Archaeological Discoveries in Sodom and Gomorrah - Research Paper Example

 Research and Explain the Discovery of an Archaeological Find that Occurred in the Last Twenty Years in Sodom and Gomorrah that Redefined a Historical Event, People or Culture of its Original History The biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the best known and compelling ancient stories worldwide. But is there any physical evidence of a natural catastrophe and of flourishing ancient cities in the area of the Dead Sea? Many theories placed the sites near the Southern shore of the Dead Sea or assumed that the sites might be submerged because ancient sea levels were lower than the levels up to the mid 20th century. Early archaeological expeditions, such as the excavation led by W.F.Albright in 1924, failed to locate any sites and came to the conclusion that the cities must be covered under the waters of the Dead Sea (Rast, Schaub, 2004). Further archaeological expeditions in the 1960s, however, found no trace of submerged ancient sites or sites close to the receding shoreline of the Southern Dead Sea. It should be noted that the Dead Sea is shrinking due to heavy use of the waters of the Jordan river, which feeds into the Dead Sea, for agricultural and industrial purposes but that the water levels were much higher in the 19th and 20th century AD than they were in the Bronze Age and that throughout the millennia the area has been settled the Dead Sea levels would have been subject to considerable fluctuations. In the 1960 Paul Lapp excavated a substantial cemetery site at Bab edh-Dhra but evidence of the remains of a city was not found until the 1970s by Rast and Schaub (Graves, 1995). The team discovered further sites along the Eastern shore of the Dead Sea and further burial grounds. Feifa, Safi, Numeira and Khanazir all contained evidence of similar pottery remains dating from the Early Bronze Age which dates the sites at around 3,000 to 2,000 B.C. As the original story mentions five biblical cities it was necessary to compare the archaeological findings with the descriptions from the ancient texts to exclude any error in identifying the sites correctly. Names of modern sites suggest a strong connection to Mount Sodom which is situated at the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea – the modern Hebrew version of the name is Har Sdom (Jabal Usdum in Arabic). At Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira and Feifa layers of ash and charcoal were discovered which provide evidence of a natural disaster caused by fire which led to the sites’ destruction. Archaeological evidence including seeds found at the sites shows that during the middle to late Bronze Age the now barren and dry area around the Dead Sea was able to support a society based on agriculture because fresh water sources reached the Dead Sea plain from its surrounding mountains to the East. Geological evidence suggests that the area around the Dead Sea is very unstable because it connects two tectonic plates moving in opposite directions, making the area prone to frequent earthquakes. In addition, the ground is rich in underground methane and natural asphalt sources which could have been ignited by a massive earthquake causing the ground to liquify (Craig, 2001). The evidence of layers of ash, charcoal and sulphur found near three of the cities would confirm this theory. . The geological evidence of the sites points to the destruction of the cities at the early Bronze Age (Neev and Emery, 125).There is evidence of both Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira suffering damage from two separate earthquakes. Numeira was abandoned after only a short settlement span but Bab edh-Drah was inhabited over a much longer period. The shifting levels of the Dead Sea may have encouraged settlement at different levels to achieve an optimal use of the land for agriculture and some of the early settlements may still be submerged (126). Matching the cities correctly to their biblical names may therefore prove more difficult than originally anticipated, in particular, as the total number of settlements in the area is still unknown. But even with the current evidence of a total of five cities dating to the Middle Bronze Age, this amounts to the discovery of an entirely new civilisation in this area. All cities were destroyed at the same time at around 2000 B.C. (Wood). At Bab edh-Dhra a cemetery site was excavated with an estimated burial number of 500,000 people. An explanation for this could be that the walled city itself was used as a fortress in times of danger but that at other times most of the population lived outside the city walls. Therefore many people would be affiliated with a city but not live within it. At any rate, even if the discussion about the correct allocation of the sites continues for some time, the fact remains that these important sites change the conception of the Bronze Age civilisations in the Middle East. A whole new civilization with, judging from the large burial grounds already discovered, a significant population needs to be added to the map. There is also the exciting discovery of the tablets of Ebla, the modern Tell Mardikh in Syria. Ebla was discovered in 1968 by Italian archaeologists (Millard, 1992) and an entire library of 20,000 cuneiform tablets have been found at the site since then. The relevance to the Dead Sea cities of the plain became apparent when the names of the ancient biblical sites were found on some of the tablets. However, as the Eblaite language is not yet completely understood, there are different interpretations to the cuneiform texts and the interpretations of place names and proper names is still disputed. We may yet have to await a unanimous interpretation of the new discoveries and the references found in texts written by neighbouring ancient civilisations but the fact that the ancient sites described in Genesis have produced some tangible evidence lends credence to the old stories. If the time of the destruction can be dated correctly, we also obtain a historical date for Abraham, who would then become a historical and verifiable figure rather than a legend mentioned in the bible. The story in Genesis can only be an interpretation of a catastrophic natural event, such as a major earthquake, interpreted by people terrified of a force they did not understand and which they therefore interpreted as God’s punishment to the people of Sodom and Gomorrha. The new archaeological evidence now supports that there is more than a kernel of truth in the ancient story. Sources Corbett, J. “Searching for Sodom and Gomorrha”, Biblical Archaeology Review, available at: http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/sodom-and-gomorrah.asp#http://www.s8int.com/sodom-gomorrah.html Craig, A. “Scientists Uncover Sodom’s Fiery End”, 2001, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1497476.stm Graves, D. and Graves, J. “Did Sodom and Gomorrah Really Exist?”, 1995, available at http://www.s8int.com/sodom-gomorrah.html Neev, D. and Emeery, KO., “The Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jerico, Geological, Climatological and Archaeological Background”, 1995, Oxford University Press, New York Rast, Dr. W. and Schaub, Dr. T.R., “Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain”, available at http://www.nd.edu/~edsp/publications.html "Sodom and Gomorrah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 22 Nov. 2009 . The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Nov. 2009 . Appendix 1. Aerial Maps (Left) Map of Early Bronze Age Sites Near the Dead Sea, available at http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/sodom-and-gomorrah.asp#http://www.s8int.com/sodom-gomorrah.html (Below) Satellite view of the Dead Sea, available at http://www.toothends.com/sodom.html Both images use the same identification system for the sites 2. Excavation Sites (Below: Storage and Work Areas at Numeira, available at: http://www.nd.edu/~edsp/numeira.html) (Below: Base of Collapsed Tower with Crushes Individual, available at: http://www.nd.edu/~edsp/numeira.html) (Left : 24 m stone structure at Khirbet Khanazir, available at http://www.nd.edu/~edsp/khanazir.html) (Right: Stone structure at Khanazir, available at http://www.nd.edu/~edsp/khanazir.html (Above: Looted cemetery at Feifa, available at: http://www.nd.edu/~edsp/feifa.html) Read More