Is The Real Sodom And Gomorrah Under The Dead Sea? | Sodom And Gomorrah | Timeline

[Music] these sinister and lifeless waters may hold the secret at the wickedest cities on earth one has to understand that nobody in the history of the world ever touched the bottom of the Dead Sea forgotten by time forsaken by God all the Bible cities of sin preserved in the salt of this acrid chemical sea [Music] we don't know what's out there no one knows what's out there and the seafloor that no one's ever been on before we don't know what we're gonna find it it could be anything two years ago we were diving on a shipwreck and I didn't think we'd find anything and we found five million dollars with the gold so yeah I'm not as much of a skeptic as I used to be [Music] what's planned is a journey into the depths of wickedness into danger myth and evil I was scared I mean this is not something that I'd like to do and I'm very apprehensive thousands of years after its people perished in a storm of burning sulfur it's a voyage in search of sodom and gomorrah [Music] lying between Israel and Jordan the Dead Sea and the lands around it are at the heart of the Bible story King Saul camped here in the clifftop caves as he hunted his rival David the Slayer of Goliath on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho maybe Jesus himself once walked here [Music] Mike Sanders is a biblical scholar with a lifelong quest to penetrate the myths of time and find solid evidence for the events described in the Bible the fate of Sodom and Gomorrha has always fascinated him these two the cities were the epitome of evil in the world at that time and in spite of Abraham actually negotiating with God to save the cities God in the biblical story decides to destroy them by a fire and brimstone this punishment has made Sodom and Gomorrah by words for sin flattery and sexual perversion [Music] but for cities so notorious Sodom and Gomorrah are notoriously difficult to locate the biblical story however is absolutely clear that they were to the north of Jerusalem [Music] but in spite of extensive excavation in this area not a trace has ever been found so archaeologists widened the search and we're better to look for two dead cities than beside a lifeless sea many people believe that sodom and gomorrah if they exists exists at the edge of the Dead Sea but the cities have never been found the cities seem determined to hide their shame from history but then sand has found a clue not from antiquity but from much more recent times there are maps that are actually published in 1650 showing sodom and gomorrah beneath the Dead Sea what would a 17th century map maker know about the true location of Sodom and Gomorrah it seems simply a flight of artistic fancy until apparent confirmation came from an unexpected and totally modern source [Music] in 1994 the space shuttle Endeavour set off on a mission to photograph the Earth from space the latest radar technology can reveal features invisible to the human eye the scientists were looking for information on minerals vegetation and the use of fresh water they never imagined that photographs from space could throw new light on the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah according to the received wisdom of geology the bottom of the Dead Sea should be completely flat but according to the shots from space it wasn't my first reaction when I saw the glass of photographs was this was something unique and startling there were a whole series of strange features that shouldn't be there which we call anomalies one is a rectangle of dots which appear too regular to be natural formations the other is a feature that looks like a collapsed pyramid all the experts we've talked to who are geologists have told us that there is no similar natural formation like that anywhere else in the world the implication if it's not the natural formation is that may it may be man-made the dead see for the first time in eternity had hinted at a guilty secret beneath its acrid waves Mike Sanders knew he couldn't rest until he'd gone where no man had been for thousands of years back to Sodom and Gomorrah there's only one way to find out the true answer we have to take a submarine and look mic contacted me about a year ago and he said would you like to go diving in the Dead Sea after his initial shock laughter obviously thinking he had a nutter on the phone he said the red sea I've always wanted over the Red Sea he said no the Dead Sea so I don't think anyone's ever dove in the Dead Sea and he said that's right I think he said I'll get back to you I'm sure started to check me out to see if I was wasn't completely mad so there must be reasons why no one's ever dove there so yeah I'd like to go it sounds pretty neat so the stood [Music] [Music] the mini-submarine delta holds two people a pilot and an observer it looks pretty good alright looks like I survived the trip [Music] the Delta has made over 5,000 dives and has a hundred percent safety record but as it leaves Jerusalem it faces its most testing mission one which doesn't have the automatic blessing of the powers that be it's okay a couple nutters deciding we want to take a submarine to the bottom of the Dead Sea but there are government's involved and there is money involved and neither were easily persuaded as the Delta approaches the Dead Sea a military checkpoint reminds the mission that it's not just underwater hazards they face there are political and security obstacles to get around after two years of negotiation with the Israelis Jordanians and