Original subtitles

The Bible is the world's most popular book, and the backbone of its largest

religion.

Somehow, despite the efforts of billions of people who have studied its text,

these pages contain several of mankind's greatest unsolved mysteries.

Tonight, we take on two of the Bible's most famous legends, iconic treasures

thought to bring untold wealth to anyone who can find them today.

King Solomon's mines, and the Ark of the Covenant.

Do they actually exist?

Can they still be found?

Or, have they already been discovered?

To find out, we'll search through time and across conflict, tracking a

surprising relationship between these two priceless mysteries.

And by the end, we may finally pinpoint their true locations, as we go in search

of... The Bible

isn't

just one book.

Depending on which branch of Christianity you follow, it's upwards of

written by thousands of authors over the course of 1 ,400 years.

Its New Testament is famous for the Gospels of Jesus.

and its Old Testament features the creation of the universe, the Exodus

Egypt, and tales of the early kings of the Israelites, the most successful of

whom was the famed King Solomon.

According to the Bible, Solomon was born in Jerusalem and ascended to power

during the 10th century BCE.

As a leader, he expanded Israel's trade and military strength, founded numerous

colonies, and built the first Hebrew temple in Jerusalem.

Solomon was famous for his wisdom, said to be a gift from God. His proverbs

feature heavily in several religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and

Islam. But he was famous for something else, too, his incredible wealth, thanks

to the legendary King Solomon's mines.

For centuries,

many have speculated that Solomon had access to a near unlimited supply of

precious metals from a secret underground mine.

But unfortunately for those would -be treasure hunters, its location has been

lost to history.

The search for the mine has inspired several books and movies, with tales of

Solomon's bounty hidden as far away as the Americas.

But in reality, it's more likely to be found closer to Solomon's biblical home,

specifically within the kingdom of the Israelites.

And here, less than 200 miles south of Jerusalem,

archaeologists Erez Ben Yosef and Vanessa Workman believe they might have

uncovered the true location of King Solomon's mines.

The Timna Valley is rich in minerals that have been mined since ancient

But they're not the minerals you might expect.

While many people believed that gold was the resource in Timna, what we see here

is a remnant of a vein of copper.

In Israel and all the neighboring areas, we don't have any gold.

Gold as a metal is very soft.

You can't use it for tools and things like that.

We know today that copper was the most important resource, the most important

metal in the ancient world.

It was made into objects that were useful in both agriculture and weaponry,

also to be used to help build in the period.

Erez's team of archaeologists has been digging here in Timna for the past 10

years, trying to unravel the truth behind who controlled these colossal

Exploring the ancient mines of Timna, we are asking questions about who were

conducting all of these mining operations, which society, in which

chronology, the technology, the culture, the trade connections, all of these

aspects of this huge operation.

Archaeologists have long debated which kingdom owned and operated these mines,

with most agreeing that it couldn't have been Solomon's.

Previous activity in Timna dated this major period to the Egyptian dynasties

the 13th century BCE.

But is it possible the experts have been wrong all along?

Written evidence provides an interesting link between King Solomon and copper.

According to the biblical text, copper was used to furnish and help build

Solomon's temple.

They were building the pillars of the temple. They were covering the walls and

other things in the temple with vast quantities of copper.

In the time of King Solomon, whoever had copper had power.

It's like oil of today. And these mines were one of the sources of that power.

Based on extensive biblical evidence, Erez was convinced that Solomon had a

copper mine in his kingdom.

But now, he had to prove it.

Step one was to analyze the tools the miners used.

You can see very nicely the chisel mark.

What you can see here is evidence of mining underground with metal tools.

And these chisel marks are 3 ,000 years old.

Unfortunately, both the Egyptians and the Israelites used similar tools.

So while these marks could mean this was Solomon's mine, they still weren't

definitive proof.

But Eris and Vanessa had one more place to look.

The mining tunnels were only one part of this massive ancient operation.

Our real information for understanding the activity of this period comes from

the smelting camp.

After it was mined, the extracted copper then had to go through a smelting

process.

which involves heating the raw ore to extract the base metal within.

Once the copper is removed, the excess rock is discarded as a hardened black

material called slag.

