Wednesday, March 3, 2010

King Solomon's Wall Found, Can His Mine Be Far Behind?


National Geographic has an interesting story from the world of archeology today that says that a wall built by King Solomon has been unearthed, lending credence to a passage from the bible. Israeli archeologists discovered the ancient wall, thought to be more than 3000 years old, near Jerusalem.

While conducting the dig, researchers found that the wall stretched more than 230 feet in length and stood 20 feet tall. They also discovered that it was part of a larger compound that included a gatehouse, guard tower, and an adjacent building as well. Excavations are still ongoing, so it is possible that they'll find more as they go.

In the Book of Kings, the Bible states that King Solomon constructed defensive fortifications, including a wall, near Jerusalem, but up until now, there has been no real evidence of this. Tools and artifacts found at the site point to a time frame of about the 10th Century BC. One of the researchers on the archeology team said that only two kings at that time would have had the resources to build such a fortification, Solomon and David. Further evidence narrowed the date further to Solomon's era.

It's fascinating to me that they are still unearthing these kinds of discoveries so close to a city that has been populated, more or less, non-stop for 3000 years. This is a very cool find, and it's amazing that they are able to link it back to a point in history that is not all that well documented.

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