Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

Mastrelli: King solomon, the bible's richest ancient ruler.

Famed for his wisdom, he amassed a fortune without equal

In the old testament.

For centuries, adventurers have hunted

For the source of solomon's wealth.

Now, new evidence reveals an industrial complex

That could have made solomon rich

Beyond man's wildest dreams.

Did this site make solomon the richest king in the world?

For centuries, the mysteries of the past

Have kept their secrets.

But there are clues, cast in gold, etched in stone,

Written in blood.

(fist thumps)

We can unlock them.

(metal rattles)

(feet tap)

This is the story behind

One of the bible's greatest mysteries,

The source of the legendary wealth of king solomon.

3,000 years ago, the bible says this wise

And all-powerful leader ruled the israelites.

(soft chanting)

According to the old testament,

Solomon's father, king david,

Conquered jerusalem and established the kingdom

Of israel and judah.

Then, king solomon, as david's son and heir,

Strengthened his hold on the young nation

And filled its coffers with treasure.

His famous temple gleamed with gold.

Have the real king solomon's mines finally been revealed?

(suspenseful music)

Voice of god: So king solomon exceeded all the kings

Of the earth for riches and for wisdom.

Thompson: Texts repeatedly say he had lots and lots of money

And he had lots of friends in high places

That got him valuable resources from far and wide.

Bhayro: You get an impression of solomon

As being this great wise king who accrues enormous wealth

And power and influence across many nations.

(soft music)

Mastrelli: But where did solomon get this legendary wealth?

For centuries, historians speculated

It came from a long lost complex of gold and silver mines.

The idea inspired novelist h. Rider haggard

To write the 19th century classic, "king solomon's mines,"

Later reimagined by hollywood

As the ultimate epic treasure hunt.

Meanwhile, actual archaeological evidence

Of any such mines has proved elusive.

Yosef: Many scholars think that they are much exaggerated.

There are even scholars that believe

That they are completely fiction.

Mastrelli: But now a series of incredible new discoveries

Have revealed there was a vast network of lucrative mines

In the lands and time of solomon.

These would have enabled their owners

To amass riches beyond their wildest dreams.

So, have archaeologists found proof

That king solomon's mines were real?

(suspenseful music)

200 miles south of jerusalem,

In the heart of the negev desert, lies the timna valley.

When archaeologists began excavating here in 1964,

They found countless ancient mines

Covering nearly 30 square miles.

Yosef: We're talking about thousands of mines.

Some of these shafts and galleries

Go more than 40 meters deep below the surface.

(soft dramatic music)

Mastrelli: Archaeologists assumed these mines

Were controlled by the ancient egyptians.

Remains found at the site, like a temple in honor of hathor,

The egyptian goddess of love, and a cartouche

Of king ramses iii, pointed to a merciless egyptian outpost

At its peak in the 13th century bce.

But in 2012, that theory was shattered.

A team led by professor erez ben-yosef

Returned to the valley five decades after

The first excavations in timna.

His discoveries are rewriting the history

Of these so-called egyptian mines.

Yosef: When I went back to timna,

It was after decades that nobody did any research there

Because we thought that we know what's going on there.

Yosef: Ben-yosef decided to look at something

That had never been investigated before,

The byproducts of the mining operations.

Carbon and archaeomagnetic dating of this material

Revealed something shocking.

Yosef: We were amazed when the results came back.

There is not a single date from the egyptian period.

Mastrelli: Incredibly, mining here was at its peak

Around 950 bce.

That's 200 years after the egyptians left timna.

It was a date that captured the archaeologist's imagination.

Yosef: Now there's no doubt that the main phase of production

Here in timna was the 10th century bce.

And this is the time of david and solomon.

Mastrelli: These mines date to the time the bible says

That solomon had amassed a fortune of gold and silver

And used it to lavishly decorate his capital of jerusalem

In precious metals.

Voice of god: Solomon overlaid the house with pure gold,

And he made a partition by the chains of gold

Before the oracle, and he overlaid it with gold.

Bhayro: Solomon embarks on an almost 40-year

Grand building project in jerusalem,

Including the palace, administrative structures,

And the temple as well.

And in doing so, all the wealth of the nation

Is centered on him.

(dramatic music)

Mastrelli: But what happened to all of solomon's wealth?

His gold?

His silver?

Today, holy buildings stand where many suspect

Solomon's golden creations once glistened

With precious metals.

Moreover, most scholars believe his gold and silver

Was looted in the 6th century bce

When jerusalem was ransacked by the babylonians.

Thompson: The babylonians came in and they destroyed the city

And they took off all the goodies,

And so we're not even in the position to be able to expect

To find the metals there if we wanted to

And say, "oh, this was solomon's."

