WHAT I LEARNED WHEN I READ THE BIBLE
The Dead Sea had many names including Sea of Sodom. The sea bottom contains large amounts of asphalt (referred to in the Bible as pitch or tar). This product was used for many reasons, but in the 3rd millennium BC the Egyptians used it to seal ships and mummies. The word mummy comes from the Persian word mumiya which means asphalt. The root word mum means wax.
We know God destroyed Sodom with sulfur, and even today you can smell sulfur when you swim in the waters. The mud in the Dead Sea is packed with sulfur, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bromide, and calcium, which pull toxins from the body. It is one reason many like to bathe in the Dead Sea. They use the mud for medicinal purposes.
Archeologists have worked the area for decades trying to discover the location of Sodom and in 2015 a “complex urban center” was unearthed. Could this be the city of Sodom? Many believe it is, but only time will tell.