Archeologist Explains Why He Believes He Discovered Biblical City Of Sodom | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Ben Whitehead.

    An archeologist who believes the Biblical city of Sodom was located at a site in Jordan recently explained his view in a fascinating interview.

    Dr. Steven Collins, Trinity Southwest University's Executive Dean, explained to Joel Rosenberg, host of The Rosenberg Report, why he believes Sodom - which, along with Gomorrah, was destroyed by God with fire and brimstone because of its wickedness - is actually located at Tell el-Hammam in Jordan, as opposed to the more popular view that Sodom was located at a site near the south of the Dead Sea.

    "There's so much specific information about the location of these cities that you would practically have to be blind and illiterate not to be able to find the location of Sodom because there are at least 25 known pieces of geography [in scripture] that you can triangulate between to take you to the city of Sodom," Collins told Rosenberg in an interview that aired last month.

    Rosenberg said he began excavating the site 18 years ago, which is close to the mouth of the Jordan River and northeast of Jerusalem. During the first season of digging, a piece of pottery believed to be a storage jar was reportedly discovered that looked "melted on the surface."

    The archeologist told the host that a member of his dig team said it looked similar to trinitite, which is the glassy residue left on the floor of the desert in Alamogordo, New Mexico, after a nuclear bomb test in 1945.

    "There was a little - about a one-and-a-half, two-millimeter flow of that glass over the edge of the break," Collins said of the pottery. "So it was obviously a flash heat."

    Another piece of evidence Collins points to as possibly supporting his account is a 2021 study that said a "Tunguska sized airburst" destroyed the ancient city of Tell el-Hammam, which is the same location Collins is claiming was once Sodom.

    "All the observations stated in Genesis are consistent with a cosmic airburst," James Kennett, one of the authors of the study, said. "[B]ut there's no scientific proof that this destroyed city is indeed the Sodom of the Old Testament."

    One piece of scripture Collins believes supports his hypothesis is Genesis 13, which says Lot traveled from Bethel and Ai to the east before pitching his tent near Sodom. This is a "verbal map" to get to Sodom, the archeologist believes, adding that Tell el-Hammam is east of Bethel and Ai.

    Many Biblical archeologists and scholars believe that Sodom was actually located at an ancient city called Bab edh-Dhrahe in the south of the Dead Sea, Answers in Genesis notes. According to the organization, Bab edh-Dhrahe is more likely the site of Sodom based on discoveries of early pottery and evidence of fiery destruction. They also cite various scriptural references which point to Sodom being south of the Dead Sea, including Genesis 10, Genesis 14, Genesis 19, and Ezekiel 16.

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