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00:00This week, join me on a quest to discover the real story behind King Solomon's legendary mines.
00:07According to the Bible, his vast stores of gold came from a mysterious land called Ophir.
00:14But in the 3,000 years since King Solomon reigned,
00:18explorers, prospectors, and treasure hunters have searched for Ophir and King Solomon's mines in vain.
00:26Is the source of his wealth so secret that no one will ever find it?
00:31Or are there clues that other treasure seekers have missed?
00:35To find out, I'll explore ancient mines in Israel.
00:39Why are these called King Solomon's mines?
00:42Descend deep into a gold mine in Zimbabwe.
00:45We're like this. We're struggling to keep flat against this rock.
00:48And search Ethiopia's remotest villages from the air.
00:55We're digging for the truth, and we're going to extremes to do it.
01:11It's one of the most famous mysteries of the ancient world.
01:15Where did the vast caches of gold of King Solomon come from?
01:20How did he amass the riches which, along with his wisdom,
01:24made him one of the most celebrated kings in history?
01:28There's no doubt about where his treasures were once displayed.
01:32It was here, in Jerusalem, one of the most sacred and spiritual cities in the world.
01:39Holy to three of the world's great religions,
01:43it's where the Temple of King Solomon once stood.
01:47The Temple of King Solomon was built here in Jerusalem on what's called the Temple Mount.
01:52According to the Bible, it was literally covered in gold,
01:55which came from a place called Ophir.
01:58The Temple Mount today is nothing compared to how this place looked 3,000 years ago
02:03when King Solomon ruled.
02:05According to the Bible, his temple was one of the most stunning ever built.
02:10In the second book of Chronicles, it's written,
02:13he overlaid the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls with gold.
02:20Even the nails that King Solomon used were golden.
02:26But the Temple's wealth would also prove its downfall.
02:32In 586 BC, Jerusalem fell to the army of King Nebuchadnezzar.
02:38According to the Book of Kings, the riches of King Solomon's Temple
02:42were plundered and carried away to Babylon.
02:46And despite thousands of years of searching,
02:49these treasures have never been found.
02:52But if the treasure of the first temple remains elusive,
02:55what of the physical source of King Solomon's gold?
02:59Again, the Bible provides the few surviving clues.
03:03It tells how most of Solomon's gold came from a faraway land called Ophir.
03:08The rest was a gift from the mysterious queen of Sheba.
03:14The trouble is, no location for Ophir was ever given.
03:17And despite 3,000 years of searching, it's never been found.
03:22The result?
03:23A quest that's lasted three millennia and covered entire continents.
03:29Some have searched ancient mines in Israel,
03:32thinking they must be Solomon's.
03:35And in the 1870s, a German explorer named Karl Mauch
03:38searched for the biblical land of Ophir in Zimbabwe.
03:44And still others have searched in Ethiopia,
03:47legendary home of the Queen of Sheba,
03:49and according to some, the site of King Solomon's mines.
03:56I'm going to begin my quest in southern Israel.
04:01My first lead, a place which for years has been marked on maps
04:05as King Solomon's mines.
04:06First discovered in the 1930s,
04:09archaeologists thought they had stumbled
04:11on the fabled source of Solomon's wealth.
04:14My destination is deep in the Negev Desert.
04:17It's a hot and barren landscape,
04:20but it's also rich in minerals.
04:22Could this really be the location of King Solomon's mines?
04:26To find out, I've met up with Dr. Sariel Shalev,
04:29an archaeologist who specializes
04:31in the history of ancient mining and metalwork.
04:35So I suggest we'll stop here somewhere.
04:38Let's go out.
04:40So Sariel, where are we?
04:42We are in Timna Basin and in Timna Crater.
04:45All those walls and all this area
04:47is full of holes made by men in antiquity, basically.
04:52So this place has holes that were used for mineshafts?
04:56Yes.
04:56How many?
04:58Well, hundreds, and some people say thousands.
05:01I see.
05:03Now, wait a minute.
05:04This wouldn't have been here 4,000 years ago.
05:06No, this is a modern reconstruction, of course.
05:09But the mineshaft is real.
05:10Yes.
05:11Okay.
05:12Here you could see the chisel marks
05:14making the shaft, basically.
05:16Maybe it's because I'm from the West,
05:18but when I think of mineshafts,
05:18I'm thinking horizontal pits dug into a mountain.
05:21But you said that this is a mineshaft, too.
05:23This is a vertical pit reaching a horizontal one
05:27under the ground.
05:28And if you want to see those...
05:29Yeah, I want to see one.
05:30I can actually jump down inside?
05:33Why not?
05:33Explore?
05:34Get dirty?
05:34Why not?
05:35All right.
05:36Why not?
05:39Gold could be found as a natural metal,
05:43and it's very easy to extract.
05:46The funny thing is that gold
05:48was not the first metal to be used.
05:50In most cases, we have objects made of copper.
05:58Basically, that's how it all looked like
06:00when the archaeologists came to the region.
06:04They didn't know what it is.
06:06They thought first, these are water pits
06:08or something like that.
06:09Yeah.
06:10And when they started to clear some of those,
06:12the next stage they saw was something like that.
06:14Yeah.
06:14You see that this is a hole.
06:16This is a hole in the ground,
06:18and it continues and continues and continues down.
06:22Close to 37 meters.
06:25That's what they did.
06:28These potholes are really ancient mines
06:30filled with centuries of sand.
06:33Sariel leads me inside a complex honeycomb
06:36of narrow, winding shafts cut into the sandstone hills.
06:39Over 5,000 of these tunnels have been discovered here,
06:43making this the largest mining operation
06:45of the ancient world.
06:47How big were these ancient miners?