Palestinians Sanders has only been granted a limited amount of time for diving every moment and every dive will be critical [Music] at over 1,300 feet below sea level the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth the seawater is modern 30% salt with minerals so concentrated that practically nothing can live in it [Music] the dead sea and bombs and encases everything that enters it in a crust of salt this buildup on a ship's hull took only two weeks to form [Music] the minerals make the water much heavier as a result under the surface the pressure is between two and three times that of normal water this has dangerous implications for the Delta over the coming week as the submarine dives to the bottom of the sea its how will be tested right to the limit could it also be tested to destruction it's a deadly gamble but there'll be only one way to find out [Music] let's be together you see them right here we're going to lunch we'll see you a little later little itty mad how you like it that's right did you get hotter than this well it depends on the water temperature it's it should be cooler than it is in there now thanks Ben yep in a sign yeah is kinda like the other no you don't understand there but that temperature very long and there's no air either there will be here yeah circulated air was so so that's the worst is gonna get absolutely already one day behind schedule Mike has another headache Delta normally dives with backup from some of the most advanced research ships in the world here at the don't see far Israeli SAS captain moti Gonen and his men are having to prepare the submarine support barge out of parts cannibalized from anything at hand untested these primitive fittings will have to operate perfectly if the submarine has any hope of surviving these heavy and hostile the final member to join the dive team is scientists of even avraham as director of the Dead Sea Research Center ve has studied these waters for more than twenty years and knows more about their strange qualities than anyone else one of the unique properties of the Dead Sea is that it's hardly have any oxygen and because you have no oxygen there's no corrosion no us no nothing it is a very good example just look from this pile just under the water level very clean and it can stay clean for tens of years it bombs in water you see how much it was so in short you want to keep something put it in the Dead Sea the Dead Sea has a unique attraction for tourists because the water contains ten times more salt than normal sea water it provides an almost surreal buoyancy in fact it is almost impossible for a swimmer to sink fun for the bathers but for a vessel whose entire purpose is to go beneath the waves something of a disadvantage the biggest part about diving a dead sea really for us it's different than where we usually dive is the high salinity and that's gonna gonna mean that we're gonna have to add about 1,300 pounds of lead to the submarine the first time we put the sub under water what we'll do is we'll leave it attached to the crane and we'll lower it into the water and we'll see how the sub wants to sink why it's still connected to the crane that way it won't sink down and not be able to come back up in spite of an extra load of over a thousand pounds of lead the submarine barely sinks enough to cover the deck he's a lot of lead what snows blows like I didn't have breakfast until 6:00 got over 1,200 pounds in it now word quickly gets around the bobbing Baylor's of a new attraction the submarine that refuses to sink you can see the salt on it already glistening it's taking a lot more weight than we thought it would finally the delta sinks under the water salt water and fresh water here we're putting in over 1,300 [Music] with the buoyancy set rich feels confident about setting the sub free from the safety of the barge for the first time [Music] gingerly the sub makes a tour of the support vessel [Music] it's like little toy toy boat [Music] but it will do it will do amazing things we've been worried for months whether this would work or not and we proved that we can dive in the Dead Sea visibility is not bad we can see good enough it should be alright in most of us flat enough the sonar should work well so if there's targets out there I think we'll finally now we can find the truth what whatever it is nothing there okay there's nothing there if there are two tails in Sodom and gomorrah's oh okay if we find Rex wonderful we don't find anything that social that's the truth - and it's important it's important that people know always the truth [Music] [Applause] then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which you won the violet and behold the smoke of the rod went up like the smoke of a furnace said it was when God destroyed the cities of the plain [Music] according to the Bible God warned the wicked citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah to mend their ways or face the consequences when he saw that the people were ignoring his warning in his wrath he wrought a terrible revenge on their disobedience but in the thousands of years since that cataclysmic event no one has found any evidence for the cities so was the Old Testament account just a fable an old-fashioned morality story father innocent the priest had sinned George's madaba on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea has no doubts about the story's literal truth of course it did happen what really matters for as Christians it is that there has happened something which was considered to be the punishment from the