Archaeology Discoveries Confirm Biblical Accuracy

King Solomon's Copper Mines Possibly Found

National Geographic News is reporting that experts have concluded that 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.

National Geographic reports that the shift in estimated Iron Age dates means the Jordan copper mine would have been in operation during the reigns of Kings David and Solomon. This is a significant find because though David and Solomon are Old Testament figure, their historical existence has not been conclusively verified outside of the Bible.

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

Scholars agree that King Solomon and his father King David would have had to rule Israel during the tenth century B.C. Solomon's Temple and other projects would have required great quantities of metal for completion.

"If he built the temple during the tenth century B.C., he — according to the Bible — 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 source — the contemporaneous site excavated by Levy and Jordanian archaeologist Mohammad Najjar in the area the Bible calls Edom.

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."

According to National Geographic News reporter, Rebecca Carroll, "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 BC — hundreds of years after David and Solomon would have lived.

"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.

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.

Carroll reports that Levy's 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.

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

The Tomb of Gladiator Who Inspired Russell Crowe's Film Unearthed

In other archaeological news, though it is not related to the Bible, this next story is also a pretty cool find. According to the Discovery Channel, Italian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of the ancient Roman hero believed to have inspired Russell Crowe's character in the hit movie "Gladiator." Officials announced at a press conference that marble beams and columns, carvings and friezes first emerged from the Roman soil during construction work to build a residential complex in Saxa Rubra, not far from the headquarters of Rai, Italy's state-run television station.

According to Cristiano Ranieri, an archaeologist who led the excavation at the site, the huge fragments belonged to a monumental marble tomb built on the banks of the Tiber River at the end of the second century A.D.

"This is the most important ancient Roman monument to come to light for 20 or 30 years," Daniela Rossi, an archaeologist for the city of Rome, told reporters.

Excavations revealed a marble inscription that declares the tomb belonged to Marcus Nonius Macrinus, a general and consul who achieved major victories in military campaigns for Antoninus Pius, the Roman emperor from 138 to 161 A.D., and Marcus Aurelius, emperor from 161 to 180 A.D.

The life of Marcus Nonius Macrinus is believed to have inspired the fictional character Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott's film. In the movie, Meridus, also a general and a favorite of Marcus Aurelius, fell from grace after the emperor's death and ended up in exile in North Africa -- to return as a gladiator and take revenge.

Born in Brescia in northern Italy in 138 A.D., Macrinus was one of the emperor's favorite leaders. The Discovery Channel reports that his villa on the shores of Lake Garda is currently under excavation. He was consul in 154 A.D. and proconsul of Asia in 170 to 171 A.D. Consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates in Ancient Rome.

The original tomb collapsed at some point, but the large marble blocks are intact and perfectly preserved by the Tiber's mud. Officials believe that reassembling them should not be a difficult task.

"We know that the area was subjected to frequent floods in ancient times. Just like Pompeii, a disaster helped preserve the monument. After a particularly strong flood, the mud from the river basically sealed the collapsed marble blocks," Rossi said.

Discovery Channel News reports that the construction work for the residential complex has been halted, and Rome officials plan to reassemble the tomb in a 3-D model, then fully reconstruct it as the centerpiece of a public archaeological display now underway in the area.

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