Is there any definitive archaeological proof that Sodom and Gommorah existed?

Question

Or that the cities were destroyed by fire and brimstone?

Answer 1

I think the lack of "definitive" answers is your answer. Great question and excellent point made. The person under me has great comments from the sources given but there is nothing that's mentioned that can't be disputed. And the sources are bias and are not independent studies/research.

Answer 2

There are groups of educated people who fund projects that try to prove the stories of the Bible true by finding hard scientific evidence. As I understand it they have recently found evidence of these cities. The stone used in the building were melted and scorched.......

Answer 3

i saw a show on the history channel the other night about it, maybe they will re-run it soon, it is easter so i'm sure they'll be showing religious stuff all weekend

Answer 4

Some observations from archaeology which coincide with the Biblical account:

BRONZE AGE DOORS: "When Kyle and Albright excavated the site of Tel Beit Mirsim... they found evidence in the level of the Middle Bronze Age (2200-1600BC) of strong walls and great doors. On the other hand, in the level of Early Iron II (900-600BC)... inhabitants used only archways or curtains..." (Free p.62). Lot lived around 2000BC and had a door on his house that was sufficient to keep out the mob at Sodom. The Bible account fits the Archaeological record even in this little point! (See picture of a door from this era in Boyd p.84.)
TRAVEL: Travels of great distances were possible in Abraham's day. People regularly traveled the whole length of the "fertile crescent." Legal documents for the rental of carts in Babylon have been found containing the stipulation that the renter not take the cart all the way into Canaan! Thus a thirty mile (as the crow flies) distance between Abraham and Lot would be no great distance, and it was entirely possible for Abraham's army to pursue Lot's capturers for 150 miles to the Damascus area (Fisher) .
SALT, SULPHUR, AND ASPHALT: Geologists (including Fredrick Clapp) confirm huge quantities of salt, sulphur and bituminous material, also known as brimstone or asphalt, around the areas associated with Sodom and Gomorrah (Boyd p.51, 86, Wilson p. 67-68, Wood) .
A CONFLAGRATION: It is generally agreed that there was a subterranean lake of oil beneath these cities. The area is located on a fault line, and natural gas would have poured out of fissures in a seismic disturbance. "A tremendous explosion took place, which carried burning sulphur, oil, and asphalt into the air above the cities. Mingled with salt, this brimstone and fire rained down upon the whole plain" (Boyd 51,86). Dense smoke suggests smoke from a petroleum-based fire. (cf. Wilson p.67, Kitchen p.47, Pfeiffer p.543, Library of Congress, Wood, Sanders II).
PILLARS OF SALT: A strata of salt 150 feet thick is to be found in the area, including a veritable mountain of salt called Jebel Usdum (or translated from Arabic to English, "Mount Sodom.") Pillars of salt can be found all around the Dead Sea. That there are pillars of salt is indisputable, but could a human be turned into salt? Excavations in the Italian city of Pompeii demonstrate evidence that a volcano can indeed quickly cover human victims and preserve them. According to Boyd (p. 85), the bodies in Pompeii actually turned into salts during the process of the volcanic cataclysm. The Bible phrase concerning Mrs. Lot being "back from behind" indicates she was rather far behind the rest of her family and was covered by the fallout whereas her husband and daughters were not. (Boyd. p.86, Wilson p.69, Unger p.1206, NIV Study Bible)
CHANGES IN CIVILIZATION: "In the Middle Bronze IIa period (1900-1750BC), Bethel. Shechem, and Dothan and other cities associated with the Patriarchs flourished. At Jericho, tombs show that desert nomads at this time reoccupied cities that had been allowed to fall into ruins, but the main area of occupation was the hilly districts of Palestine and the Southern desert (Negeb) which Glueck's survey has proved to have been once thickly populated. Similar surveys show that Moab and Ammon were also inhabited c.2000BC, but at the time of the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zoar...the population hurriedly abandoned adjacent sites and returned to their semi-nomadic life. Sedentary occupation of the country east of Jordan is not found again until the 13th Century" (Wiseman) (cf. Sanders II) In other words, archaeology confirms the movement of shepherds like Lot into cities during Abraham's time period, then suddenly leaving the area uninhabited for several hundred years. This matches the biblical record!
REMAINS OF CITIES DESTROYED BY FIRE: The site of Bab-edh-Dhra was discovered by Melvn Kyle in 1924 on the Lisan Peninsula in the southern Half of the Dead Sea. It has been excavated by others, including Wm. Albright. All the evidence points to a Cannanitish city dating from the time of Abraham which was burned and left uninhabited for several hundred years (Pfeiffer p.543). Several ancient historians also mention having seen the ruins: Tacitus History 5.7. Josephus Wars 4.4 (Unger's p.1201), and Strabo (Wilson p.66). The Ebla tablets also mention the names of the five cities, naming one of their kings as "Birsha," matching the Bible account (Wyatt).
ZOAR: According to the Biblical record, one would expect Zoar not to have been wiped out as were its sister cities, since Lot escaped to this town. Sure enough, historical evidence for a city named Zoar is to be found where only legend and speculation exist for her sister cities. "Josephus says that the Dead Sea extended from Jericho as far as Zoar (B.J., IV. Viii.4); and the Christian historian Eusebius, of the fourth century, confirms that statement and adds that a Roman garrison was there. Also the mosaic map found in a Greek church of Medeba, dated from the fifth or sixth century, places Zoar at the Southeast corner of the sea... In 1924...Drs. Albright and Kyle, explored the territory at the south end of the Dead Sea... they found the ruins of a Zoar of the Byzantine and Arabic periods, but believed that the site of the earlier Zoar had been submerged..." (NIV Study Bible). This site is also associated with Rast and Schaub's "Sufi" site (Shank P.36) (cf. Sanders I)