Where Is Sodom?
Genesis 13, archaeology and Biblical geography provide clues
According to the Bible, “the men of Sodom were wicked” (Genesis 13, verse 13). For its many sins, God destroyed Sodom and all the inhabitants of the “cities of the plain” in an intense conflagration, but not before allowing Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family to flee to safety.
The stories of Sodom and its destruction, whether historical or not, were clearly understood to have occurred near the Dead Sea, among the so-called “cities of the plain” mentioned in Genesis 13, verse 12. But where exactly was this plain, and was a particular site associated with Sodom? In the article “Where Is Sodom?” in the March/April 2013 issue of BAR, archaeologist Steven Collins combines clues from Biblical geography with archaeological evidence from the site of Tall el-Hammam in Jordan to suggest that the author of Genesis 13 located Sodom in a fertile area northeast of the Dead Sea.
In the article “Where Is Sodom?” archaeologist Steven Collins, using clues from the Biblical geography of Genesis 13 together with archaeological evidence from the site of Tall el-Hammam (pictured), argues that Biblical tradition located Sodom in a fertile area northeast of the Dead Sea. Photo: Michael C. Luddeni.
So where is Sodom, according to the Biblical geography of Genesis 13? Sodom and its sister cities are located in the large oval-shaped, fertile plain just north of the Dead Sea called simply ha-kikkar, or “the Disk” (Genesis 13, verse 13). In Biblical geography, this well-watered disk-shaped plain, said to have been located east of the highland towns of Bethel and Ai, was an area “like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt” where Lot moved his family after his quarrel with Abraham (Genesis 13, verse 10). It is also the place where the Biblical writers set their dramatic tale of Sodom’s wickedness and destruction (Genesis 19).
Other than Israel, no country has as many Biblical sites and associations as Jordan: Mount Nebo, from where Moses gazed at the Promised Land; Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John baptized Jesus; Lot’s Cave, where Lot and his daughters sought refuge after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and many more. Travel with us on our journey into the past in our free eBook Exploring Jordan.
Seeking to answer the question “Where is Sodom?” and using the Biblical geography of Genesis 13 as a guide, Collins decided to excavate Tall el-Hammam, an extensive and heavily fortified site located in modern Jordan at the eastern edge of the kikkar. First inhabited during the Chalcolithic period (4600–3600 B.C.E.), the site attained its maximum size during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1600 B.C.E.) and became one of the largest cities in Canaan. But unlike other Canaanite cities that continued to flourish in the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 B.C.E.), Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by fire at the end of the Middle Bronze Age and remained uninhabited for centuries.
Read responses by scholars Bill Schlegel and Todd Bolen regarding the location of Sodom.
Across Tall el-Hammam, archaeologists found widespread evidence of an intense conflagration that left the Middle Bronze Age city in ruins. They found scorched foundations and floors buried under nearly 3 feet of dark grey ash, as well as dozens of pottery sherds covered with a frothy, “melted” surface; the glassy appearance indicates that they were briefly exposed to temperatures well in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the approximate heat of volcanic magma. Such evidence suggests the city and its environs were catastrophically destroyed in a sudden and extreme conflagration.
Was it this event—which destroyed Hammam and the other cities of the kikkar—that was remembered by the Biblical writers in their telling of the story of Sodom?
BAS Library Members: Read the full article “Where Is Sodom?” by Steven Collins in Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2013.
Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on February 20, 2013.
Related reading in Bible History Daily
Related Posts
Must-Read Free eBooks
Unlock Unlimited Access to the Bible's Past
Unlock Unlimited Access to the Bible's Past
Become an All-Access Member to explore the Bible's rich history. Get Biblical Archaeology Review in print, full online access, and FREE online talks. Plus, enjoy special Travel/Study discounts. Don't miss out—begin your journey today!
Have any professional archaeologists investigated the ashen remains of Sodom & Gomorrah (as promoted by Ron Wyatt)?
