“Given that Jericho was contemporary with Sodom it stands to reason that Sodom was also a real place.”
I believe that scripture is inerrant and that Sodom WAS a real place just as described in Genesis. However, I need to point out that Sodom and Jericho were separated by a very long period of time. Jericho was mentioned in scripture during the Exodus....many, many years after Abraham and Lot and the Sodom and Gomorah accounts of Genesis.
Personally, I believe what is left of Sodom is under the Dead Sea. However, finding Jericho doesn’t validate the existence of Sodom....Although as I said, I do believe it existed just as the Bible said. I don’t need proof otherwise. It would be nice to help convince unbelievers...but I wonder if it would? God told the rich man in torment that letting him warm his still living but unbelieving brothers would not change them. They have the scripture is what God said. If they didn’t believe it, they would not believe even if one were to come back from the dead.
Modern archaeologists date the first settlements at Jericho as far back as 10,000 B.C. which means the city was absolutely contemporary with Sodom which secular archaeologists believe was destroyed between 2100 and 1900 B.C.
Secular archaeologists place Sodom on the plains above the Dead Sea. Given that they have a vested bias against the Bible I have a tendency to believe them when they grudgingly acknowledge that the Word of God is true.