06:50More or less like us,
06:52but they are the luxury that we are used to.
06:55Okay.
06:56Let's go from here.
06:57Seems slightly lighter.
06:59Oh, God.
07:02I think I'm a little bit taller, Doc.
07:08Sariel wants to show me some evidence
07:10of the metal that was mined here.
07:11What?
07:12What do we got?
07:12Do you have some water?
07:19Do you see it better now?
07:20Yeah.
07:21That's a neat trick.
07:22What is this?
07:23What mineral is this?
07:24Copper.
07:25Copper.
07:26Copper mineral.
07:27Copper silicate in this case.
07:28So all these veins running through here are copper?
07:32Just.
07:33Where's the gold?
07:34Not here.
07:35No gold?
07:36Then why are these called King Solomon's Mines?
07:38Well, because the people wanted to have King Solomon's Mines
07:41because they are mentioned in the Bible.
07:44The tangible evidence of King Solomon's reign
07:46wouldn't be discovered here, nor would gold.
07:50So who did build these mines, and why?
07:53Copper was more precious than gold in those periods sometimes.
07:57No, I didn't know that.
07:57Copper was more precious than gold?
07:59Yes.
08:00So it's possible, it's possible that King Solomon
08:04got copper from these mines.
08:06You want the real answer?
08:08Yeah.
08:08So let's go to the next place.
08:10Okay.
08:12The best evidence as to who built these mines
08:15isn't below ground.
08:17It's in the cliffs above it.
08:19Because there's nothing in these mines
08:21that can be reliably carbon dated.
08:23So what site is this?
08:25This is a site that was built by the workers in the mines
08:29to worship their goddess.
08:32And this is the site that helped us to solve
08:34the whole problem of when
08:38these mines were made.
08:40Sariel tells me that archaeologists
08:42have uncovered evidence
08:43which shows it was the pharaohs of ancient Egypt
08:45who used to control these mines.
08:47But they did so about 400 years before Solomon.
08:52What they found here is a small shrine
08:55dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Khathor.
08:59And she is the first and the strongest independent woman.
09:05The Egyptian goddess is here in the Negev
09:07because her worshippers were here in the Negev.
09:09So basically the people who did
09:12all the shafts that we saw
09:14were Egyptians.
09:15So if King Solomon was here
09:17he was very elusive.
09:18Or his people were very elusive archaeologically.
09:22But what we have
09:23is a wonderful archaeological site.
09:26Mining of copper
09:27in ancient times
09:29by Egyptians and by others
09:31without King Solomon unfortunately.
09:35So the tourist maps are wrong.
09:38King Solomon had nothing to do with these mines.
09:41But I have discovered two vital clues.
09:44I now know how precious ores
09:46were extracted in ancient times.
09:49And I have a good idea
09:50as to what King Solomon's mines
09:52might have looked like.
09:54What I don't know is where else
09:56I should be looking for them.
09:58It's time to go back to the Bible.
10:02This is from the first book of Kings.
10:05King Solomon, it says,
10:07built a navy of ships
10:08in Etzion-Gever
10:09on the shore of the Red Sea.
10:11And they came to Ophir
10:13and fetched gold
10:15420 talents
10:16and brought it to King Solomon.
10:19In today's terms
10:20that's an astonishing 16 tons.
10:24Many biblical scholars
10:26believe that Etzion-Gever
10:28was very close
10:29to the present-day port of Elat.
10:36This is the city of Elat.
10:38It's at the southern tip of Israel
10:40where the desert meets the Red Sea.
10:42Today, it's a pretty swanky resort town
10:44with some of the world's best scuba diving.
10:46But back in the time of King Solomon,
10:48it was from this area
10:49that his ships set sail for Ophir.
10:54And that's not the only clue.
10:56The Bible also says,
10:58once in three years came the navy,
11:01bringing gold, silver, ivory, and apes.
11:06If Solomon's ships were gone
11:08for three years at a time,
11:10then their travels could have covered
11:12thousands of miles.
11:14That, plus the fact
11:16that they brought back
11:16both ivory and apes,
11:19led many to suggest
11:20that their destination Ophir
11:22was somewhere in Africa.
11:26I want to get a sense
11:27for what such a journey
11:28would have been like.
11:29Hi, Josh.
11:29Welcome on board, Thule.
11:31What's your name?
11:31Thule.
11:32Thule, put me to work.
11:33I'll swab the deck.
11:34I'll put you on the bow line today.
11:35You'll put me where?
11:36On the bow line.
11:37On the bow line.
11:37On the bow line.
11:38All right.
11:38Show me the way.
11:40Captain Thule is happy to comply.
11:43Just pull up with my hands?
11:44Yes.
11:45There's no motor.
11:46No motor.
11:46Your hands are the motor.
11:47The body is the motor.
11:49Okay, so when you say so,
11:51I'm just going to pull on this.
11:52Exactly.
12:08Boy Scouts, baby.
12:15So, Thule, how long would it take
12:16to get from here
12:17to South Africa?
12:22I've got one of these gizmos,
12:24which I'm sure Solomon's sailors
12:25would have killed for.
12:27It says from here to Mozambique
12:28is 3,100 miles,
12:31and we're now going
12:324.4 miles an hour.
12:33That's a lot of hours.
12:36So, at best,
12:37it's several weeks.
12:39Six weeks?
12:39Six weeks.
12:40And worse,
12:41with bad weather
12:41and a slow ship,
12:42it would take them a lot longer.
12:43Even longer, too.
12:44So, they had to be pretty determined.
12:46To go there
12:46and bring the gold, yeah?
12:48Yeah.
12:54As the sun sets,
12:55we leave modern-day Israel behind us.