Ok so if God wiped this out for a reason don’t you think he doesn’t want you to find it?? Like what are you going to get out of it?? Oh yea, we are going to have tourists come and see where evil people were, “vaped,” for their sins. Let’s go to present day… Do you want to go look around in Hiroshima or Nagasaki?? Like come on man! I believe in finding things that are said in the Bible, but this might need to be just not find. My personal opinion! God Bless!
Shalom!
I am willing to share the word of Yahweh.
Israelis didn’t keep 70 Land Sabbaths strictly from 1099 BCE to 609 BCE (5th year of the king, Solomon to the 10th year of the king, Zedekiah = 490 Luni Solar Years) according to Yahweh’s Luni Solar Calendar Formula (Lev. 25:8-9).Yahweh applied His FORMULA 10 times in 70 Weeks Prophecy. Present Jews are following inaccurate Chronology, History, and Grecian 19 – Year Cycle which is misleading all the Jews and Gentiles since CE 1948. The Word of Yahweh is now going out of spiritual Zion and Jerusalem (The Body of the Jewish Messiah) since CE 36 because of Micah 4:1-2 fulfilled already. Yahweh revealed me His Calendar Formula atlast. For details visit [broken URL removed by site admin]. I am willing to hear from you as we are the body of the Messiah and I need your suggestions (Jeremiah 31:31-33 cf. Romans 11:13-23; Ephesians 3:1-6, 4:11-16).
Thank you,
Manasseh,
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell: 9704424254
For complete solution of Yahweh’s Calendar: [Broken URL removed by site admin]
Nathanael, I appreciate your posting of material that challenges the author and airs your thoughts on the matter. That is helpful. Not helpful is posing a battle between BAR and historical, biblical studies. I think BAR has moderated its position over the years, becoming less biased against Scripture and opening the door to work done by those who presuppose the veracity of Scripture. Isn’t it best that BAR allows for a neutral site, allowing scholars to make their case? The truth will be apparent over time, as history shows. As it does, BAR will be there to present it.
I think that Sodom was destroyed by a meteorite that burst into flame above Sodom
I am the Subject Matter Expert for Archaeology and Assistant Professor at Liberty University and have been a square and field supervisor at Tall el-Hammam for over 10 years. I have researched and written extensively on the Cities of the Plain and Sodom for over 35 years. The site of Tall el-Hammam in my opinion is by far the best candidate for the site of Sodom, destroyed in the Middle Bronze Age on the Kikkar of the Jordan visible from the region of Ai. The Late Bronze Gap, observed by many archaeologists working in the Jordan Valley can be explained by the destruction event as described in the Bible.
Graves, David E. The Location of Sodom: Key Facts for Navigating the Maze of Arguments for the Location of the Cities of the Plain. Toronto: Electronic Christian Media, 2016.
Graves, David E. “Sodom And Salt in Their Ancient Near Eastern Cultural Context.” Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 61 (2016): 15–32.
Others who support Tall el-Hammam include:
Geisler, Norman L., and Joseph M. Holden. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2013), 70, 191, 202, 212–220, 383–87.
Robert A. Mullins is the Professor of archaeology and Old Testament at Azusa Pacific University.
James D. Tabor is the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Anson F. Rainey was the late (2011) Professor Emeritus of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures and Semitic Linguistics at Tel Aviv University.
Amahai Mazar is the Professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After his visit to the site in 2014.
See also Silva, Phillip J. The Destruction of Sodom: What We Have Learned from Tall El-Hammam and Its Neighbors. Albuquerque, N.M.: Trinity Southwest University Press, 2016.
———. “The Middle Bronze Age Civilization-Ending Destruction of the Middle Ghor.” Ph.D. diss., Trinity Southwest University, 2016.
Silva, Phillip J., and Steven Collins. “The Civilization-Ending 3.7KYrBP Kikkar Event: Archaeological Data, Sample Analyses, and Biblical Implications.” In Annual Meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society: Atlanta, Ga., 1–6. Albuquerque, N.M.: TSU Press, 2015.