In order to find the smelting camp, Eris and Vanessa searched the Timna Valley

for slag.

Soon enough, they found precisely what they were looking for.

On this hill itself, we have more than 1 ,000 tons of copper slag, which tells

us about 100 tons of copper produced over about a century.

This is one of the largest copper -smelting camps of ancient times.

Once they found it, the archaeologists next tried to determine its layout.

Because copper was one of the most valuable resources in the ancient world,

had to be protected.

This means that they built a defense system around the smelting camps to keep

people out.

There was only one access point into the site at the pathway that leads up to

the top.

It still wasn't enough evidence to prove who built the camp.

But the picture of this ancient mining operation was definitely getting

The wall and the location of the site are indeed evidence for the need of

defense and protection of this valuable material.

They protected the secret of making stone into metal.

The knowledge itself was a commodity.

The technology used in a smelting camp 3 ,000 years ago is impressive for us

today, and despite years and years of research, we're still piecing together

exactly what this real ancient recipe was, which at that time was considered

magic.

Clearly, the copper industry in Timna was well organized.

But the question remains.

Who was in charge of its organization?

Was it the Egyptians, as historians have long believed?

Or could it possibly have been King Solomon?

Just a few months ago, Erez and Vanessa made an incredible discovery amongst the

tons of leftover slag the miners left behind.

Who's to date?

That's amazing. I think it's the first one.

I need a special bag over here.

This new information could blow the long -sought secret of King Solomon's mines

wide open.

Coming up,

we strike gold in our search for King Solomon's mines, and later, reveal a

shocking connection to an even more valuable biblical treasure.

For centuries, treasure seekers have pursued the famed King Solomon's mines.

But as it turns out, if they exist, they may have been hiding in plain sight in

a location that's been misunderstood for decades.

Just a few months ago, in Israel's Himna Valley, archaeologists made a shocking

discovery while excavating the region's ancient copper mines.

This is rare.

It's a finding that could rewrite the history of this well -known legend.

When Dr.

Erez Ben -Yosef first arrived to the Timna Valley ten years ago, the area's

copper mines were already well -known.

In fact, many believed there was nothing new to be found.

It was commonly accepted that due to the mine's sophistication, they must have

belonged to ancient Egypt.

Unwilling to accept that as a foregone conclusion,

Dr. Bagnoso's team kept digging, and what they discovered was phenomenal.

They discovered hundreds of remnants of the ancient copper workers, seeds and

bones from their meals, and even parts of their clothing, all perfectly

preserved due to the area's dry climate.

These items were so well preserved, in fact, that they could still be carbon

dated. The mystery of when these mines were in operation, and therefore who

controlled them, was about to be solved.

The team's findings were sent to a lab to determine if these mines truly were

Egyptian, or if they could have belonged to someone else.

And only when the date came back from the lab, we were amazed, because not a

single date fits to the new kingdom of Egypt.

So of course we sent more and more samples and the results are clear.

All the dates concentrated around the 10th century BCE.

The most intense time of production here was at the time of King Solomon.

For decades we've wondered what could have been the source of wealth of this

small kingdom in Jerusalem that controlled a huge area according to the

Bible. And now with this discovery we suddenly have an amazing source of

that can explain.

the power of King Solomon.

This is an incredible find that will force people to rethink history.

To me, it's clear that if there were mines of King Solomon, they were of

and they were here.

If these Timna Valley copper mines did in fact belong to King Solomon,

It goes a long way toward proving the Bible's claims of his unimaginable

But one crucial detail is still missing.

Where did his gold come from?

1 Kings chapter 10 of the Bible states, The weight of the gold which Solomon

received each year was 666 talents.

Converted into today's measurements.

That's approximately 25 tons of gold for each year of his 40 -year reign.

To put that into perspective, the Bible says that King Solomon had more than

double the amount of the U .S. gold bullion deposits currently held in the

York Federal Reserve.

Nowhere within the kingdom of the Israelites can that incredible volume of

be found.

Therefore, we can only reach one conclusion.

While the kingdom may have had a lucrative copper mine within its

gold must have been brought in from outside.

Fortunately, the Bible gives us a clue about who might have transported it and

where it originated.