There's no chance for that now.

Mastrelli: Archaeologist dr. Christine thompson

Has been investigating the evidence

For king solomon's fabled wealth.

Throughout israel, experts have uncovered

Extraordinary hoards of silver,

Some from around the time of solomon's reign.

Thompson: When it comes to the source of solomon's wealth,

The bible mentions clearly tarshish,

And there are gold supplies in a place call ophir.

Voice of god: And they came to ophir,

And fetched from thence gold, 420 talents,

And brought it to king solomon.

Thompson: We know it's somewhere south,

But the biblical text is never quite specific enough

To give us a good sense of where it is,

So all sorts of ideas grew up about where it might be.

Mastrelli: And while erez ben-yosef's discoveries

Show that these ancient mines were at the peak

Of their productivity during the time of king solomon,

There's a problem.

Gold and silver were never mined here.

Instead, ben-yosef believes these mines produced something

Even more essential than gold or silver,

Something that afforded king solomon

Access to all the other precious metals he desired.

Yosef: Copper, in this particular time in history,

Was the most important economic resource.

This was the most lucrative industry.

Very, very lucrative.

It's like oil of today.

Mastrelli: Is copper, a key ingredient of bronze,

The long lost source of solomon's riches?

And are these the real king solomon's mines?

Two pieces of rock.

Not much to look at, right?

But 3,000 years ago, they were transforming the world

And enriching its kings.

The small one is copper ore, and this big one contains tin.

Combine them in a 90/10 ratio,

Bring the heat up to a cozy 2,000 degrees fahrenheit,

Then add some cooking show magic, and bam,

You get one of these

Next, put 1,000 swords like this into the hands of an army

And you too can watch the stone age come to an end.

But is this how king solomon built his awesome fortune?

With the raw material that fueled the bronze age?

(dramatic music)

Recent discoveries in israel's negev desert reveal

Not gold or silver minds, but an industrial scale

Copper mining, smelting, and production operation

That's 3,000 years old.

Archaeologist erez ben-yosef believes this site

Is one of the keys to king solomon's legendary wealth.

But just who exactly was working here

During solomon's reign?

(dramatic music)

Yosef: In between the layers of slag,

What we have found is amazing materials

That are related to the people working at the furnaces.

We found out what they wear, we found cloth,

We have found textiles, we found ropes,

We found remains of bones of what they ate,

That reveal the story of the people working at the furnaces.

Mastrelli: Normally after 3,000 years,

Organic matter on an archaeological site

Would have disintegrated long ago.

But astonishingly, timna's ultra-dry climate

Supplied the rare and perfect conditions for conservation,

Even for the remains of fruits, like dates.

Yosef: The organic materials in timna

Are exceptionally well preserved,

Even in comparison to other sites located in the desert.

It looks almost like somebody ate it yesterday, you know.

It's almost fresh.

Mastrelli: The team found animal bones, wheat and barley

As well as countless seeds from olives, grapes, and dates.

It's a menu of much higher quality

That archaeologists would expect to find,

For instance, in a slave's quarters.

The team starts to suspect a division of labor

And status at the site,

And that the copper smelters enjoyed distinct privileges.

Sapir: People that were engaged in the smelting activities

Had mainly the ribs and the shoulder blades,

And the upper limb bone, the better parts of the meat.

Mastrelli: In contrast, it seems poorer quality meat

Was given to those working in the mines,

As evidenced by the offcuts found

In other areas of the site.

Sapir: The poor meat parts would be, for example,

The knuckle bone of the lower hind limb.

And we found many of these in the area of the people

Which were engaged in the supporting activities.

Mastrelli: A striking social hierarchy had been discovered.

One class, of slaves or cheap laborers

Engaged in the excruciating work of the mines.

(dramatic string music)

The other, people who were so valued,

They were awarded the finest food.

(speaking foreign language)

But it's not what they ate that reveals the most

About the smelters of timna.

Rather, it's what they wore.

(metal clanks)

Workman: We're finding fragments of textiles like this,

But they're made from a variety of different materials.

We find different qualities of textiles,

Which is fabulous.

Mastrelli: So far, over 100 pieces have been brought

To the israel antiquities authority for conservation.

(case clicks)

Remarkably, these pieces of fabric reveal the identity

Of the elite timna smelters.

(dramatic music)

The blue and red textiles found here have been seen before,

In ancient egyptian art portraying captured tribesmen

From the 11th and 10th centuries bce.

Sapir: When we look at rock drawings in egypt,

We see depictions of the clothing,

Which is the blue and red bands and the tassels.

We have the actual physical evidence of this depiction,

So we can say it's not just an artistic depiction,

It's actually representing a real image of the period

And of the region, and most probably the elite.