12:59Now, I'm following in the wake
13:01of Solomon's sailors,
13:03setting sail for an alien land
13:05full of strange animals
13:06and the promise
13:07of untold riches.
13:13I'm searching
13:14for the Queen of Sheba's
13:15mythical land of Ophir,
13:17the source of King Solomon's gold.
13:19I've seen how precious ores
13:21were mined
13:22in ancient times in Israel,
13:25but I have yet to find
13:26any evidence
13:27that gold was mined there, too.
13:29So, what is this?
13:30This is copper mineral.
13:31No gold.
13:32Then why are these called
13:33King Solomon's mines?
13:35I've also found clues
13:36in the Bible
13:37suggesting that
13:38King Solomon's sailors
13:39brought him his gold
13:40from much farther away.
13:46Could Solomon's fleet
13:47have traveled
13:48all the way down
13:49the Swahili coast
13:50of East Africa?
13:53There's plenty
13:54of archaeological evidence
13:55suggesting these ancient ports
13:57traded with the Middle East
13:58for several thousand years.
14:01Could Solomon's sailors
14:03have left their ships
14:04and made their way inland
14:05to a place like this,
14:08the modern Southern African nation
14:10of Zimbabwe.
14:13Back in the 19th century,
14:15that's exactly
14:16what some people believed.
14:19Local historian Paul Tingay
14:21has written extensively
14:22on this subject.
14:24I'm on a quest
14:25to find the source
14:26of the gold
14:27used in King Solomon's mines.
14:29The Bible takes me
14:30a certain distance,
14:30but after that,
14:31there's really
14:31no information given.
14:33I think you're looking
14:34for the thing
14:34we'd all like to have found,
14:36King Solomon's mines,
14:37the Queen of Sheba's court,
14:39Ophir.
14:39But there was one man
14:41who was absolutely believed
14:43that here,
14:44somewhere in Southern Africa,
14:45was that Ophir.
14:49And that was a chap,
14:50a young geologist,
14:51German geologist,
14:51called Karl Mausch.
14:53He came in 1871,
14:54and any journey like this
14:57would have been pretty tough.
14:59You're going through malaria areas,
15:02you've got enormous amounts
15:03of wild game
15:04and not necessarily
15:06a friendly reception
15:07from the local folk.
15:08He had only one sort
15:10of driving thing
15:11in his life,
15:12and that was to find
15:13the biblical Ophir.
15:15He actually discovered gold
15:17in Zimbabwe.
15:19So the history of gold
15:20in Zimbabwe
15:22is well-established?
15:23Oh, absolutely.
15:24I mean, they were mining,
15:25they were panning
15:25in the rivers.
15:27And it was well-known
15:28to the Arabs,
15:30the Swahili traders
15:32who came in from Zanzibar
15:34and Oman
15:34that there was gold here.
15:35And nowadays, of course,
15:37oh, there are huge mines here.
15:38There's a lot of gold
15:39exported from Zimbabwe.
15:42Paul has put me in touch
15:44with a friend
15:44who works in a modern gold mine
15:46in Zimbabwe.
15:49Are you Daniel?
15:49Hello, yeah, I'm Daniel.
15:50All right, Josh.
15:51I'm curious to know
15:52if it's anything
15:52like the kind of mines
15:54which operated
15:54back in King Solomon's time.
15:56Yeah, sure.
15:58Before they'll let me
15:58go down underground,
15:59I've got to change
16:00into proper gear.
16:02Got to wear this.
16:03Hard hat, overalls,
16:07gumboots.
16:10Morning for duty.
16:11Let's go.
16:12This is my first
16:13underground mine.
16:14We're going to 18 level.
16:15Yeah?
16:16Yeah.
16:17Let me do it first.
16:19Hey, don't break.
16:24We got the driver on board.
16:26We are moving.
16:28This is exciting.
16:30Is there much of a view?
16:31No, okay, there goes a view.
16:34For me, it's exciting.
16:35It is?
16:35Oh, yeah.
16:36We're traveling
16:36to the bottom of the mine,
16:38level 18,
16:39which is 2,181 feet
16:42below the surface.
16:44That's almost half a mile.
16:46Welcome to 18th level.
16:49You have three shafts
16:50coming off here.
16:51Yeah.
16:51And then you split
16:52into more shafts?
16:53Into more wet areas.
16:54So from the 18th level,
16:55it just kind of fans out
16:56into lots of different mine shafts.
16:59Lead on.
16:59Yeah.
17:00Follow you.
17:01All right, then.
17:03So from the 18th level,
17:04Unlike ancient miners,
17:05workers now use dynamite
17:07to blast their way
17:08through tons of rock.
17:14In 2003,
17:16more than $12 million
17:17worth of gold
17:18was produced here.
17:22So this is what
17:23you're actually mining?
17:24Yes.
17:25If you look at this surface,
17:26it shows that there's
17:27enough gold.
17:28So this is an indicator
17:29that says there's gold
17:30in this rock.
17:31Absolutely.
17:32So what happens next?
17:32You take this to the surface?
17:34To the surface,
17:34to the plant where it's crushed
17:36and the gold extracted.
17:39As we approach
17:40the blasting zone,
17:41the air temperature rises.
17:42I can also smell it.
17:43Yeah.
17:44No, I can.
17:45Sure.
17:46I smell it.
17:46It's warmer.
17:47It's a lot warmer.
17:48Oh, yeah.
17:51This is where we go up?
17:52Yeah, we're going to go up
17:53there where those guys
17:54are waking.
18:01I mean, it feels foreign.
18:02It feels like I have
18:02absolutely no right
18:03to be between
18:04these massive rocks.
18:06And then just a little stick,
18:07you just go,
18:09The closer we get,
18:11the more treacherous
18:12the climb.