According to the Bible, Solomon expanded his kingdom from the southern border

with Egypt all the way to Syria.

putting him in a position to control merchants and freight carriers between

Africa, Europe, and Asia.

But only one nearby group had ships large enough to carry massive quantities

gold.

The Phoenicians.

The Bible describes a clear connection between Solomon and the Phoenician king

Hiram.

Solomon gave the Phoenicians grain supplies, and in return, According to

Book of Kings, Hiram sent his men to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of

gold, which they delivered to Solomon.

Is it possible that if we head to Ophir, we might find the source of Solomon's

gold?

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly where Ophir was.

Historians have speculated that it could have been somewhere in the Middle East.

Africa or Asia.

But its exact location has remained a mystery.

A mystery that may have recently been solved by an historian in the Tigray

region of Ethiopia.

In the Bible, the land of Ophir is known as the land of gold.

Ethiopia means the land of the yellowish gold.

And the majority of gold is found here in Tigray.

We think that gold from the Bible is from here.

Situated in the far north of the country, Ethiopia's Tigray region is a

likely candidate for the location of Ophir.

Because not only is the land rich in gold, but it also has a surprising

connection to King Solomon.

At the time of Solomon's reign, this area was possibly controlled by another

famous biblical figure.

the queen of Sheba.

And what's more, according to the Bible, she and Solomon were quite close with

one another.

The second book of Chronicles states that early in Solomon's reign, the queen

visited Jerusalem to seek out his famous wisdom.

And she didn't come empty -handed.

Her gifts included 120 talents of gold, around four tons of it.

from her kingdom's mines.

The queen and Solomon had a love affair, resulting in the birth of a son,

forever uniting these two kingdoms.

But the gold Sheba brought to Solomon was just the tip of the iceberg.

She may have possessed some of the oldest and most famous gold mines in

history.

There's a chance those gold reserves still exist today, in a remote area just

miles from where Shiva's palace once stood.

All this land where I'm standing is full of gold.

And the search continues today.

While the exact location of the ancient gold mines has remained a mystery, there

are still trace deposits at the surface.

To find them, locals extract earth from the banks of the river, filling their

buckets with sediment.

Then they take that sediment down to the water, persisting.

If we're close enough to the potential source of the Queen of Sheba's gold, the

proof will be in this pan.

Oh, wow! Look at that!

The search for King Solomon's mine has taken us out of Israel and into northern

Ethiopia.

There's a chance that this could be the source of King Solomon's gold from

ancient mines controlled by his closest ally, the Queen of Sheba.

By panning for trace deposits of gold near the surface,

Locals in this area hope to pinpoint the source of Shiva's treasure.

And it appears they're on the right track.

Look at that.

We found gold.

With this much gold close to the surface,

there is almost certainly a much larger vein nearby.

But finding it requires a major excavation.

This earth leads to a network of hidden tunnels deep underground.

These tunnels are located near a high concentration of surface gold deposits

date to what the Bible describes as the time of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

They have only recently been rediscovered, and the careful work of

them has barely begun.

Some historians, including Cisse, believe they could lead directly into

mines.

If so, we may be standing closer than ever before to the source of King

Solomon's gold.

With excavation continuing in Ethiopia, one of the Bible's greatest mysteries,

the true location of King Solomon's mines, seems on the verge of being

But Solomon left behind one other incredible treasure that may be even

valuable than all of his or Sheba's gold.

At the height of his power, Solomon's crowning achievement was the

of the first Hebrew temple.

He built it here, on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock sits

today.

In Solomon's time, it looked like this. One of the greatest buildings of the

era, adorned in copper and gold, a majestic structure designed for an

purpose.

This was where Solomon kept the most powerful object the Israelites

the Ark of the Covenant.

Much like the location of King Solomon's mines, this iconic biblical artifact

has long been lost.

But a new theory is emerging, one that suggests the mines, the gold, the Queen

of Sheba, and the Ark of the Covenant might be connected.

And this connection could potentially lead us to the Ark's present -day

location.

According to the Bible's Book of Exodus,

The Ark of the Covenant was built to house the tablets of the Ten

It was made of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half wide,

and one and a half high, or in today's measurements, 52 inches by 31 by 31.

