Archaeologists may have found King Solomon’s mines

Critics of the Bible often attack its historical credibility because little archaeological evidence has been obtained to substantiate the famous Old Testament kings, David and Solomon. Now, however, archaeological research funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration has found what they believe are the mines from which King Solomon produced the copper used to build the First Temple in Jerusalem. The mines are located in a region south of the Dead Sea in Jordan’s Faynan district, which is the geographic area in the Old Testament known as the Kingdom of Edom.

According to CNN, “carbon dating placed copper production at Khirbat en-Nahas (Arabic for 'Ruins of copper") in the 10th century -- in line with the biblical narrative of Solomon's rule.” The leader of the study, Thomas Levy, of the University of California San Diego noted that

“…this research represents a confluence between the archaeological and scientific data and the Bible…. Now ... we have evidence that complex societies were indeed active in 10th and 9th centuries BCE and that brings us back to the debate about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible narratives related to this period”

Newsweek has a story on this fascinating news as does National Geographic News.

In another interesting story, in 2007 Muslim workers at the Jerusalem Temple Mount found artifacts dating back to the first Temple period – 8^th to 6^th centuries BCE. These two fascinating findings alone present a great deal of archaeological evidence linked to Solomon.