The Geography & History of Tall el-Hammam Phillip J Silvia, Doctoral Fellow at Trinity Southwest University and Field Supervisor with the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project Society for Interdisciplinary Studies Chronology & Catastrophism Workshop, 2014:1, 33-36. The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project (TeHEP) is a joint venture between Trinity Southwest University (TSU) in Albuquerque, NM, and the Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In January & February 2013, we completed our eighth dig season. To cut to the chase, we believe that Tall el-Hammam is the site of biblical Sodom, and the information that we are gaining with each dig season adds to our conviction. My purpose in writing this is to provide supplemental information and alternate views to the “Tell el Hammam” article that was posted on the Society for Interdisciplinary Studies web site in July 2013. While I am not an official spokesman for TeHEP, I have the permission of Dig Director Dr. Steven Collins, PhD, to present a summary of information that has already been published on either TeHEP’s or TSU’s web sites. For more information, see www.tallelhammam.com and www.trinitysouthwest.com. History and Archaeology of the Site Tall el-Hammam is located approximately 12 km northeast of the Dead Sea on the eastern side of the Kikkar, the circular plain of the southern Jordan Valley, directly across from Jericho. (The Google Earth coordinates for Tall el-Hammam are 31.839125° Lat and 35.672028° Long.) The occupation mound of Tall el-Hammam measures about 1,000 m long by 600 m wide and is divided into “upper” and “lower” talls, with the upper tall being about 35 m higher than the lower. The upper tall is long and narrow, with very steep sides. The lower tall is broad and flat and sits 25-50 m above the surrounding plain. Excavations to date have revealed that Tall el-Hammam has a continuous occupation history that goes back to at least the Chalcolithic Period (ca. 4500 BCE) and extends to or near the end of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1700 BCE). This date range has been firmly established through the pottery record and is confirmed by the architectural styles of the building foundations that have been exposed thus far. There was an occupational hiatus during the entire Late Bronze Age that lasted into if not through Iron Age 1, a period of 600-700 years. A fortress was constructed on the upper tall and additional occupation of the lower tall occurred during Iron Age 2. Occupation of Tall el-Hammam continued at a minimal (compared to its peak in the Middle Bronze Age) level into the Roman Period. The Romans even built a bath house near the hot spring that sits in the saddle between the upper and lower talls. Tall el-Hammam was eventually abandoned and forgotten. In 1967, the location of Tall el- Hammam was recognized for its strategic importance, and defensive artillery emplacements were cut along the entire length of the upper tall. Although ancient foundation walls were observed as bulldozers cut the trenches, no interest in pursuing an excavation of the site ensued. A minor, spot-excavation of the lower tall was conducted in the 1990s. The first season of excavation under the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project was conducted in 2006 under the direction of Dr. Steven Collins and the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. For