Lord whether you believe it or not it's up to you but we as Christians yes we believe and to accept the whole of the Bible the present stage of archaeology suggests that none of the events in the Old Testament are true and yet the Old Testament is written as a history scholars who look at it suggest that it is a historical work and yet there's no historical evidence it doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever the moment of truth has arrived today the Delta will travel to a place never before seen by man except perhaps by those who perished in a storm of brimstone the dive team of chosen to explore the anomaly which appeared as a rectangle of dots on the NASA photograph for Mike Sanders the prospect of diving to the lowest place on the planet has said the nerves jangling I'm scared I mean this is not something that I'd like to do and I'm very apprehensive if you asked me would I go down in the submarine like the Delta anywhere else in the world at any time the answer is not for 1 million or even 10 million dollars I'm going down because we have seen the anomalous and I have to do it I'm not going down because I like to do it want to do it or would do it anywhere else for any amount of money at any time anywhere my go this thing is to stand up on the deck I'm gonna go on both feet together yeah [Music] even in the supposed safety of a submarine diving can be a deadly game 30 years ago Rich Slater had to escape from a crippled submarine in the process he set the world record for an ascent from deep water without an Aqualung it took him two minutes to reach the surface from over 225 feet down the experience took him to the very brink of death they've scaled Everest they'd been to the North Pole they've been to the moon they've sent spaceships to Mars nobody it's ever been to the bottom of the Dead Sea three my first dive in the seven and almost in the water we are in the water mentions up water's coming but it's quite lucky with us this interesting little Scientifics do you know how deep we are this one 100 feet or what happened do we gently hit the bottom of you stuff oh no we crash crashing million it just sits down way to be a slight crunch of salt so we just gently sinking down yeah it's like a balloon 200 feet my lord look that [Music] [Music] [Music] on the sea floor there are two that congratulations on being in the Dead Sea sea floor it's all sold when we get a lot of glitter looks like ice it's really quite spectacular but it is amazing in fact everyone's flat like somebody took a giant salt shaker in this layered sling salt on everything everything upon the surface rich Slater's son Dave is monitoring the subs progress and using the latest satellite garden system to have it homed in on the mysterious anomaly course heading of two-five-zero looks good okay let's go look around deep in in a space there now about 200 meters from the site of the mysterious feature spotted by NASA's cameras Roger 20 degrees to the right time thirty meters to the target [Applause] you're right on the spot right now you're right on the anomaly okay no features are told looks like the salt just covers everything as far as the eye can see and new blooms I mean it's flat there's no structures here when those structures it'll inspite of finding nothing at the site of the first anomaly the dive team can still claim their place in diving history that the first people to dive to the bottom of the Dead Sea [Music] they have also achieved a scientific first confirming that the seafloor is as flat as the experts predicted finding any features here at all will be a major discovery [Music] with all systems operational the search for sodom and gomorrah can begin [Music] recent discoveries on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea have revealed evidence which supports the biblical account of the destruction of the twin cities of evil in this one of the largest cemeteries ever built on earth archeologists have discovered tens of thousands of ancient graves what's more the bones from these graves date from the Old Testament era and some of them show unusual signs of having been burnt at the time of death could these be the remains of the ill-fated citizens of sodom and gomorrah burnt by the biblical cataract of fire nearby another clue supports the Old Testament story embedded in these strange cliffs are balls of almost pure sulfur or to give it the old-fashioned name brimstone balls of brimstone hundreds of thousands dead burnt bones the forensic evidence months that the events described in the Bible may have some foundation in fact but scientific studies of the geology of the region suggest that God's fury may not have been the only reason for these strange phenomena the Dead Sea Valley lies on a major seismic fault the area has a long history of earthquake activity a large earthquake would have caused massive upheavals in the area the eruptions throwing molten rock and ash high up into the sky [Music] by raising the land at one end of the Dead Sea the earthquake could also have caused extensive flooding over the flat northern end of the valley drowning anything that was built there including the cities of sodom and gomorrah [Music] [Music] the shore on the Israeli side of the Dead Sea also has its relics but telling a different story of destruction the ruins of this restaurant stand as a memorial to the 1973 conflict between Israel and Jordan it's an irony that one of the few things to survive in this modern ruin is a depiction of the ancient fate of Sodom and Gomorrah although the fighting