18:14This is not the kind
18:15of space where someone
18:16who's claustrophobic
18:17should venture into.
18:19It's really tight.
18:20The pitch,
18:21just take a look at us.
18:22We're like this.
18:24We're struggling
18:25to keep flat against this rock.
18:26And there's not much visibility
18:28except for what our headlands show.
18:31Hey, look over this way.
18:32Look at the drillers.
18:34The miners' drills
18:35are deafening.
18:37Hitting a pocket of gas
18:38is an ever-present danger.
18:40So there's nothing down here
18:42with a spark plug.
18:43In fact,
18:44these drills are powered
18:45by compressed air.
18:47That air is fed to the machines
18:49and to us
18:50from the surface,
18:51almost half a mile
18:52above our heads.
18:53It's time to make my way
18:55back to the main mine shaft elevator.
18:57That was unbelievable.
18:59Yeah, I never would have thought
19:00that this is how mining is done.
19:01But if I were here 3,000 years ago
19:04and I did not have water,
19:05electricity,
19:06compressed air,
19:07how could people have pulled gold
19:08out of these rocks?
19:10They would have gone this deep.
19:11They wouldn't have been this deep?
19:13No.
19:13So they would have stayed
19:14closer to the surface?
19:15To the surface, yeah.
19:16Ah, so it sounds like
19:17there's plenty of gold here,
19:18but for my purposes,
19:19I need to be exploring
19:20closer to the surface.
19:24Zimbabwe really is rich in gold,
19:26but not so rich
19:27that we don't get searched
19:29before we leave the mine.
19:31I like being searched
19:32for gold nuggets.
19:34He doesn't know
19:35where I've hidden them, though.
19:36My hat?
19:37Yes.
19:38Good?
19:39Yes.
19:39They didn't find them.
19:43We're clean.
19:44Run!
19:45From the mine,
19:46it's a five-hour drive
19:47to a place called
19:48Great Zimbabwe.
19:50Paul Tingay
19:51will be there to meet me.
19:54The next day,
19:55the sun rises
19:56a beautiful crimson red
19:58over this mysterious location.
20:02The place that Karl Mauch
20:03prized more highly than gold.
20:07Paul tells me
20:08that the German explorer
20:09really did discover
20:10plenty of gold
20:11here in Zimbabwe.
20:13It's just that
20:14it wasn't his ultimate goal.
20:17Mauch was driven
20:18by a grander dream
20:19of discovering
20:20a lost city
20:21in the wilderness.
20:23So tell me, Josh,
20:24how did you enjoy
20:25your trip down the mine?
20:26Oh, I loved it.
20:27But it's much more commercial
20:28than what I'm guessing
20:29Karl Mauch experienced.
20:30Oh, yes, absolutely.
20:31But of course,
20:32that wasn't why
20:33he was here at all.
20:34So he found gold,
20:35but he kept going.
20:36Absolutely.
20:37I mean, he was looking
20:37for something
20:38completely different.
20:39He was actually looking
20:40for this fabulous
20:41African city.
20:42He was actually
20:43looking for...
20:45Ophir.
20:47Could these ruins
20:48be the actual capital
20:50of Ophir,
20:51the court
20:51of the Queen of Sheba,
20:53the true source
20:54of King Solomon's gold?
21:02I'm searching
21:03for one of the most famous
21:04and elusive caches
21:05in history,
21:06the gold mines
21:07of the Bible's wisest
21:08and wealthiest ruler,
21:10King Solomon.
21:12I've learned
21:13that some of the gold
21:14was a gift
21:15from the Queen of Sheba
21:16and some was brought
21:17from a mysterious land
21:19called Ophir.
21:21In the 1870s,
21:22a German explorer
21:23named Karl Mauch
21:24crisscrossed southern Africa
21:26looking for the
21:27biblical Ophir.
21:30Eventually,
21:31he came here
21:32to the amazing ruins
21:34of Great Zimbabwe.
21:36It's sub-Saharan Africa's
21:38largest pre-colonial
21:40stone structure.
21:43Edward Matanga,
21:44the curator of the site,
21:46is showing me around.
21:49As you can see,
21:51this is the main entrance.
21:53This place is huge.
21:55This is the largest
21:56pre-colonial structure
21:58in sub-Saharan Africa.
22:01How much of this site
22:02is original
22:02versus reconstructed?
22:04The Great Enclosure
22:06is for the most part
22:06original.
22:08Wow.
22:09I can see why
22:10Karl Mauch
22:10spent so much time here.
22:11These walls
22:12are incredible.
22:13How tall is this?
22:15This is 11 meters tall.
22:16That's unbelievable.
22:17And there's nothing in here
22:18but rock,
22:19just solid.
22:20Stones.
22:21As you can see,
22:21this is built of stones
22:23without the use of mortar.
22:25These dry stone walls
22:26are made up of millions
22:28of granite rocks
22:29quarried from the hills
22:30around Great Zimbabwe.
22:31The walls were designed
22:33to be thinner at the top
22:34and wider at the base,
22:35utilizing gravity
22:36to keep all the stones
22:38in place.
22:39Amazingly,
22:40without the use of mortar.
22:42This place was a shrine.
22:45This place is very significant
22:47to the ancestors
22:48of Edward's people,
22:50the Shona,
22:51who ruled over
22:53a large part
22:53of southern Africa.
22:55It was a ritual
22:57gathering place.
23:00But sometime
23:01after its peak
23:02in the 14th century,
23:03it was abandoned.
23:06Of course,
23:07the German explorer
23:08Karl Mauch
23:09knew none of this.
23:10He had spent six years
23:12trekking through
23:13southern Africa,
23:14searching for the
23:15mysterious land
23:16land of Ophir
23:17and the source
23:18of King Solomon's wealth.
