Sodom was located in an extremely fertile area in the Jordan Valley, called by the Torah kikar hayarden. This is a description of it before it was destroyed:

 

So, Lot raised his eyes and saw the kikar of the Jordan (kikar hayarden) that it was entirely watered — before YHWH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah — like the garden of YHWH, like the land of Egypt, reaching Zoar. So, Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed eastwards; and they parted one from the other (Genesis 13:10-11).

 

The archeologist Professor Steven Collins has been digging extensively in the area of the tel Tall el-Hammam in Jordan for the last 10 years, and he makes a strong case that this was the biblical Sodom and that it was destroyed in the Biblical period.1 It was the largest city in this location, being about 5 to 10 times larger than any other settlement around. A main road close by led to the highlands of Moab and Ammon.

 

This city was also more or less due west of the present-day Arab village of Beitin, which is about 12 miles north of Jerusalem and along the central mountain ridge. Before they separated, Abraham and Lot were both living between Bethel and Ai. The ancient city of Bethel was probably close to the village of Beitin. The location of Ai is not known. 

  

Colin suggests that the “kikar of the Jordan” (הַיַּרְדֵּן כִּכַּר) is a disc-shaped area on both sides of the Jordan River, just north of the Dead Sea. This phrase “kikar hayarden” is usually translated as “the plain of the Jordan.” However, Colin suggests that the word kikar in Hebrew means a disc and that the area in question was a disc-like area. In modern Hebrew the word kikar means a traffic circle.

 

The word kikar is also used in the Bible to describe bread and silver. This could be a circular piece of bread (i.e., like a pitta) and a circular coin of silver. This fits well into the geographical configuration of this area, in that Tall el-Hammam would have been on the periphery of a 25-kilometer diameter disc encompassing areas east and west of the Jordan River. In Deuteronomy 34:3, before his death Moses, looked down upon “the kikar the valley of Jericho (bikas Yericho), city of date palms as far as Zoar.” It is possible, therefore, that the kikar and valley of Jericho were close but separate areas. There is no mention in the Book of Joshua of Jericho being located in kikar Hayarden.

 

Nevertheless, it is by no means certain that this is an accurate translation of the word kikar, and it could well mean a block. The first mention in the Bible of a kikar of bread is in Exodus 29:23 in relation to the sacrificial service, where it has the meaning of a loaf of bread. A kikar of silver is mentioned in the Bible numerous times and is a measure of silver, but there is never any mention of its shape. If this area was more block-like than disc-like, then the city of Jericho would not have been part of the kikar, since Jericho is opposite to Tall el-Hammam on the other side of the Jordan. Hence, this phrase may well just be describing “a block” of settlements on the east side of the Jordan River, with no particular reference as to how these cities were arranged in relation to the mountains around them.

 

In the past, this area was extremely well endowed with water. Even today it has springs, although this water is no longer used for agriculture but is pumped from its aquifer to elsewhere, particularly to hotels along the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. The Jordan River is now only a small stream, but in the days before agriculture siphoned off its water, this was a sizable river. The Bible describes the kikar as being “like the garden of YHWH” (i.e., like the Garden of Eden) (Genesis 13:10), and it is likely that this was a place of exceptional fertility. 

 

What caused the terrible conflagration described in the Bible? The Bible describes God as having “rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorra sulfur and fire” (Genesis 19:24). This sounds almost volcanic. However, the Jordan Rift Valley has never been known for volcanic activity. It is in the location of earthquakes because the Jordan Rift Valley is on two tectonic plates. It is conceivable, therefore, that inflammable sulfur-containing gases were released in a one- time event during an earthquake, although this is quite speculative.

 

The tel of Tall el-Hamman existed in the Chalcolithic period. Enormous defensive walls were built in the Early Bronze Age (about 3000-2350 BCE). Collins also describes evidence of an intense and widespread “fiery conflagration that left the Middle Bronze Age structure in charred ruins.” The ruins of the rooms also contained 1½ to 3 feet of dark grey ash and destruction debris.1 Broken chards had a glassy appearance indicating brief exposure “to temperatures well in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the approximate heat of volcanic magma.”1 Hence according to Collins, life in this city and other cities in the kikar came to an end in about 1600 BCE, which would be in the Middle Bronze Age, and it was not until another 6 or 7 centuries, in about 1000 BCE, that this area began to come to life again.

 

Collins dating could be considered problematic — unless one is wedded to a 13th century Exodus. If the Exodus was in the early 1400s BCE, then Abraham would have lived in about 1800 BCE. This means that Collin’s dating of the conflagration to 1600 BCE is about 200 years too late. It would fit, though, with a 13th century Exodus. Without further information as to how his dating was derived, it is difficult to be sure about this.

 

With reservations about some of the details, Collin’s findings would seem to corroborate the description in the Torah of the destruction of Sodom.

 

Another proposed location for Sodom is Ban edh-Dhra, at the southeastern edge of the Dead Sea, approximately 1.5 to 3 Km east of the Dead Sea, also now in modern-day Jordan. Excavations have been carried out since 1924, initially by W.F. Albright. The city was surrounded by large defensive walls. Large quantities of pottery and everyday items have been found from the Early Bronze Age (about 3300 to 2000 BCE). Archeologists also found a destruction layer containing a thick layer of ash, with abandonment of the city at about the time that Sodom would have been destroyed. Against this proposal is that the city is far from the Jordan River, and it is unlikely that this area was ever particularly well-watered and fertile.  

 

Zoar was spared destruction and is where Lot fled to escape the destruction (Genesis 19:20-23). Its exact location is uncertain, but it is also thought to be near the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea. Near modern-day Ghoral-Safit is thought by many scholars to be a possible location. Tell esh-Shagur, further south of Ghour al-Safi, is another proposed site.  

 

References:

 

1.  A useful summary of the archaeological findings are in Where is Sodom; the Case fir Tall-el-Hammam by Steven Collins in Biblical Archeology Review March/April 2013, p32.