Actually, it's straight out of an H. Rider Haggard novel...
Posted on 10/28/2008 5:24:34 PM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
IN a discovery straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, archeologists believe they have uncovered one of the lost mines of King Solomon.
The vast copper mine lies in an arid valley in modern-day Jordan and was created in the 10th century BC - around the time Solomon is believed to have ruled over the ancient Hebrews.
The mines are enormous and would have generated a huge income for the king, who is famed for bringing extraordinary wealth and stability to the newly united kingdom of Israel and Judah.
The announcement will reopen the debate about how much of the Old Testament is myth and how much is history.
According to the Bible, Solomon was the third king of Israel.
The son of King David, he was renowned for his wisdom, the size of his harem and the splendour of his kingdom.
During his reign, he is said to have accumulated a huge fortune from mining and trading, some of which was spent on building the grand temple and opulent palace of Jerusalem.
Archeologists and treasure-hunters have searched for the mines for more than a century since the best-selling Victorian novel, King Solomon's Mines by H Rider Haggard, which claimed they could hold a treasure of gold and diamonds.
But now it seems the real version could have been closer to home, supplying the king with copper. The mine was found in a desolate region south of the Dead Sea in southern Jordan in an area called Khirbat en-Nahas, which in Arabic means "ruins of copper".
The region was known in the Old Testament as the Kingdom of Edom.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
An excellent post. As one who finds biblical archeology fascinating, I also find it unfortunate that it ocurrs in such a screwed-up part of the world.
yeah, a repost.
What an ironic post you have here!
If this part of the world had not been so “screwed up” throughout history, it wouldn’t be so facinating!
God's plan isn't at all obvious.
That’s a good point. Mine was that the turbulence that exists there presently probably prevents many wonderful discoveries.
The Bible is True. Archeology again shows that to be the case.
Actually, it's straight out of an H. Rider Haggard novel...
“The announcement will reopen the debate about how much of the Old Testament is myth and how much is history.”
I’ll give them a clue: it’s ALL history.
I've been told that there are untold riches laying beneath the surface --- in Afghanistan, due to it being on the North end of being [geologically] rammed by the subcontinent [India]. Lots of force in that scenario, bringing about the conditions under which many forms of gem stone are created.
A great many gems have already been found or (shallowly) mined there. This has been so for many centuries. Dig in the right place, but dig deeper, and a fellow could trade 'em in for having a really fine time in Dubai, including having room service bring the finest Maine lobster and some of that Iranian caviar.
Yes but the dating schemes and the sequencing of various Biblical narratives is a bit of a hairball. Read Immanuel Velikovsky’s “Ages in Chaos”.
The great secret of mining is that it is the only 100% correlation in economics: when nations mine, they prosper; when they stopped mining, they declined.
The reason is both because a nation needs considerable strength to mine, and that mining creates an economic ripple effect strengthening a nation’s economy.
Ironically, it is almost unheard of for a prospector who discovers a mine to become wealthy. Everybody else benefits, but prospectors don’t.
Interesting Biblical Hebrew tie-ins Edom is the land where Esau settled and the name is related to the Hebrew word for red- A close reader of the Bible might have predicted that the red metal that was essential to the bronze age would have been found there.
I’ve seen some film by Paul Maier who is a Bible historian. He has many books. http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Paul+L+Maier&source=an&sa=X&oi=book_group&resnum=4&ct=title&cad=author-navigational
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Cripes, you denied me the joy of pointing that out. Buzzkill! ;') Thanks xcamel. |
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Actually, it was an Allan Quartermain movie...
How do they know they were King Solomon’s mines? The only mention of a nation or people is that Egyptian artifacts were found. They may be calling them King Solomon’s mines to facilitate future funding.
Really? Kind of sad.
Good question. Initial news stories on academic discoveries are to be taken with a grain of salt. And from what little I know about archeology, there is often a lot of guess work based on arbitrary smatterings of data here and there.
Fortunately for some things there are some pretty good written records. For instance, there simply isn't any good reason to not believe there was a very wealthy Hebrew King named Solomon, except for people who have an irrational bias against the Hebrew Bible.
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