23:21So when he discovered
23:22Great Zimbabwe in 1871,
23:25he was sure
23:26that he'd found
23:27exactly what he'd been
23:28looking for.
23:31Mauch,
23:31like many European explorers
23:33of his day,
23:34was a racist.
23:36He simply could not believe
23:38that black Africans
23:39built these amazing structures.
23:43Moreover,
23:44he was desperate
23:44to prove to the world
23:46that this place
23:47was the biblical Ophir,
23:49that it had ties
23:50back to the ancient
23:51Middle East.
23:54I'm guessing that
23:55when Karl Mauch
23:55came here in the 1870s,
23:57he didn't know
23:57as much about archaeology
23:58as we do today.
23:59So was there
24:00anything physical,
24:01anything tangible
24:02that he saw
24:02that said to him,
24:04ah, this must be
24:05from King Solomon
24:06or the Queen of Sheba?
24:07Karl Mauch
24:08was unfortunately
24:08to have been misled
24:09by the finding
24:10of a piece of wood.
24:12Mauch was intent
24:13on providing a link
24:14between Great Zimbabwe
24:15and the Bible.
24:17Even the most tenuous evidence
24:19was enough for him.
24:20For example,
24:21when Mauch discovered
24:22a beam made
24:23of aromatic wood,
24:24he immediately jumped
24:26to the extraordinary conclusion
24:27that it was cedar,
24:29the same wood
24:30King Solomon had used
24:31to build his temple
24:32in Jerusalem.
24:36And so he thinks,
24:37because in the Bible
24:38it says Solomon used
24:39cedars from Lebanon,
24:40he figures these
24:41are cedars from Lebanon
24:42and therefore this
24:43must be built by Solomon.
24:44Absolutely,
24:45that's the kind of story
24:46that he constructed.
24:47Many European settlers
24:49embraced Mauch's ideas.
24:51Mauch, they said,
24:52had proved
24:53that a biblical kingdom
24:54once existed
24:55in the heart of Africa.
24:58As a result,
24:59Christian colonizers
25:01could lay claim
25:01to an ancient title
25:03to these lands.
25:05One that predated
25:06the claims
25:06of native Africans.
25:09And the fact
25:10that Mauch
25:11also discovered gold
25:12at Great Zimbabwe
25:13only ensured
25:14that even his wildest speculations
25:16were accepted as truth.
25:19In fact,
25:20his findings triggered
25:21a kind of gold rush.
25:22European prospectors
25:24headed to the ancient city
25:25and systematically
25:27plundered the ruins.
25:29Their exploits
25:30were given
25:30the aura of respectability.
25:32A company was established
25:34to oversee the operation,
25:35but this was
25:36no archaeological site.
25:39Trenches were dug everywhere
25:41and many of the walls
25:43were destroyed.
25:44Priceless artifacts
25:45were found,
25:47but they were almost
25:48all melted down.
25:50Destroying vital evidence
25:52about the real history
25:53of this place.
25:55It would be
25:55almost 60 years later
25:57before a serious
25:58archaeological study
25:59of Great Zimbabwe
26:00would be undertaken.
26:03It was led
26:04by an English woman,
26:05Gertrude Caton Thompson.
26:07She was appalled
26:09by what she found.
26:10The site had been ransacked
26:12by a succession
26:13of treasure seekers.
26:14She thought
26:14the true origins
26:15of Great Zimbabwe
26:16might be lost forever.
26:20But Caton Thompson
26:21didn't give up.
26:23Instead, she performed
26:25an aerial survey
26:26of the site.
26:28It was at the time
26:29a revolutionary idea.
26:32She was looking
26:33for evidence
26:34of human habitation,
26:35which had somehow
26:36escaped the looters.
26:41Amazingly,
26:42she spotted a site
26:43which was completely
26:44undisturbed.
26:48back on the ground,
26:50Caton Thompson
26:50began to excavate.
26:53Almost everything
26:54she discovered
26:55was of African
26:56rather than
26:57Middle Eastern origin.
27:00It soon became clear.
27:02Great Zimbabwe
27:03had been built
27:04by the ancestors
27:04of the Shona people,
27:06who still live
27:07in the area today.
27:08So you're saying
27:09that this site
27:10can help explain
27:11what Great Zimbabwe
27:12was all about.
27:14Caton Thompson
27:15actually proved
27:16beyond reasonable doubt
27:17that this site
27:19was essentially African.
27:21So Karl Mauch's
27:22original belief
27:23that he found Ophir
27:24faded away.
27:26Absolutely.
27:27But Caton Thompson
27:28did more than
27:29disprove Mauch.
27:31The foreign ceramics
27:32and beads
27:32she discovered
27:33showed that
27:34Great Zimbabwe
27:35was at the center
27:36of a complex
27:37and sophisticated
27:38trading network,
27:39one that stretched
27:40from Central Africa
27:41to Persia,
27:42India,
27:43even China.
27:44In fact,
27:45she proved
27:46that Great Zimbabwe
27:47was at the hub
27:48of Southern Africa's
27:49gold trade.
27:50And since then,
27:51it's been shown
27:51that the mining techniques
27:53used at Great Zimbabwe
27:54were very similar
27:55to the ancient techniques
27:56I'd learned about
27:57in Southern Israel.
27:59But there's still
28:00no link
28:01to King Solomon.
28:03Carbon dating
28:03has shown that
28:04this site
28:05was occupied
28:05between the 9th
28:06and the 14th
28:07centuries AD.
28:09nearly 2,000 years
28:10after Sheba
28:11and Solomon.
28:13So it looks like
28:14I've struck out twice
28:15on my quest
28:16to find King Solomon's
28:17mines.
