Archaeologists believe they have made the historic discovery of the ruins of the Biblical city of Sodom which according to the Bible was destroyed by God as punishments for its sinning citizens.

A decade of excavations at the site to the east of Jordan has revealed a large amount of a Bronze Age city, which included defences and plazas linked by roads, that experts suspect is Sodom.

According to the Bible, the city was destroyed along with Gomorrah, as a God’s punishment because of its residents involvement in vice and homosexuality which were considered deviant at the time.

The site is in a location called Tall el-Hamaam, which dates back to between 3500 and 1540 BC. The archaeological team from Trinity Southwestern University in New Mexico say that it was abandoned for at least 700 years.

Archaeologist Steven Collins from the university said it was a “monstrous” city compared to others in the area from the same period.

“We know very little about the Bronze Age in the south of the Jordan River Valley. Most archaeological maps of the area were blank. But what we have found is an important city-state, which was unknown before our project began,” he said.

“Tall el-Hammam matches the description of the area where Sodom was located according to the Bible. It was said to be the largest city east of Kikkar. So, I came to the conclusion that if one wanted to find Sodom, one should seek the largest city that existed in this area during the Bronze Age, in the time of Abraham. When we explored the region, Tall el-Hammam was an obvious choice, as it was five to 10 times larger than the other Bronze Age cities throughout the region, even those found beyond Jordan.” Mr. Collins mentioned.

According to Mr. Collins, the huge city was abandoned under mysterious circumstances at the end of the Bronze Age, possibly after an earthquake.

He said: “It became an uninhabited wasteland for over 700 years but then, after those seven centuries, it started to flourish again – as indicated by the huge iron gate that leads into the city.”