King Solomon's Mine Discovered.

[Driven1]

in related news (anti-semitism from the left) - it appears the LA Times continues to withhold video that would be very damaging to the Obama campaign...where Obama aligns himself very closely to a very well-known Palestinian activist...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-video29-2008oct29,0,5458024.story


here is more info on the Solomon Mines (from natl geographic)...

Copper mines in southern Jordan were active centuries earlier than previously believed, according to a new study that suggests the area was producing the metal at the same time the biblical figure of King Solomon is said to have built Jerusalem's first Jewish temple.

Industrial-scale metal production was occurring at a site in Jordan in the tenth century B.C., according to the study's carbon dating of ancient industrial mining debris and analysis of the settlement's layout.

Previous studies had concluded no copper production occurred in the area before the seventh century B.C.

"We're conclusively showing that the Iron Age chronology [of this region] has to be pushed back another 300 years," said lead author Thomas Levy, an anthropologist at the University of California, San Diego.

Biblical References

The shift in estimated Iron Age dates means the Jordan copper mine would have been in operation during the reigns of Kings David and Solomonâ€"who are referred to in the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) but have not been verified as actual historical figures.

"Now we have to readdress many of the questions about the relationship between the biblical text about this region in those centuries and the archeological record," Levy said.

(Levy's research was funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. National Geographic owns National Geographic News.)

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to the Bible, God chose King Solomon to build Jerusalem's first temple.

(Related: "Solomon's Temple Artifacts Found by Muslim Workers" [October 23, 2007].)

Hundreds of tons of copper were given to the project, as well as smaller amounts of gold and silver, the Bible says. Some English versions of the Old Testament use the word bronze instead of copper as a result of a mistranslation, Levy said.

If the biblical account is historical, King Solomon and his father King David would have had to rule Israel during the tenth century B.C., scholars agree.

Solomon's Temple and other projects would have required great quantities of metal.

"If he built the temple during the tenth century B.C., heâ€"according to the Bibleâ€"had to bring a lot of copper to Jerusalem, and the copper had to come from somewhere," said Amihai Mazar, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was not involved with the study.

If the Bible's accounts of David and Solomon are rooted in reality, it's reasonable to figure the copper came from the closest known sourceâ€"the contemporaneous site excavated by Levy and Jordanian archaeologist Mohammad Najjar in the area the Bible calls Edom.

Historical Extremes

Seventy years ago American archaeologist Nelson Glueck declared he'd found "King Solomon's mines" around the area Levy's team is excavating.

"He was in the 'Golden Age' of biblical archaeology between the World Wars," Levy said of Glueck.

"He literally mapped everything that he saw archaeologically to the biblical narrative."

By the mid- to late-20th century, the tide had turned: Many academics were finding no verifiable connection between the Old Testament and actual history from the 12th through 9th centuries B.C.

Some believe that any useful historical accuracy in the holy book was lost during a period of revisions that is believed to have occurred between the seventh and fourth centuries B.C.

Research beginning in the 1970s determined Glueck's mine site became active only in the 7th century BCâ€"hundreds of years after David and Solomon would have lived.

To this day, little archaeological evidence has been found to confirm the reigns of either King David or King Solomon.

"To what extent the Bible really recalls ancient historical reality from the tenth century is hard to say," said the Hebrew University's Mazar, who has been to the site but was not involved with the study.

Striking a Balance

Levy believes his study is a model for archaeologists working in areas described in ancient, sacred texts.

He avoided over-reliance on the biblical chronology, but also did not reject it.

His team created sophisticated, three-dimensional digital recording methods to map the layout of the site and the location of all the artifacts to determine ancient settlement patterns. Organic remains were radiocarbon dated at a lab in the U.K.

According to Mazar, the science is solid.

Levy argues that archaeologists should consider wide-ranging sources of information when examining a site from historical texts and ecological information to cultural materials, anthropology, and sacred texts.

"I think that with archaeology, we need to use every possible source of data at our disposal," he said.

"If you were interested in ancient India, you'd want to have an objective look at the Mahabharata," he said, referring to the set of sanskrit epics thought to date back to the eighth century B.C. And Icelandic archaeologists might consider the Sagas of Iceland, written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries A.D.

"We try to create an objective historical archaeology," Levy said.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081028-king-solomon-copper-mine-missions.html

[RiversideGator]

River, will you please stop hijacking this thread to attack other posters and push your offtopic political discussion?

Please stop calling others liars.

