 | ||
| 2010 discovery of Middle Bronze age burnished double rope handled juglet.
|
There is now no doubt that there was a massive and certainly unusual destruction at Tall el-Hammam at the end of the Middle Bronze Age.[1] The destruction has been well documented over 15 seasons of excavating at Tall el-Hammam in every MB square, both on the upper and lower tall. In the palace on the upper tall the char was 1.5 to 2 meters thick.[2]
I would make a link to Wicked Pedia to Tall el-Hammam but they have such an anti-Bible section as a critique that it is sickening to read and keep deleting any attempt at me posting any fair statement of facts for the site. Such is the nonsense on the internet and thus far they have not silenced me here (but who knows what the future will hold).
The destruction is of such significance that archaeologists at other sites have noted it and the lack of Late Bronze occupation after the destruction for some ca. 550 years. Something happened that took out much of the Jordan valley at the end of the Middle Bronze age. The ca. 550 year “Late Bronze gap,” when no one is living in most of the Jordan Valley, including Tall el-Hammam, fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah 50:35-46.
Still the carbon dating (which we all agree need so to be use with caution) averages it from 1750-1600 given their corrections. If it had come back in the EB or IA eras I would have been concerned but it is still in the MB and can live with that. I know you have a pony in the race for the early date for the patriarchs and understand your concerns with identifying TeH with Sodom and I respect that.
However, now that I am retired I am no longer connected with any group or organization for supporting a particular date but do believe like everyone that the Patriarch did live in the MB period. I am interested in the absolute dating of the site as it would put Abraham in a particular date context. This is huge for biblical studies and I am open to where it will fall rather than try to fit a round peg into a square hole. I realize that Steve is focused on Sodom and what is great about the scientific report is that it is not influenced by Steve's biases as it was independent Carbon dating. We can say that it is not Sodom because it does not fit our preconceived dates or we can say that this date now gives us a more accurate date for the Patriarchs.
The massive unusual destruction which I have seen (and you saw it over the early years of the excavations), its location on the Kikkar which I agree with my read of the Hebrew in Gen and now the air burst data found in the destruction layer convinces me that this can only be connected with the biblical account described for the destruction of the cities of the plain. Perhaps even more than Livias!!
One can dismiss the site as Sodom based on the date but after working on the site for so long and seeing what I have seen (and much of what you have seen), the location, destruction layer, air burst event which is the only explanation for the melted brick, pottery and directionality of the destruction combined together could only be recorded in Scripture with the destruction of the cities of the plain. If not why is it not at least acknowledged (I know that God's word is selective but this is just to coincidental to be ignored).
As we both know the date of the patriarchs are documented by many of our respected friend and scholars within the MB period but all with different dates. To find a terminal date for the destruction of the cities of the plain is significant. I am more convinced, along with Leen Ritmeyer, that this is the site of the biblical narrative for Sodom's destruction.
I know that we both desire to understand what archaeology can tell us and I am excited that we may have a more absolute date for the Patriarchs. I cannot believe that such a catastrophic destruction that took out most of the Jordan Valley for 500 year was not documented by the ancient writer of the Pentateuch (Moses). Cool to think that Moses was on the site of Hammam (Abel Shittim) and contemplating what had happened there.
https://heliosgallery.com/antiquities/catalogue/west-asian-antiquities/levant-holy-lands/megiddo-middle-bronze-age-burnished-pottery-juglet/
Megiddo MB burnished rope handle juglet 2000-1730 BC
_________
Footnotes
[1] T. E. Bunch, M. A. LeCompte, A. V. Adedeji, et al. "A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea." Scientific Reports 11, no 1 18632 (2021), 1-64.
[2] Graves, David E. The Location of Sodom: Color Edition. Key Facts for Navigating the Maze of Arguments for the Location of the Cities of the Plain. Toronto: Electronic Christian Media, 2018.
_________
No comments:
Post a Comment