ping.
Posted on 10/27/2008 5:24:51 PM PDT by BGHater
An ancient copper works in Jordan may have been the location of the fabled King Solomon’s mines, new archaeological investigations suggest.
The dig at Khirbat al-Nahas, once a thriving copper production centre in the Faynan district, about 30 miles (50km) south of the Dead Sea, has found evidence that it dates back to the 10th century BC, making it at least two centuries older than was thought. The new date means that the mine was almost certainly active during the time of the biblical Jewish kings David and Solomon.
Scientists who conducted the excavations are now working to establish whether the kings controlled the copper mine at this time. “Given the unambiguous dating evidence presented here for industrial-scale metal production at Khirbat al-Nahas during the 10th and 9th century BC in ancient Edom, the question of whether King Solomon’s copper mines have been discovered in Faynan returns to scholarly discourse,” the researchers said.
King Solomon’s mines were made famous by the 19th century novel of the same name by H. Rider Haggard. Biblical scholars and archaeologists have long speculated about whether the legend was founded on real mines, and an American archaeologist named Nelson Glueck claimed in the 1930s to have discovered their site in Faynan, though this was dismissed in the 1980s. The new dig, led by Thomas Levy, of the University of California, San Diego, and Mohammed Najjar, of Jordan’s Friends of Archaeology, suggests that Glueck might have been on to something after all.
In 2006, the team began to dig through more than 20 feet of slag and industrial debris at Khirbat al-Nahas, meaning “ruins of copper” in Arabic. The lowest layers have yielded fresh radiocarbon dating evidence of its age.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
ping.
What I want to know is how King Soloman had time for ~700 concubines?
Fascinating. I wonder if there are still reserves of copper and gold in Jordan - most probably so, if there were mines in ancient times.
An ancient copper works in Jordan may have been the location of the fabled King Solomon’s mines, new archaeological investigations suggest.
A different one each day for about two years...that's how.
Good thing you corrected that, otherwise I was going to have to question why a solo man would have any concubines, let alone 700.
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Thanks BGHater. |
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Only one per day? What a slacker!
“What I want to know is how King Soloman had time for ~700 concubines?’
sIMPLE. One of the most important posts in Solomon’s bureaucracy was the Court Scheduler.
He was easy to spot. His signs of office were a bucket full of oysters and a snuff-box sized container of cantharides.
Actually there’s more! Solomon had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubine. But, alas, these wives who worshiped foreign gods is what led his heart away from the Lord.
I finally found it. Near Dana, Jordan, in the Wadi Dana, close to where it spills out onto the plains; near the Old Testament site of Punon, Edom.
Google Earth coordinates: 30° 37’ 37.36” N by 35° 29’ 35.79” E
Also, 2 photographs are embedded at the site.
Thanks!
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