[Bostech]

I am sure Jews of the world knew about it all along,thats were they get all that money and now that it run out of it they decided to let archeologiest discover it.

dude this is not acceptable.

While Bosnia may be antisemitic, this forum and boards are not man.

Totally keep the 'jew' talk to yourself, please, no matter what kind of example Driven and River might have set for you in the political forum with the recent Leiberman thread, this is against our rules on the forum.

Its also not a funny joke.

Love ya bos, but its time to learn new ways.

No more jokes for you people.
Can't make jewish joke,everyone gets upset about it.


By the way Bosnia is not antisemitic at all ,actualy opposite is true.
Bosnia is only country in Europe where Jews lived freely for most part of past 600 years.

Too bad other "democratic" countries didn't follow that example.


Anyway no more jewish jokes.

[gradco2004]

in related news (anti-semitism from the left) - it appears the LA Times continues to withhold video that would be very damaging to the Obama campaign...where Obama aligns himself very closely to a very well-known Palestinian activist...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-video29-2008oct29,0,5458024.story

... but McCain gave him MONEY!! Almost $500K to be exact. So your point would be?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/the-khalidi-gam.html

Next

[nomoremyths]

who cares about this?
King Solomon's coppermine? Is there still copper there?  You literally cannot even bring up an archaeological site without some fool starting an argument about religion.  There are some real headcases on this site.

[BridgeTroll]

Welcome to the club...

[RiversideGator]

who cares about this?
King Solomon's coppermine? Is there still copper there?  You literally cannot even bring up an archaeological site without some fool starting an argument about religion.  There are some real headcases on this site.

There is clearly one fool posting in this thread.   

[civil42806]

Actually this isnt 'par for the course'.  Bos is an intelligent and interesting new citizen from Bosnia.

Like alot of the racism in our own country and area, the racist anti semitism of that part of the world doesnt occur as 'racism' to the people that feel it.

I was always surprised by it when I travelled.  Much the same way people feel when listening to the lingering anti black rhetoric of the American south.

As I had to explain to Rabbi Perras, one of my early mentors, growing up Pentacostal meant revering Isreal, so I had no idea that people were antisemitic still.  I thought it was only the Nazis.

I still find it kind of shocking.

actually most of his posts are puzzling.  I'm assuming its because he doesn't speak the language well.  So I haven't comment on most.  Other than the "republican doctors?

[JaxByDefault]

this is a particularly strong piece of evidence for the usage of the Bible as a historical document because - as the story mentions - the ONLY place Solomon is mentioned in history is - IN THE BIBLE.

and VOILA - here we are finding (again) the Bible to be backed up by archaeology.  surprise!

That a place or person mentioned in the Bible can be corroborated by archaeological record is only evidence of historical presence. Do not conflate historical accuracy with divinity. It is a disservice to both scientific archaeology and faith.

Many other ancient works (including holy works of other faiths) mention people and places of which there is abundant evidence in the historical record. The Bible is no more historically accurate than many other surviving ancient works. Any honest historian and archeologist is quick to admit that there are as many gaps as there are discoveries.

Neat site discovery; thanks for the National Geo link.

[Driven1]

The Bible is no more historically accurate than many other surviving ancient works

like... (and please provide numerous examples within the texts - as the Bible has been proven historically accurate many, many times by archaeology. )

[Driven1]

Baptist.

[RiversideGator]

this is a particularly strong piece of evidence for the usage of the Bible as a historical document because - as the story mentions - the ONLY place Solomon is mentioned in history is - IN THE BIBLE.

and VOILA - here we are finding (again) the Bible to be backed up by archaeology.  surprise!

That a place or person mentioned in the Bible can be corroborated by archaeological record is only evidence of historical presence. Do not conflate historical accuracy with divinity. It is a disservice to both scientific archaeology and faith.

The issue is not that this discovery proves the authenticity of everything in the Bible.  The point is that this tends to prove that at least that part of the Bible is historical fact.  Other portions of the Bible have been similarly verified.  The more some portions are found to be true, the more likely the remaining portions are also true.

[RiversideGator]

And the book was a fictional account of a fictional search for the real mines of King Solomon:

The "King Solomon" of the book's title is the Biblical king renowned both for his wisdom and for his wealth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Solomon%27s_Mines

BTW, interesting to see a "Christian" "conservative" taking the positions you do these days.  It is as if you actually believe the opposite.  Very interesting indeed.

[RiversideGator]

How repulsive.

[BridgeTroll]

Awww...