Mastrelli: But these portraits are not of israelites.

Inscriptions found alongside the paintings

Reveal another tribe, one the bible says

Are the sworn enemies of solomon's kingdom.

Sapir: We have there clothing that are related to the elite

Of the edomite society.

Mastrelli: Rather than being part of solomon's israel,

Timna was once part of the kingdom of edom,

A vast expanse of land that stretched south

From the dead sea.

And if the edomites were the master smelters

And kings of copper at timna, what does this do

To the story of king solomon's mines?

(dramatic music)

Is it mere fiction?

Did solomon's riches even exist?

(tense music)

In the timna valley in israel,

Archaeologists seem to have raised

The legend of king solomon's mines from the dust,

Only to see it blown away.

A huge mining operation here 3,000 years ago

Would have been highly lucrative for its owner.

But the archaeological evidence is clear.

These mines were not run by king solomon,

But by his traditional enemies, the edomites.

So, is the story of king solomon's mines just a myth?

Bhayro: When we read about solomon in the bible,

There are aspects of the way the story is told,

Which are metaphorical, which are in code.

So, we need to learn to read the bible very, very carefully.

Mastrelli: Some historians believe

That when solomon ascended to power

In the land of the israelites in 970 bce,

His kingdom may have been much smaller

Than the bible suggests and that he didn't own

Any of the lucrative mines spread across the region.

Bhayro: The biblical presentation

Of the size of solomon's kingdom

Can come across as very large,

And the israelite kingdom never reached that extent.

But then it becomes important to differentiate

Between solomon's kingdom and solomon's influence.

(soft dramatic music)

Mastrelli: Solomon may not have had direct rule

Over the lucrative mines at timna,

But there's evidence here that suggests the israelite king

Was actually working with his traditional enemies.

Archaeobotanist marc cavanagh has been investigating

Where the edomites obtained their high status foods.

Certainly, none of the fare they were feasting on

Could have come from the arid desert

Surrounding the mines.

Cavanagh: Olives don't grow naturally here.

It's way too hot for them.

But nonetheless, they had connections

That allowed them to bring olives to this place.

(seeds rattling)

We've found hundreds of barley seeds.

But, again, they don't grow locally.

They had to have been brought in from far off,

At least 100 or so kilometers away.

(tense music)

Yosef: We have evidence for connections

With the mediterranean region, the area of jerusalem,

Tight connections with these regions.

This gives us information

About something substantial going on, long distance trade.

Mastrelli: Today, some experts suspect

That solomon granted the edomites, and their food,

Safe passage through his land in exchange for something he

And everyone else in the ancient world wanted: Copper.

Yosef: King solomon might have had some control of these mines

Based on an agreement.

You know, you give us some of the income

From the copper trade and we won't attack you.

(singing in foreign language)

Bhayro: That's the model of ancient empire,

And, essentially, it's like a protection racket.

They are now under the protection of israel,

And in order to continue being protected by israel,

They have to pay this big, big tax every year to jerusalem.

(soft chanting)

Mastrelli: These new discoveries suggest

That the mines at timna may well have made

Solomon extremely rich, not as the owner,

But as the commercial genius who saw

How he could profit from other people's industry.

Bhayro: Through putting himself at the center

Of this massive trade network,

Which would have existed across the various empires,

And simply to take a little cut

From the traders coming through his territory,

That would bring him enormous wealth.

Mastrelli: It's a theory that seems to affirm

The biblical account of a wise and ambitious ruler.

Voice of god: And god gave solomon wisdom

And understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart,

Even as the sand that is on the seashore.

Bhayro: Solomon's characteristic foreign policy is peace.

He's able to do all that he can through persuasion,

Through conversation, through diplomacy and through trade.

(dramatic music)

Mastrelli: Perhaps the biblical story of solomon's vast empire

Was actually inspired by his influence

Over the great trade networks of the near east,

Including the mines that fueled his wealth.

Yosef: King solomon's mines,

It doesn't mean that the kingdom of solomon invaded edom

And the israelites populated the land and worked the mines.

It means that solomon exerted some kind of control over edom

And the richness of jerusalem could have been attributed

To this copper trade.

Bhayro: With ancient edom, the more resources they produce,

They increase their wealth,

And the more wealth you can push upstairs

To the person collecting, everybody wins.

If that is a form of wisdom, absolutely,

He's brilliant at doing that.

(dramatic music)

Mastrelli: The discoveries in the scorched earth of timna

Let us peer into the world of a bronze age ruler.

It's a time so distant that myth seems to meld with history

Just as tightly as copper

Combines with tin to yield bronze.

Likewise, thanks to archaeology, solomon,

The first captain of industry,

Can leap from the pages of the bible

Into the annals of science.