is long past the Dead Sea is still a military zone and the border between Israel and Jordan now runs straight down the center of the sea the dive team Minar within 300 meters of the border for they plan to explore the second and final anomaly at the site of their first dive they found nothing of the features spotted from outer space all the team's hopes of finding Sodom and Gomorrah are riding on this new site but politics and security set strict limits to their curiosity the target site straddles the underwater border at the last moment the Jordanian government withdraw permission for any diving in their territory the team now joined by marine archeologist Pia Andersen weigh the risks of going ahead and exploring the forbidden area anyway it's no it's no mind that they would shoot you first shooting amused its boys right what if you see something it could be the I think it's alright they decided to try to explore the anomaly while staying on the Israeli side of the border good luck sleep okay you can start up your about 200 yards from the boat we're about 100 feet of water depth here in the Dead Sea yeah and you finally made it you've been sighting at a place for a long time right unbelievable story unbelievable story look at that yeah good using the satellite tracking system Mike and rich can plot the submarines movements to within a few meters although the seabed nearby is flat Vee has seen something on his sonar screen something quite extraordinary okay so we are going so these funny features of the so now what's in out another 50 meter or so okay let's see what they are but in their enthusiasm it's V and Dave in the Delta are getting dangerously close to the border as the support ship follows multi the captain begins to get anxious about everyone's safety [Music] whoa okay David wait wait okay I've laid flowers [Music] Wow after nothing but flat featureless seabed sv has found something quite inexplicable but the action isn't all underwater on the surface the subs activities have sparked a full-scale international incident their Israeli army say that we cross the border because of a complain of the Jordanian soldiers but we are on the border we just Groce maybe a few hundred meters because of the sub is underwater and then we have to follow the Sun to be indicating that he has not seen these particular structures before I don't know never seen them before [Music] does he think they might be a man-made or not natural and all that's inconclusive at this time [Music] chris has heard from moti that the submarine has now strayed far over the undersea border the Jordanians are insisting that its surface is at once don't believe what they see I really don't believe what they see this is amazing to tree says that we gotta get you up so prepare their service we are moving to the West because I don't want them I don't want to disturb the peace that's it I'm not one to believe in conspiracy theories but four or five days ago in the middle of the Dead Sea for the first time that I know of the Israeli Army's stroke Navy decided to make a massive explosion causing 4.2 on the Richter scale knowing full well that within a few days we are going to take the sub down there far be it for me to ascribe peculiar motives to the Israeli Defense Forces but one does wonder that perhaps they had something that they didn't want us to find something to hide I hope it isn't our anomalies but we will find out forced to abort the mission on the very brink of a breakthrough the team are impatient to go back to the area and dive again Mike is convinced that at last he may have found the ruins of the ancient cities of sodom and gomorrah but adding to mike's frustration V has a scientists reluctance to speculate could it be man-made no but it could it have been it's not a natural process you know say you're not a natural process I say I don't know I don't know often natural ways there are natural forces that I don't know oh sure but you've never seen anything like that ever so that's either on land or under the sea on land it difficult to say because of land you know and see a guilty and and I investigated the tremendous but it could be mine the plan for the next dive is foot's VIII to investigate further the site of the pyramid anomaly this time he's under firm instructions no trespassing over the underwater frontier with Jordan we see fairly large structure here we're taking pictures Roger can you say a little more about it as if some sharp edges there are sharp edges and fairly steep very steep they have a deposit of salt and crusting them it's a remarkable find is the presence of sharp edges a sign of something artificial a work of human hands back on the surface the southerly wind is picking up moti is beginning to worry it's about and it started to get wet the waves can climb on it too to flesh out to wash everything like electricity generates don't think like that we can have damage can we use your arm - certainly - try good idea actually - bike one of these oblivious to the concerns on the surface today is eager to find out if these salt cake structures concealed the ruins of the Bible cities of sin [Music] the density of the dempsey water means that in spite of their relatively tame appearance each wave carries the power of a wave three times its size better for us if in this case we see that this is Europe better if we will go to a shelter near and close to shore we better call them up now you said the weather is coming he wants to get itself back on board the weather's changing up here we're gonna have to bring