28:18Still,
28:19there is one
28:20other place
28:20in Africa
28:21which claims
28:22strong ties
28:22to the Queen of Sheba.
28:26Its claim,
28:27while not endorsed
28:28by all archaeologists,
28:30is certainly
28:31more credible
28:32than Karl Marx.
28:34That's gold.
28:35This is gold.
28:35The yellow one
28:36is gold.
28:36The search
28:37for King Solomon's mines
28:38and the Queen of Sheba
28:40is not over yet.
28:41But now it is already
28:43eroded.
28:43Word is
28:44she came from
28:45northern Ethiopia.
28:47That's where I need
28:47to go next.
28:54I'm on the trail
28:55of one of history's
28:56most famous treasures.
28:59King Solomon's mines.
29:01The Bible tells us
29:03that the gold
29:03in Solomon's temple
29:04came from the land
29:05of Ophir.
29:07But it doesn't tell us
29:08where Ophir is.
29:14So far,
29:15I've drawn a blank
29:16in both Israel
29:17and Zimbabwe.
29:19But I'm not
29:20giving up yet.
29:22I'm taking another plane
29:24deeper into Africa
29:25to the fascinating
29:27and beautiful country
29:28of Ethiopia.
29:32This place
29:33claims an ancient link
29:34to the Queen of Sheba.
29:35But in modern times,
29:37it's unfortunately
29:38better known
29:38for famine and war.
29:41I've just landed
29:41in Aksum
29:42in northern Ethiopia.
29:43Until recently,
29:44this was the front line
29:45of a border war
29:46with Eritrea.
29:47And it wouldn't have been
29:48safe for me to be here.
29:51Today,
29:52the UN supervises
29:54a fragile peace.
29:55And the people of Aksum
29:57get on with their lives.
30:01I've come to the town
30:02of Aksum
30:03in northern Ethiopia,
30:04not far from the border
30:05of Eritrea.
30:07This may look like
30:07a sleepy provincial town
30:09today,
30:09but these giant stelae
30:11testify to the fact
30:12that this was once
30:13the seat of power
30:13for both kings
30:14and queens.
30:17Aksum has a deep
30:18connection
30:19with the Queen of Sheba.
30:22According to legend,
30:23she was born here.
30:25And this was her palace.
30:31These walls
30:31are all that remains
30:32of the Queen of Sheba's palace.
30:34Unfortunately,
30:35they're not telling me much.
30:36It's well preserved.
30:38But there's no
30:39incontrovertible
30:40archaeological evidence
30:41that the Queen of Sheba
30:42ever reigned here.
30:47But custom still insists
30:49that she did once
30:50live nearby.
30:52To find out more,
30:53I'm heading to the country's
30:54capital,
30:55Addis Ababa,
30:56to speak with a leading
30:57Ethiopian historian,
30:59a specialist in
31:00ancient mining techniques.
31:02He may have some clues
31:03as to the whereabouts
31:05of King Solomon's mines.
31:07Addis Ababa
31:08is the bustling heart
31:09of Ethiopia.
31:11It's also the place
31:12where most of the country's
31:13gold is bought and sold.
31:19Dr. Tekla Haimanot
31:21Gabri-Selase
31:23is the department chair
31:24for history
31:25at Addis Ababa University.
31:26Nice to meet you.
31:27Thanks, man.
31:27Have a seat, please.
31:31Coffee?
31:32So I'd like to know,
31:33since you're a historian,
31:35what can you tell me
31:36about the Queen of Sheba
31:36and the gold trade
31:37here in Ethiopia?
31:39Queen Sheba is said
31:39to have lived
31:40in the 1st 1,000 B.C.
31:42Tekla tells me
31:43the Queen of Sheba
31:44is believed to have ruled
31:45here in 1,000 B.C.
31:48After hearing about
31:49King Solomon's great wisdom,
31:51she became intrigued.
31:54Sheba traveled to Jerusalem
31:56with a treasure trove
31:57of gifts,
31:58including vast amounts
31:59of gold.
32:00In the Bible,
32:01it said that King Solomon
32:02ported at Ophir.
32:04Do you know anything
32:05about Ophir?
32:06Yes.
32:07To me,
32:08it was Ethiopia
32:08which provided Solomon
32:10with gold because...
32:12Tekla believes
32:12that the land
32:13referred to as Ophir
32:15in the Bible
32:15is the coastal area
32:17known as Afar.
32:19It's only 300 miles
32:21from here.
32:22Was it to Afar
32:23that King Solomon's
32:24ships once sailed?
32:26Did they then travel
32:27inland in search of gold?
32:33One thing is certain.
32:35Ethiopia has an ancient
32:37gold industry.
32:38Even today,
32:40the streets of Addis Ababa
32:41are literally lined
32:42with jewelers
32:43and gold merchants.
32:46Where do these
32:47craftsmen and artists
32:48get their gold?
32:50Could it be the same place
32:52that the Queen of Sheba
32:53got hers?
32:54That's beautiful stuff.
32:56And everything here
32:57is made in the store.
32:59Can I take a look
33:00at one of these rings?
33:01Yes, sir.
33:03Second one.
33:04No, this way.
33:06Yeah, that one.
33:09It's wonderful.
33:10Yeah.
33:11So where do you get
33:12your rings from?
33:13We make them here.
33:15You make this stuff here?
33:16Yes, sir.
33:17Really?
33:17No workshop in here.
33:18Is that something
33:19that I could take a look at?
33:20Yes, you can show it.
33:22Beautiful.
33:22It turns out
33:23that this is not
33:24your average Main Street
33:25jeweler.
33:27Amazingly,
33:27they actually turn
33:28raw gold into jewelry
33:30in the back of the store.
