Posted on 11/25/2010 8:49:58 AM PST by smokingfrog
LA JOLLA — The existence of King Solomon has been a topic of debate and intrigue for countless treasure-seekers and researchers, and an anthropologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has uncovered evidence suggesting that the ancient king’s splendid, copper- and gold-adorned palaces — as described in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) — may very well have existed.
Thomas Levy, a UCSD professor of anthropology and Judaic studies, has pioneered three highly sophisticated digging excavations in an area called Khirbat en-Nahas, located in southern Jordan, attracting the attention of NOVA/National Geographic Television, which sent a crew to Jordan with him last fall. The resulting documentary about Levy’s findings, “NOVA: Quest for Solomon’s Mines,” airs this Tuesday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m. on PBS.
(Excerpt) Read more at sandiegonewsroom.com ...
Did anyone see it? If so, what did you think about it?
I pretty much haven’t watched TV in 2-3 years, but PBS is one of those channels that will repeat shows. Check your local PBS station’s schedule. I’ll bet you can catch it soon.
Yes I saw it. Interesting show. There was a sort of dark ages in the years around and before King David I think having to do with the volcano that is suspected of being the Atlantis and all the large empires were destroyed. In any case there was definitely a large scale mining operation in King Solomon’s time and they now have evidence of large fortresses. I think the only thing that’s still unknown is just how large and wealthy King Solomon’s empire really was.
What’s PBS?
Isn't that one of them there wimmin's things? Ya know...makes 'em all nasty once a month.
They showed evidence of an artifact from the time of King David and Solomon that had writing in Caananite letters but the words were Hebrew showing that there was a Hebrew kingdom in the area at that time.
“What’s PBS?”
Public Bull Shiite.
Exactly.
This is a fascinating show. It shows clearly where real wealth has been generated for the few thousand years - from those able to use technology to exploit natural resources. In this case it was copper production.
The vast wealth of King Solomon came from gritty mines and smelters burning huge quantities of charcoal (carbon) and leaving behind giant slag heaps.
When we look at the cultural wonders of the world, we should always remember that the art, the literature, the architecture, are only made possible by wealth created by ingenuity of the human mind utilizing the world’s resources. Turn off the source of wealth and the culture dies.
USCD professor reveals King Solomon’s Mines
has been declared a Mosque by UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
All that glitters ping.
There is a streaming link.
It was pretty good. Pretty fair (for PBS after all)
Comments?
“The Existence of King Solomon has been a topic of debate.”
When a story starts out with a sentence like that, I dismiss it. Is it because that Jesus was a descendant of King David that someone is trying to make the existence of David’s son debatable? The Bible is quite specific on both David and Solomon. Plus, most of Israel’s history as told in the Bible has been verified.
Did Solomon actually have mines? Maybe yes, and maybe no. What the Bible clearly states it that Solomon taxed the people very heavily, to the point that by the end of his reign, he became rather unpopular. Further, his son, Rehoboam was advised by the elders to lower taxes. Instead, he followed the advise of his young advisors and raised taxes. The end result was that the north revolted, the kingdom was split in two, and Rehoboam was left with only Benjamin and Judah.
The Moslems will invent some way to claim them for Mohamad. Just wait...
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Quck. Get the PA on the horn so they can claim it’s really a Mosque.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2627388/posts
[snip] Meanwhile, 30 miles south of the Dead Sea in Jordan, a University of California, San Diego professor named Thomas Levy has spent the past eight years excavating a vast copper-smelting operation at Khirbat en Nahas. Levy dates one of the biggest periods of copper production at the site to the tenth century B.C. — which, according to the biblical narrative, is when David’s antagonists the Edomites dwelled in this region. (However, scholars like Finkelstein maintain that Edom did not emerge until two centuries later.) The very existence of a large mining and smelting operation fully two centuries before Finkelstein’s camp maintains the Edomites emerged would imply complex economic activity at the exact time that David and Solomon reigned. “It’s possible that this belonged to David and Solomon,” Levy says of his discovery. “I mean, the scale of metal production here is that of an ancient state or kingdom.” [unsnip]
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