The entire chest was plated with gold, inside and out.

Four gold rings were attached to its corners.

where gold -plated wood poles could be inserted to carry the Ark.

The lid was also gold, adorned with two winged cherubs.

But it's not just the precious metals and craftsmanship that make it valuable,

because the Ark was also thought to be a powerful weapon.

According to one biblical story, the Ark was once stolen by a tribe called the

Philistines, who were immediately afflicted by misfortunes.

including tumors, boils, and a plague of mice.

Their torment only stopped once they returned the Ark to the Israelites.

Eventually, King David brought it to Jerusalem, where his son, King Solomon,

installed it in the temple.

From there, the mystery begins.

The first Hebrew temple was destroyed in a war with the Babylonians 2 ,700 years

ago.

But there's no record of the Ark among the spoil.

It's unusual for such a valuable treasure to go completely unaccounted

The question is, could the Ark have been moved before the Babylonians arrived?

If so, where and when?

One large group of believers over 1 ,200 miles from Jerusalem is convinced that

the Ark ended up in their territory, perhaps even during King Solomon's

It may be an unlikely story until you realize they live in a place we've

visited.

Ever since the destruction of King Solomon's famed temple in Jerusalem, its

greatest treasure, the Ark of the Covenant, has been missing.

But some believe that the Ark may have been moved long before the temple fell

the home of one of Solomon's most valuable allies, the Queen of Sheba.

According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, when Solomon and Sheba's son

came of age, he returned to Jerusalem to visit his father.

Solomon tried to persuade Menelik to stay and become his heir, but the young

prince returned to Ethiopia as his mother's heir instead.

When he arrived back home, Menelik made a shocking discovery.

There among his possessions was the Ark of the Covenant, which unbeknownst to

him, had been secretly taken from Israel by members of his entourage.

But despite the Ark's power,

Menelik's people suffered no plagues, leading them to assume they must be its

rightful owners.

The Solomonic dynasty ruled over Ethiopia for over 2 ,000 years,

and Ethiopian Orthodox scholars like Dr.

Solomon Getane believe the Ark has remained in the country to this day.

This ceremony has never been filmed for television before.

In the Ethiopian town of Aksum, worshippers have gathered for an early

mass. The focus of today's sermon is the Ark of the Covenant.

We have seen this morning the gathering of people for prayer.

Now, this is a unique opportunity to see the Ark of the Covenant out of the

Alba.

Just 20 miles from the Eritrean border, Axum is home to the Cathedral of Our

Lady Mary of Zion, which sits on the holiest ground in all of Ethiopian

Orthodoxy.

This is the most holy church for the Ethiopian Orthodox religion.

Every year, thousands of people make a pilgrimage here to commemorate the

arrival of the Ark of the Covenant to Aksum from Jerusalem.

While there are many Christian denominations, only this one has based

beliefs so intently around the possession of the Ark.

Every Ethiopian Orthodox Church worldwide contains a replica of the Ark

its own Holy of Holies.

It is instructed that a replica must be in the church.

Without having a replica, the building cannot be called a church.

At the same time, a replica is a center of the worship.

And in fact, the Ark at the center of today's ceremony is also a replica.

Even the replicas are thought to have tremendous power and are rarely brought

into public view.

But what about the real Ark of the Covenant? If it truly exists and the

Ethiopians still possess it, where can it be found?

The Ark is thought to be too powerful to reside in the main church.

So a secure building was constructed to house it deep underground.

And that building is here, just 100 yards away.

Can you imagine, right behind me, the 5 ,000 -year -old Ark of the Covenant with

the tablet?

The same Ark from the Temple of Solomon.

Unfortunately, the true Ark is off -limits to visitors.

And actually...

He usually stays inside.

praying and protecting the most valuable nucleus of the church.

He's out.

Look. Oh, he's out.

Yeah, yeah, it's outside.

This is a rare occasion the guardian is outside.

I'm going to try to talk to him.

This is one of the first times that a current guardian monk has ever been

photographed.

It's a once -in -a -lifetime chance that few believers will ever get to

experience.

Some of them say that it's not in Ethiopia. He said the Ark is here. The

Ark of the Covenant is here.