BTW Bolen places the Patriarchs in the Early Bronze Age which few conservative archaeologist do. Even Bryant Wood places the Patriarchs in the Middle Bronze Age.
The site is so large that is can now be called a city state (62 acres, while Jerusalem and Jericho at the time were only 10 acres). Not much wonder Sodom was mentioned in the Ebla tables in the Early Bronze age trading with Sodom. All agree that Sodom existed in the Early Bronze age (Gen 10) the Question of importance is when was it destroyed (Middle Bronze Age Gen 13). The debate and research continues but people should not be so quick to dismiss this amazing site.
I meant to say “Bolen places the Patriarchs in the Intermediate Bronze Age (2166 BC)”
I’m sorry, but when you attack the content of a person’s character rather than the contact of their argument, you disqualify yourself as a critic. Attacking a person’s character only goes to prove that the content of YOUR argument is weak. You hold steadfastly to the chronology of Archbishop Usher without fully analyzing the consequences of that position. If Usher’s dates are a correct interpretation of the meaning of the numbers in the text, then you place Abraham in a period of history in which Jerusalem/Salem did not exist, and the whole Melchizedek narrative falls apart.
Since I wrote this 2013 article at the request of Hershel Shanks, a wealth of additional archaeological evidence has arisen in support of the identification of Tall el-Hammam as the ‘seed-bed’ of the Sodom narratives (depending on your perspective, either historical Sodom or ‘literary’ Sodom). Since the Genesis patriarchal lifespan numbers are honorific formulas (likely base-60) and not base-10 arithmetic values, they cannot assist in constructing a proper chronology for Abraham. This must be done via historical synchronisms and elements of cultural specificity. In no way does Abraham belong in the Intermediate Bronze Age or early MB1 as the hackneyed Ussher-style biblical chronologies suggest, at a time when none of the ‘cities’ mentioned in the Abrahamic narratives existed, including Jerusalem and Dan. The narrative belongs solely during MB2 on every line of evidence available. The destruction date-range of Tall el-Hammam/Sodom confirms this as well. Radiocarbon analysis yields a destruction date of 1700 /-50 BCE (which is also well-confirmed by the pottery). The geographical argument for Tall el-Hammam being Sodom is a lock at every turn. Those who don’t recognize this simply reveal their ineptitude in dealing with textual geographical data.
—Steven Collins, Director, Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project
The biblical geography alone as described in Genesis 13 should give enough credence to believe that Sodom may very well be located on the northern end of the Dead Sea and not the southeastern end. Bethel and Ai are located near Jericho which is located directly across from the northern end of the Dead Sea. Based on apparently where Abraham and Lot were located as they both viewed the “well watered” Jordan valley, they would have been viewing the north end of the Dead Sea. In fact, Genesis 13:11 reads that Lot “journeyed eastward.” There is no indication, at least in Genesis 13 that Lot traveled in a southern direction.
I appreciate the labors of so many professional archaeologists today and the recent past, that are finding artifacts and writings which harmonize with the Biblical Scriptures. And this is as it should be, for the entire Bible has relavent historical facts within the lives of the peoples it portrays.Thank You to all of you. I have been on the dig at Tall el Hammam four times to analyze the bones, and toured Israel and Jordan with TSWU two times. I say that to note that I have looked/studied the geography each time I was there. I became convinced that the Kikkar north of the Dead Sea was indeed the place where Sodom should be. I triangulated three sets of scriptures to come to this conclusion: Gen.13:10-11 (Bethel-Ai), Gen. 18:1,16 and 19:28 (Oaks of Mamre) and Det. 34:1-3 (Mt Nebo). I know that others disagree and encourage academic debate, but among Christians there should be a tenor of brotherhood. To God be the glory that so much about the ancient civilizations has been discovered. God Bless each of you, Dr John G Leslie