King Solomon's Copper Mines - Digital Archaeology Project

High-Precision Carbon Dating and Historical Biblical Archaeology in Southern Jordan

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2008 Vol. 105 No. 43

San Diego, Oct. 27, 2008 -- Did the Bibles King David and his son Solomon control the copper industry in present-day southern Jordan ? Though that remains an open question, the possibility is raised once again by research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Led by Thomas Levy of UC San Diego and Mohammad Najjar of Jordan's Friends of Archaeology, an international team of archaeologists has excavated an ancient copper-production center at Khirbat en-Nahas down to virgin soil, through more than 20 feet of industrial smelting debris, or slag. The 2006 dig has brought up new artifacts and with them a new suite of radiocarbon dates placing the bulk of industrial-scale production at Khirbat en-Nahas in the 10th century BCE - in line with biblical narrative on the legendary rule of David and Solomon. The new data pushes back the archaeological chronology some three centuries earlier than the current scholarly consensus.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• King
• Solomon
• Copper
• Mines
• Digital
• Archaeology
• Tom
• Levy
• Calit2
• UCSD

[acerb45666555]

no doubt along the old Egyptian-Judean borderlands, the cultures fused to an extant. so im not suprised seeing an Egyptian scarab in Judea.

[tuvoca]

boring commercial for a high tech method that capitalizes on the interest in biblical archaeology ...disappointing.

[aoghiroshima]

Life is nothing but a vapor if there is no savior, that means no savior, no hope; while man is flawed. You should thank your lucky stars that we are finding solid evidence of the bible. If not, your life is pointless no matter what you do, or who you are.

[nightstalkersasslt]

This is solid evidence pair that with Egyptian text and the stories of the old testament come alive. Archeology is assume.

[manillas2]

Was every apostle enough crazy to go and die for something that you would not give him any profit and would be vanity? I DO NOT THINK so. And what about Paul? And if you think that somebody was paying them( to go in the guillotine),which would be his benefit? And would they do this crazy job for money? I think they would? follow a simple job.

[manillas2]

The last sentences are right but I disagree with the first sentences.Think about this..Was every apostle enough crazy to go and die for something that you would not give him any profit and would be vanity and false? I DO NOT THINK so. And what about Paul? And if you think that somebody was paying them( to go in the guillotine),which would be his benefit? And would they do this crazy job for money? I think they would follow a simple job.See Bible as a whole and you'll see it's a UNION.

[scottrex33]

look. The bible is a fictional book. this is why no one takes Christians serious. look. Your book is not based on any fact. Maybe if you morons could understand that than you would get the actual message of the book. Christ mas is a pagan holiday. The sacrament (Where Christians eat and drink there savior) Is a mock cannibalistic pagan ritual. Idiots.

[geezzerboy]

Nonsense. High Precision coupled with Carbon Dating is an oxymoron. There is zero archaeological evidence for Solomon, or the Exodus. The Israelis had the Sinai for a more than a decade, and despite intensive searching using every modern method, no evidence of Moses and his 40,000 followers who wandered the Sinai for 40 years, was found..

Give it a rest boys, the Old Testament is as true as Harry Potter, only not nearly as well written.