For now, that confirmation will have to be enough.

I believed earlier. I believe now and forever.

But it gives me great pleasure talking to the guardian monk.

He blessed me by the hand that he touched the true Ark of the Covenant. So

extremely happy.

Is it possible that the true Ark of the Covenant was removed from Israel and has

remained here for thousands of years?

For the nearly 50 million members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, there is no

question that the answer is yes.

Meanwhile, historians, other religious groups, archaeologists, and even the

party have continued to search for the Ark.

Many of them believe it never left Israel in the first place, but all

that it somehow escaped the temple's destruction.

If the Israelites did manage to save the Ark in the midst of a war,

archaeologist Harry Moskov believes he knows precisely how they pulled it off.

Right now we're on the southern slope of the Temple Mount.

This is the holiest spot on earth. Just beyond this wall is where the Holy of

Holies, King Solomon's Temple, and Ark of the Covenant stood.

When the temple was destroyed, the Ark disappeared.

Many people believe that the Ark may have been destroyed or lost, but I'm

to tell you that in fact the Ark still exists, even until today, and is not far

from here.

If the Ark truly remains in Israel, the question is how did it escape before the

temple's destruction?

According to Harry, there is only one possible answer.

There are over 35 acres of tunnels underneath the Temple Mount.

And many of them lead out of Jerusalem.

According to my research, the ancient Israelites in the times of the first

temple may have used this tunnel system to hide back in the covenants before the

destruction in 586 B .C.

If Harry's theory is correct, we now have an incredible opportunity to track

Ark.

Because even though access to the tunnels is highly restricted, with

help, we can enter these 3 ,000 -year -old passages.

and see them for ourselves.

Where I'm taking you now is the original tunnel system.

Now this tunnel is really the closest point that we have to actually getting

the chamber of the Ark of the Covenant.

It's down here, it's underneath this.

Many religious sources agree that the Ark of the Covenant once sat securely in

King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

But when that temple was destroyed, the Ark may have been saved by way of a

network of secret tunnels beneath the city.

There are over 50 tunnels under the Temple Mount, many of them dating all

way back to King Solomon's day.

We know that in King Solomon's time, the time of the first temple, the Ark of

the Covenant was held in the Holy of Holies chamber directly above us.

Everything started right here.

King Solomon, in his great wisdom, knew that he might need a escape route.

He used these tunnels as an insurance plan in case the temple would come under

attack.

Just as Solomon predicted, the attack came from the Babylonians.

who completely destroyed the temple.

But by then, the Ark may have been long gone.

There's a story that says a thousand priests were able to escape with the

vassals, and you can easily imagine the priests rushing these temple vassals out

of these tunnels for safekeeping.

Follow the tunnels, and we could locate the final resting place of the Ark and

all the rest of the temple's treasures.

So if you connect the dots, what you have is a direct path from the Holy of

Holies directly above us with the Ark of the Covenant in it in the first temple,

down straight to the chamber where the Ark was kept, through these tunnels, and

onward 18 miles all the way to the Plains of Jericho to Qumran.

I've been working for over 20 years to find the Ark of the Covenant, and I

believe we're closer than ever before to finding it.

But the Ark is very powerful.

It is the most powerful object in the history of mankind.

It will only be found under the right conditions when it's ready.

Those perfect conditions may soon be upon us.

Because in the plains of Jericho, precisely where the tunnels lead,

hunter Jim Barfield thinks he may have found the perfect hiding spot, along

an ancient treasure map.

that could lead us directly to the Ark of the Covenant.

These are the ancient ruins of the community of Qumran. They're most famous

because this is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish religious texts, some up to 2 ,500 years

old.

They were buried here, in caves, and only rediscovered in the 1940s.

But then, in 1952, one more scroll was found, unlike any of the others.

It's different in two ways.

First, it's material, not written on parchment, but hammered into precious

copper. And second, it's content.

It doesn't contain scripture.

It contains something far more valuable.

The copper scroll is kind of like a treasure map.

Listing the locations of the treasures of ancient Israel, including the Ark of

the Covenant.

For the first time in history, Jim has combined the Copper Scroll's

with geological surveys and scientific data to zero in on the potential

of the buried treasure.

