-Caveat Lector- Sunday Times- London November 21 1999 BRITAIN Dead Sea sub dives for lost city of Sodom Jonathan Leake, Science Editor SODOM, the biblical world's most sinful city, is about to get its first visitor since Lot left in haste as it was destroyed by heavenly fire 4,000 years ago. A British researcher will this week venture to the bottom of the Dead Sea - where Sodom's remains are thought to lie - in a mini-submarine. Michael Sanders, a Leeds-born biblical scholar, has found what appears to be the remains of the city under the surface of the Dead Sea by studying satellite pictures taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). His findings have been backed by the Dead Sea research unit from Tel Aviv University, whose scholars are on site with him. "We are about to embark on our first dive. Finding the biblical city of Sodom would be the greatest achievement of my life," he said last week. The dives come just as the British Museum prepares to announce the results of its research in the area, which appears to confirm that Sodom was located there. A team excavating a Byzantine church has found what is thought to be the legendary Cave of Lot hidden behind it. According to the Bible, Lot and his daughters took refuge in a cave while Sodom lay smouldering. It was there, thinking they were the last people on Earth, that they decided to start a new generation. To most people, including archeologists, the biblical story of Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah is metaphorical, a warning to sinful humans from the authors of Genesis. No satisfactory archeological evidence of the five lost cities of the plain, of which Sodom and Gomorrah were two, has ever been unearthed. Other scholars, however, including Sanders, believe Sodom and Gomorrah not only existed but that they were also probably destroyed in a catastrophe about 5,000 years ago and that their ruins were engulfed beneath the salty waters of the Dead Sea. Sanders's findings are supported by Dr John Whitaker, a geologist at the University of Leicester, who has found strong evidence of a powerful earthquake in the area at that time. He said in a research paper: "Their remains have not been found because they are now under water. The total disappearance of the Vale of Siddim and its cities beneath the lake would explain the lack of archeological evidence. Further underwater exploration could be revealing." Sanders believes the remains of the ancient cities are to be found off the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, about 10 miles south of Jericho. The orange Delta mini-submarine, on hire at a cost of almost £5,000 a day, was the one used to explore the wreck of the Lusitania. The 10ft-long, 6ft-high vessel was flown into Israel from California last weekend. It holds two people and can stay submerged under hundreds of feet of water for up to three days, but the team will be making only short dives. Sanders watched on Friday as the vessel was winched aboard a barge at the Ein Gedi oasis in preparation for its journey to the northern shore. The Dead Sea may be only about 200 metres deep, but Sanders is diving into murky diplomatic waters. The northwest corner of the sea is in the West Bank, which was ruled by Jordan until the six-day war in 1967 and has been under Israeli military occupation ever since. Now the Palestinians have claimed it for their nascent independent state. The expedition therefore had to be cleared with the Israeli army, the Jordanians and the Palestinians - and if Sanders does find anything down there, there will be a diplomatic battle over ownership. Not everyone is as convinced as Sanders, however. Dr David Neev, a respected Israeli geologist, has dedicated much of his life to the scientific study of the Dead Sea and its surroundings. He rejects Sanders's thesis that Sodom and Gomorrah are lying at the bottom of the northern end of the Dead Sea. "The Bible is not always reliable in its chronology, but its geographical descriptions have always turned out to be perfect. According to the Bible the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah were located at the south end of the Dead Sea, next to Mount Sedom and a long way from Sanders's site," said Neev DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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