Ever since the age of 12 I have dreamed of going on an archaeological dig, and at least in my case this dream had nothing to do with that famous archaeologist “Indiana Jones”. However, like Professor Jones, I do share his interest in Biblical History. Recently I read a book about a real life “Indiana Jones” named Dr. Stephen Collins, and Dr. Collins strongly believes that he is excavating the Biblical City of Sodom.
The book focuses on items which Dr. Collins has found while digging in an area around an ancient Tel. A “TEL”, for all you non-history buffs, is an earth mound that is formed when cultures repeatedly build a city in the exact same spot. Dr. Collins’ dig focuses on Tall el-Hammom which is an area that is located on the Jordanian side of the Jordon river, just northeast of the Dead Sea.
In his book, Discovering the City of Sodom, Dr. Collins describes the painfully tedious work that is producing evidence of a unique ancient city. He has found a large city gate as the entrance to a large Middle Bronze Age city. Even more intriguing is the fact that he has found some Trinitite. What is Trinitite? Well Trinitite is a compound that is formed when silica sand is melted at an extremely high temperature. Trinitite was first described as an entity that was found at ground zero of the atomic explosion test site in southern New Mexico. What is interesting is that Dr. Collins found this type of rock in southern Jordon in a region where there has been no known previous atomic explosions.
What does this all mean? Well Trinite plus other items found by Dr. Collins have led him and others to believe that this area is the exact site of Biblical Sodom. Now if that is true it is an amazing discovery….and it also would confirm the likely existence of another Biblical story— the cursing of Sodom
Does all this intrigue you? Well if it does, then I suggest you go on-line and order the book, Discovering Biblical Sodom.
