninsula at the southeastern tip of the Dead Sea. Russian scientists also work in this place, in particular, they provide bathymetric equipment for exploring the sea floor. Until now, Bab al-Dhra’ was considered a contender for the title of Sodom.”
Source: RT
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