Quest For King Solomon's Mines: Featuring Eminent Archaeologist Thomas E. Levy

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.

It's a Saturday night, and yes, I'm watching NOVA on PBS. I almost couldn't help myself after a colleague sent me the information for the Quest For King Solomon's Mines (follow this link for the full video) on NOVA. Many scholars today question whether King Solomon was a king at all, as no evidence has ever been found by archaeologists, until now.

Mining shafts have been found deep in the deserts of Jordan along with skeletal remains suspected to be Solomon's miners. Could these be the men who held the wealth the Bible chronicles in their hands? Watch and see.

NOVA does a wonderful job in this program, outlining the history of King Solomon, his gold and copper mines, and whether we will ever know the truth about his existence.

Article Blurb via University of California

A new television documentary featuring the work of University of California, San Diego, archaeologist Thomas E. Levy proves that extensive copper production took place in Jordan during what is believed to be the Biblical era of David and Solomon — suggesting that there is some historical veracity to the Hebrew Bible’s (Old Testament) portrayal of their kingdom and that of neighboring Edom in southern Jordan.

A related and newly edited book by Levy — as well as a scholarly paper that appeared last month in a British journal — also advocate for a new high-tech “pragmatic” approach for carrying out historical archaeology in the Levant region of the Middle East, coupled with high precision radiocarbon dating, to ensure objectivity in a discipline fraught with emotional prejudice.

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Archaeological Discovery: Gold Adorned Remains of Archaic Woman in Crete

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Small gold plaques, 1-3cm-thick, in different forms (square, triangle, and diamond-shaped) were found next to the remains of the woman, discovered a few weeks ago by the team led by archaeology professor Nikolaos Stampolidis. The findings were inside a 2,700-year-old twin tomb, the only one in ancient Eleftherna, located very close to a necropolis of fallen warriors.

Read the full story of this Archaic golden woman

Gold is Back in Fashion

With the economy the way that is, individuals that have held on to their gold pieces are now getting into the business of IRA gold, which is simply the safe keeping in a depository to safeguard their assets. The owner still has full access to the gold IRA, as well as the 401k gold. The safe storage of mutual funds, gold, 401k, stocks, and bonds may be placed in the same depository together.

The main question is, how do you put gold in an IRA? This is much more simple than you think. When you take full control of your IRA gold, the IRS requires that a penalty and the appropriate taxes be paid.

If you are looking to avoid the taxes and penalties, your gold must be stored at the depository using an IRA custodian provided by the specific company you're using. So do your research, and find a trustworthy company to handle your business dealings.

Just remember that the value of your gold can never depreciate. Furthermore, you are the controller of you precious materials, so they can never be taken from you by the banks or the government.

Famous Bactrian Gold From Afghanistan

Most of what we know of Afghanistan's countryside is filled with images of war and strife. The pictures of our soldiers dying in a country that years ago used US resources to minister to Afghan mujahedeen's which ultimately helped defeat the Soviet Union's military occupation of the nation. Amongst all of the confusion, there was a treasure virtually unknown to the world.

The lost Bactrian Gold treasure represents Afghanistan's cultural heritage. The treasure dates back to 2200 BC and includes archeological pieces from Rome, China, India, Greece, Egypt, and ancient Afghanistan.

Watch as National Geographic unfolds this unforeseen treasure:

Bactrian gold

One of the most significant finds was the famed Bactrian gold pieces. Bactrian gold is a treasure hoard that lay resting under the "Hill of Gold" for over 2,000 years until Soviet archeologists exposed it shortly before the 1979 invasion.

 

There were well over "20,600 gold ornaments that was found in six burial mounds near Sheberghan, in the northern Afghanistan province of Jowzjan".


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The treasure of the royal burial Tillia tepe is accredited to 1st century BCE Sakas in Bactria. A new museum in Kabul is being designed where the Bactrian gold pieces discovered will eventually be kept.


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Additional finds included three classical ivory statues, each nearly three feet (90 centimeters) tall, representing historic water goddesses and a collection of Buddhist terra-cotta sculptures.

Gilded silver ceremonial plate.

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Gold clasps with turquoise and mother-of-pearl inlay

Kabul Museum

Kabul Museum is the national museum of Afghanistan and at one time its collection was one of the most important in Central Asia; housing over 100,000 items "spanning 50,000 years of Afghan cultural history-prehistoric, classical, Buddhist Hindu, and Islamic."

In 1994, the museum suffered a devastating loss as it was hit by rocket fire and largely destroyed while being used as a military base. In 1996, over 80% of the inventory within the museum was looted by the Taliban when they took over Kabul. "The remaining materials were at that time temporarily moved to the Kabul Hotel."

In 2003, the international population invested US$350,000 to refurbish the building. It was re-inaugurated on September 29, 2004. It will be an exceedingly monumental moment when the Bactrian Gold is settled in the newly constructed museum in Kabul. The pieces will finally have found their way home.