Genesis describes Sodom as a city of the Jordan plain destroyed by fire from the sky. Archaeologist Steven Collins argues that Tall el-Hammam, a large Bronze Age site in the Jordan Valley, is Sodom, and a 2021 paper in Scientific Reports claimed the city was leveled around 1650 BC by a Tunguska-scale cosmic airburst. Both claims are heavily contested. Most biblical archaeologists reject the identification of Tall el-Hammam with Sodom, in part because its location and dating fit poorly with the biblical geography and timeframe. The airburst paper drew sustained methodological criticism over its imagery and its geochemical evidence, and Scientific Reports formally retracted it in April 2025. What is not in dispute is that Tall el-Hammam is a genuine, sizeable Middle Bronze Age city that suffered destruction and a long occupation gap.
- Where it is
- Jordan Valley, Jordan (northeast of the Dead Sea)
- Scripture
- Genesis 19:24-25 · Genesis 13:10-12