33:31Ah!
33:33Do you buy the gold
33:34directly yourself?
33:35Yes.
33:36There are suppliers.
33:37We buy them.
33:38We buy from them.
33:38And then you bring it back here,
33:40melt it,
33:41and make your own jewelry.
33:44It takes a 1,400 degree
33:45Fahrenheit flame
33:46to smelt gold.
33:48Tekla tells me
33:49this is the same way
33:50Ethiopians have been
33:51turning raw gold
33:52into jewelry
33:52for the past 3,000 years.
33:55In other words,
33:56since the time of Sheba.
33:59That's the ring?
34:00Yeah.
34:01And how does this work?
34:02You put it like this?
34:03Yeah.
34:03And there's going to be
34:04this on top?
34:05So from here,
34:05you polish it?
34:06We polish it,
34:07we file it,
34:07we polish it,
34:08and make...
34:08And then you sell it?
34:10Yeah.
34:10Tomorrow?
34:11Tomorrow.
34:11Tomorrow you sell it.
34:13I can show you
34:13how they polish it,
34:15how they polish the gold.
34:16Let's do that.
34:17They don't just cast
34:18basic rings.
34:19They also craft
34:20intricate jewelry,
34:21like these famous
34:22Ethiopian crosses.
34:25He made this cross?
34:26Yes.
34:26A skill which has been
34:28passed down
34:28through the ages
34:29since Sheba's time.
34:33So this is handmade here,
34:34Ethiopian cross
34:35with Ethiopian gold.
34:36Yes.
34:37Do you know where
34:38the gold that went
34:39into this cross came from?
34:39Kebra Mengist.
34:41Have you heard
34:41of Kebra Mengist?
34:42Yes.
34:42All the gold
34:43in this shop
34:43comes from Kebra Mengist,
34:45a gold-rich region
34:46to the south.
34:48If I can get us there,
34:49you'll come with me?
34:50I will come with you.
34:51Okay.
34:51That's it.
34:52Tekla's told me
34:53that the Queen of Sheba's
34:54biblical kingdom
34:55may well have been
34:56modern-day Ethiopia.
34:58That's gold in there.
34:59And that gold
35:00from this region
35:01could have actually
35:02made it
35:02to King Solomon's court.
35:04I've got a lead
35:05on a traditional
35:06Ethiopian gold mine,
35:07and I'm going
35:08to check it out.
35:09But I've still
35:10got to find it,
35:11and spotting the remnants
35:12of ancient mining
35:13will be a challenge,
35:15even from the air.
35:21I'm searching
35:22for King Solomon's mines,
35:23for the source
35:24of his wealth
35:25in the mysterious land
35:26of Ophir,
35:28and for whatever's left
35:29of a motherload of gold,
35:31which according
35:32according to the Bible,
35:33the Queen of Sheba
35:34gave to King Solomon.
35:39I've crawled
35:39through a 3,000-year-old
35:41copper mine
35:42in Israel's Negev desert,
35:45ventured deep underground
35:46in a modern gold mine
35:47in Zimbabwe,
35:49and traveled
35:50to an ancient city
35:51in southern Africa.
35:52This place is huge.
35:54So far,
35:55my search has been in vain.
35:57But now that I'm in Ethiopia,
35:59maybe my luck
36:00will finally change.
36:02One of the country's
36:03best historians
36:04has told me that Ophir
36:06may simply be an ancient name
36:07for Ethiopia's coastal region,
36:09now called Afar.
36:13And there's more.
36:14Here in Addis Ababa,
36:16I've learned about a place
36:17called Kebramangist.
36:19It's located
36:19in a remote part
36:20of the country,
36:21yet it happens
36:22to be the center
36:23of a gold mining industry
36:24that's thousands
36:25of years old.
36:29It's 500 miles
36:30from Addis to Kebramangist.
36:33But there's no way
36:34I'm not making
36:35this last leg
36:36of my quest.
36:38It's 7 a.m.,
36:39and I'm at
36:39Bolle International Airport
36:41in Addis Ababa,
36:42the capital of Ethiopia.
36:43I've come here
36:44to meet Vern Bell,
36:45a bush pilot
36:46who's agreed to take me
36:47and Dr. Gebre Selassie
36:48south for some exploring.
36:50I'm hoping
36:51that with Vern's
36:52knowledge of the backcountry
36:53and Tekle's knowledge
36:55of Ethiopian mining history,
36:56I can finally find
36:58the gold mines
36:59of King Solomon.
37:01We're heading
37:02for a very remote part
37:03of southwestern Ethiopia.
37:05How are you?
37:07Even by plane,
37:08it's not an easy place
37:09to get to.
37:17As we fly deeper
37:18into the backcountry,
37:19we see the scars
37:20left by modern mining operations.
37:23But we're looking
37:24for ancient mines,
37:25and they're much harder
37:27to spot.
37:31As I learned in Israel,
37:33detecting ancient mining operations
37:34isn't easy.
37:36To add to the challenge,
37:37our destination
37:38isn't even on the map.
37:40So where we're going today
37:41is unusual.
37:42Yeah, I've done before.
37:49After 90 minutes
37:51in the air,
37:51we reach Kebremangust.
37:53It's a small village
37:55with a landing strip
37:56of sorts.
37:57According to Tekla,
37:59this is where
38:00the gold mines should be.
38:09We landed as close as we could,
38:11and now it's about
38:12a 15, 20-minute drive
38:13to the actual mines.
38:16As we approach
38:17what we hope
38:18is a mining area,
38:19I'm surprised
38:20that there's no evidence
38:21of an ancient settlement
38:23and no large structures
38:24to suggest
38:25a mining community.
38:28Cowcrossing.