Location number one on the Copper Scroll describes 17 talents of silver service

vessels from the Temple of Solomon.

And the copper scroll says that they are located at the steps heading east, 40

cubits long.

Jim's survey showed only one location with steps heading east.

When he measured them, he knew he was on the right track.

These steps are exactly 40 cubits long, heading east.

I am convinced those 17 talents of Silver Service vessels are right here

this ground.

Jim is currently lobbying the Israeli government for permission to excavate.

But according to him, there's far more to uncover than just 17 talents of

silver. His map may lead to even greater treasures, including the Ark of the

Covenant.

Is it possible that the Ark of the Covenant was secretly rushed from the

Hebrew temple in Jerusalem, just before the temple's destruction?

Treasure hunter Jim Barfield believes the answer is yes.

He has decoded an ancient treasure map, hammered into a copper scroll thousands

of years old, which lists the supposed locations of the most valuable artifacts

from the temple.

According to Jim, they can all be found in the ancient city of Qumran.

The second location on the copper scroll was surprisingly easy to find,

considering the value of what's buried right here.

The copper scrolls describe this location like this.

In the dry cistern of the great ruined courtyard of the peristyle, it's hidden

polished gold in front of the uppermost opening of 900 talons. That is 33 tons

of polished gold at this location.

Armed with a survey of Qumran, Jim was quickly able to locate the town's

cistern.

I came out here with a member of the Israeli parliament and a very powerful

metal detector.

And when we got to this spot, the readings were off the chart.

I could not believe what I saw. I went home and I buried 30 pounds of silver in

my front yard and the readings didn't even come close.

But the gold was never Jim's primary target.

It's just one more clue that could lead to the greatest prize of all.

Location number one, location number two, lined up perfectly with my map. But

ultimate goal is to find location number three, which includes the Temple

Vessels and the Ark of the Covenant.

The Copper Scroll describes this location as being at the north end of

of Colete. It couldn't be within the ruins of Qumran because there are no

there.

While Qumran sits on Flatland, there are several large hills nearby.

Jim studied dozens of satellite images to find one that matched the Copper

Scroll's description.

It's right here.

Not only does this hill feature a hidden cave, it also sits in perfect alignment

with the other temple treasures.

Take location number one, location number two.

and you connect them with a straight line, they will lead directly to this

that holds Israel's most important treasures, including the Ark of the

Jeremiah brought the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle of Moses, and

them inside of a cave and sealed the entrance.

When I got to the cave, some of the stones looked different than the rest.

It appears that an ancient trowel of some type was used to form this seal.

I took a sample of this stone to two different companies. They said it was an

ancient man -made mortar, unlike any natural formation.

It's clear that whoever sealed this cave went to great lengths to hide its

contents.

Could those contents include the Ark of the Covenant?

After we identified this as the most likely site of the cave, we came back

the high -powered metal detector.

When we saw the readings for this location, we knew that this was the

Low.

The metal detector readings at the cave are five times higher than the 33 tons

of gold at site number two, suggesting an even greater prize could indeed be

hidden here.

It's obvious that something's here.

The copper scroll, the map, the mortar, and the readings of the metal detector.

All of these leave me with no doubt.

In this cave are some of Israel's greatest treasures, including the Ark of

Covenant.

If Jim Barfield can get permission to dig at Qumran.

there's a chance he might be about to finally unearth the Ark of the Covenant.

Looking forward, there's no telling where the hunt for the Ark might go.

But looking backward, it all leads to one man.

A man who simultaneously held two of the Bible's most famed and mysterious

treasures. If he existed, King Solomon was quite possibly the most powerful

person to ever live.

from his lucrative copper mines in Israel to his massive gold reserves

from abroad.

He controlled the area's trade route and united his kingdom with another

regional superpower.

He accomplished all of this while in possession of the Ark of the Covenant.

But as Solomon reached old age and reflected on his life, he wrote a

line in the book of Ecclesiastes.

All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea...

is not full.

Perhaps the old king had realized that history's ultimate accumulation of

and power still wasn't enough to provide fulfillment.

It's a lesson that future generations of biblical treasure hunters would be wise

to keep in mind.

The search continues.

Repair and Synchronization by Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0