Possible Site of Ancient Sodom is "Monstrous": Had a "Monumental Gateway Complex"

Teresa Neumann : Oct 1, 2015
Popular Archaeology

"The site is monstrous... I concluded that if one wanted to find Sodom, then one should look for the largest city on the eastern Kikkar [the disc of Jordan] that existed during the Middle Bronze Age, the time of Abraham and Lot." –Dr. Steven Collins

(Israel)—Ten years ago, Dr. Steven Collins, Dean of Trinity Southwest University's College of Archaeology and Biblical History, began a search for the site ancient Sodom away from the southern region of the Dead Sea—a place traditionally believed to be the spot of the infamous city. (Photo: Courtesy Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, from the article. Making the Case for Sodom, published June 5, 2014 in Popular Archaeology)

Said Collins, "I began to read Genesis 13-19, and realized that the traditional site did not align itself with the geographical profile described in the text. Many scholars," he added, "don't have a high view of Scripture. Some even frown upon using Biblical texts as a tool for location designation. My philosophy is that the text is generally reliable and can-and should-be used (at bare minimum) as a basic guide for a geographical profile."

So far Collins' Biblical theory is paying off.

A recent issue of Popular Archaeology states: "Having completed the tenth season of excavations, an archaeological team headed by Steven Collins of Trinity Southwest University, New Mexico, has unearthed a goldmine of ancient monumental structures and artifacts that are revealing a massive Bronze Age city-state that dominated the region of Jordan's southern Jordan Valley, even during a time when many other great cities of the "Holy Land" region were either abandoned or in serious decline. (Photo: Courtesy Mike Luddeni, from the article. Making the Case for Sodom, published June 5, 2014 in Popular Archaeology)

The report also notes that the city's "Bronze Age heyday seems to have... come to a sudden, inexplicable end... and the ancient city became a relative wasteland for 700 years, for the most part void of human habitation."

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