38:28Yeah.
38:38This is it, right?
38:39Yep.
38:39We have arrived here.
38:40This is as close
38:41as we can get to the mines
38:41by car.
38:42From here,
38:42we go by foot.
38:45This is the mining community?
38:47Yeah, this is the mining community
38:48which settles here
38:50and mines in the riverside there.
38:54Tekla tells me
38:54that these mining communities
38:56are not permanent.
38:57Any gold
38:58that each person finds...
38:59Once the workers
39:00have exhausted the site,
39:01they move on.
39:03So they're not getting rich
39:04on the gold?
39:05No, they don't.
39:05But they make a living?
39:06They make a living.
39:07Hang over there for a second.
39:09Just take a look.
39:12A battalion.
39:13We have the whole village
39:14following us.
39:15We are going to the original place
39:17where they get the rocks.
39:18It's up here
39:19on the mountainside.
39:19Yeah.
39:21Walking up the hill,
39:23we come across
39:24deep holes in the ground.
39:25They look very similar
39:27to the mines I saw in Israel
39:28and to the ancient mining practices
39:30I heard about in Zimbabwe.
39:33People mine the rock.
39:34This is a mine shaft?
39:35Yeah.
39:36But according to Tekla,
39:37this area,
39:38unlike Timna
39:39or Great Zimbabwe,
39:40was being actively mined
39:42during the reign
39:43of King Solomon.
39:44And they climb their way up?
39:45Exactly.
39:46And so they're pulling rocks
39:47out of here,
39:48bringing them down there.
39:49But they use these buckets
39:51and pull it.
39:54From the top of the hill,
39:56I can finally get an idea
39:57of this scale
39:58of what's going on here.
40:02This hillside is pockmarked
40:04with small, deep holes,
40:06just like the mine workings
40:07in Timna,
40:08some 2,000 miles away
40:10in Israel.
40:13And hundreds of people
40:15are working here,
40:16all of them searching for gold.
40:19This really is a community effort,
40:21and the entire village
40:22is in the gold trade.
40:25So this one just started?
40:27Yeah, they have started.
40:27How long have they been
40:28digging this hole?
40:29Mucha maracut.
40:31Today, they started today.
40:32Yeah.
40:35These stones are the signals
40:37of that.
40:38It's glittering, yeah?
40:39And that tells them
40:40that there might be gold
40:40in the soil.
40:41Yeah.
40:44So what's happening here?
40:45They are processing it here.
40:48So it's definitely
40:49not a one-man show.
40:50It's more of a community effort?
40:52It's a community effort,
40:54in fact.
40:54One man cannot do this one.
40:55It has to be by group.
40:57It has to be done by group.
40:59What's going on over here?
41:01First, they have brought
41:03the rock from somewhere else,
41:05and they are grinding it here.
41:08In these iron pigs?
41:09Yes, they're crashing.
41:11And everything's by hand?
41:13Everything is by hand.
41:14That's some good work.
41:16Can I get a shot?
41:17Can I help?
41:19All right?
41:20Here you come.
41:20Yeah.
41:22There we go.
41:24Okay.
41:26Pull it up.
41:28All right.
41:29Zend.
41:34Anything else?
41:41Where's my gold?
41:42Yeah.
41:44Throughout my journey,
41:45I've seen archaeological evidence
41:47of ancient mining techniques.
41:50But here, I can actually witness these techniques in action.
41:55I can only imagine the immense amount of manpower
41:59it would have taken to provide King Solomon
42:01with the estimated 24 tons of gold
42:05that he shipped out of Ophir every year.
42:09After seeing the rocks being pounded,
42:11Tecla takes me to see the next step in the process.
42:14So, Tecla, tell me what's going on here.
42:17After having ground the soil,
42:20they are washing the soil in order to get the gold,
42:24which is very heavy.
42:26That's gold.
42:26Yeah, exactly.
42:28With other minerals.
42:30The final step in the process is called panning.
42:33Using water, the heavy gold is separated
42:36from the lighter, less valuable minerals.
42:39They clean it completely, then they start.
42:41Yeah.
42:42More water.
42:42Mm-hmm.
42:43Look.
42:45That's gold.
42:45Yeah, exactly.
42:48That's gold.
42:48This is gold.
42:49The yellow one is.
42:51It's gold.
42:52No, no.
42:52It's in the middle.
42:54It's in the middle.
42:56So what happens to the dust, the gold dust?
42:58Then he collects that in the middle, it's the terroir.
43:01But I'm wondering, with this technique,
43:03how long has this been going on?
43:05This is traditional.
43:07This is the exact method,
43:08but these are the same wooden bowls.
43:10Same process.
43:11Would have been here several thousand years ago.
43:13Exactly.
43:17Three thousand years ago,
43:19when King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
43:21had access to these lands in southern Ethiopia,
43:23they could have farmed tons and tons of gold
43:26and left absolutely no scar.
43:29After a period of time,
43:30they would just disappear back into the landscape.
43:33This is nothing like the mines of Timna,
43:36which I saw in southern Israel.
43:38There, the ancient mines were preserved.
43:41Here, a combination of softer soil
43:44and seasonal rains means that even the oldest mines
43:47are just a few years old.
43:49But another kind of evidence does endure.
43:53It's the people.
43:55More specifically,
43:57it's the way they mine their gold.
44:06These are not King Solomon's actual mines,
44:10but this is almost certainly
44:11what they would have looked like.
44:13More remarkably,
44:15the miners working here today
44:16could well be the descendants
44:18of the men and women
44:19who 3,000 years ago
44:20toiled for King Solomon
44:22and for the Queen of Sheba.
44:45The Queen of Sheba
44:54The Queen of Sheba
44:55The Queen of Sheba
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