you up in a few minutes so if you have anything to do do it quickly [Music] I have to think we have to trust the locals who and starting to blow them suddenly that's where he's worried about Sodi does his best to get a sample but the sobs light grappling arm just isn't designed for this job [Music] Sabine seems to be plagued with bad luck once again his dive has had to be abandoned what's worse this time he knows he was within inches of an extraordinary discovery and worse still he's baffled by exactly what it was [Music] it's not what nobody knows anything what they are what do you think they're maybe maybe tectonics for things arrive I'm a sonic this vector is the square of walls that is a tectonic event I see if you support this is an active area this is the size of a yeah side of the bag maybe we have one sector 14 I see another set of variety wife that's it natural phenomena if you have a fear moti's really worried now he's called for the team to evacuate the barge but even back on board the ship there's potential disaster all around they're become quite dangerous so we are trying to tow the barge on the sub but the waves are moving faster in that direction than he can pull in that direction so we're stuck we can't move forward first attend you after moving backwards towards the shore which is not a good idea because that area has come from is in fact mind and the last thing on earth we want to have happen is to be washed ashore and that particular part of the the Dead Sea so it looks as though the dives whether they are over unfortunately just when we haven't we found some structure this mounds that seem to be some of them seem to be aligned on straight lines now I don't know what is the actual extent of this mound but they are not very widespread we don't know how far they go to the east because we were not allowed to cause to the Jordan territory but from our side comes Israeli side you can see that this is quite limited extent I don't know what are these mounds I don't know what process to aid them but they sort of funny features [Music] [Music] [Music] it's the last day of the expedition with two dives planned mike has gone down to sees these inexplicable structures for himself [Music] their mountains and more mouths and even more lands that is quite stupendous on the left hand side that's the sort of big amount something to happen the whole bottom looks this is here yes there's something underneath this as opposed to the rest of the area [Music] laughs are these the ruins of the ancient cities of sin or simply silt from the river feeding the c-could it be rubbish coming in from the Jordan yeah why would it all be in one spot well that's the thing the rubbers should be all over the Pabst salutely makes no sense the fact that the mounds are concentrated in one area adds to Mike's excitement these must surely be the salt encrusted ruins of an ancient settlement [Music] and before long as another startling and inexplicable discovery [Music] and there's red stuff is anybody seen any of the red stuff on flat no terrain oh we've come across some fairly large mounds the mounds are about a half a meter to a meter [Music] [Music] planning to investigate the phenomenon of the red material on the final dive Mike returns to the surface if they were natural features you would expect to see all sorts large quantities them all over the place and they're not localized and they do have this red stuff on top of them and it's just it's just amazing and there is no red stuff anywhere else with only two hours left before nightfall Mike is keen to dive again but whatever is down there is jealous of its secrets the tow-rope has become snagged in the propeller in a desperate effort to rescue the final dive our debt one of the boat crew dives into the corrosive waters with no protection if they can't free the road it'll be too dark to dive and too late for Mike to find the truth about those tantalizing seabed structures after an eternity a dirty emerges triumphant the final dive can go ahead [Music] here's a big loser big one big one and there's the stuff again this is big as the submarine this one if you see the red and oh yes [Music] the rent tops on the mounds continue to pass all the crew no one can think of any natural explanation [Music] the expiration goes on until the last possible minute but without proper excavation tools or permission to cross into Jordanian waters Mike can only make a limited survey of the site the team know that they've made an astonishing discovery maybe even a discovery of epic historical importance but quite what it is they discovered they still don't know what they do know is that it'll take a larger more sophisticated expedition to find the truth Sanders dream is still alive he's sure that the secrets locked beneath the hardened salt will still be there when he returns after thousands of years Sodom can wait a little longer and Gomorrah is another day you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: biblical archaeology, sodom and gomorrah documentary, archaeology documentary, biblical documentaries, bible documentary, bible archeology, sodom gomorrah, archeology documentary, sodom and gomorrah, sodom and gomorrah bible story, dead sea documentary, timeline documentary series, biblical stories, the bible, jesus christ, bible prophecy, sin city, timeline documentary, history documentary, Biblical stories explained, Muhammad, Mohammed, Salah, Hajj, Umrah, Madrasa

Id: UoIGbYv89bA

Length: 49min 4sec (2944 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 02 2017