More Evidence Confirms Tall el-Hammam as Biblical City of Sodom – Urban Christian News

I revel when Dr. Steven Collins (now Director of the School of Archaeology, Veritas International University) returns each year from the Tall el-Hammam excavation in Jordan. It seems that after thirteen years at the site every trowel and shovel put in the dirt adds to the evidence of Tall el-Hammam as the Biblical site of Sodom. This year was no different.

But before I provide an update, let me jump back in history for our readers not attuned to Dr. Collins’ discovery, as set forth in his #1 bestselling book Discovering the City of Sodom (Simon & Schuster/Howard Books 2013), co-authored with Dr. Latayne Scott.

Several years ago Dr. Collins told me his interest in the location of Sodom began in 1996.  Then, he was working on another excavation site but was also leading archeology tours in the Middle East.

It was on one of these trips that Prof. Collins began to question the traditional site of Sodom, what is known as the Southern Theory (attributing the site to the southern region of the Dead Sea).

Collins stated, “I began to read the text in Genesis 13-19, and realized that the traditional site did not align itself with the geographical profile described in the text.”

“Now let me say,” he continued, “that many scholars don’t have a high view of Scripture.  Some even frown upon using biblical texts as a tool for location designation.  Yet 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 when I read how the author of Genesis…