Original subtitles

On this episode of Expedition File.

A treasure so magnificent, it's been called the eighth wonder of the world.

Amber Room.

Stolen by the Nazis.

And then, it vanishes.

Was it destroyed in the chaos of war?

Or is it still out there?

Then, almost a billion dollars in Bitcoin lost on a missing hard drive.

Can this massive digital fortune be recovered from a landfill?

And finally, King Solomon's Mines. Long dismissed as myth, until now, shocking

new discoveries reveal the truth behind what could be the greatest treasure

hoard in history.

In the corridors of time are mysteries that defy

explanation.

Now, I'm traveling through history itself on a search

for the truth.

New evidence.

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh Gates.

And these are my expedition files.

When we talk about treasured objects, sometimes we use a healthy dose of

license. Were my Garbage Pail Kids trading cards really treasure back in

1980s? Yeah, Mom, yeah, they were.

But some objects really are bona fide solid gold treasures, often because

they're made of, well, solid gold.

And tonight we examine the mysteries of three of history's most fascinating

missing treasures, lost for years...

Decades, even millennia, and now, perhaps, found.

And we begin here, in the gilded halls of Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg.

This is the residence of the Russian Tsars, but since this is June of 1941,

currently overrun by Nazis.

The palace is filled with countless treasures, but the Germans are hunting

the greatest of them all.

A masterpiece so valuable it's been called the eighth wonder of the world.

the Soviets have made it disappear.

Or at least they've tried to.

It's here.

I found it. It's here.

Obscured behind wallpaper, the Nazis have discovered their gilded prize.

The treasure isn't something hidden in the room. It is the room. A dazzling

chamber made of six tons of hand -carved amber, gold leaf, and gemstones worth

hundreds of millions of dollars.

They will now painstakingly dismantle the world -famous Amber Room, pack it

into crates, and remove it from the palace.

But then, it will vanish.

Some will claim it's destroyed or perhaps hidden by the Nazis.

But three quarters of a century later, a new search will give hope that this

colossal lost masterpiece might finally be recovered.

Its disappearance is mysterious, but its origins are well known.

In 1701, the first king of Prussia, Frederick I, sets out to create a room

will dazzle his guests and cement Prussia's place among Europe's great

He chooses a highly prized material, amber, fossilized tree resin millions of

years old that can be worked into a glittering orange gemstone.

At the time, high -quality amber was more valuable than gold.

In the hands of Prussia's finest artisans, it is transformed into a

of craftsmanship and imperial power.

In 1716, the room's 129 panels are gifted to Russia's Tsar Peter the

Great, solidifying a diplomatic alliance with Prussia.

The panels arrive in St. Petersburg and are ultimately installed in the

Catherine Palace.

The final result is stunning. Amber carvings gilded in gold, accented with

mirrors, and inset with precious gems and beautiful Florentine mosaics.

By day, the walls shift in hue from deep honey to fiery gold.

And at night, the flicker of 550 candles makes the room glow from within,

radiant and alive.

Some believe the room is just as beautiful as Versailles' legendary Hall

Mirrors. The goal is much the same, to proclaim prestige and sophistication

through a theatrical aura of divine power.

But to the Nazis 200 years later, the Amber Room is something else entirely.

They arrogantly believe it's their birthright.

Prussia would go on to become a part of Germany.

And since the Amber Room was created by Prussian craftsmen, the Nazis believe

they have a claim to the prized artifact.

And now they're stealing it.

Within 36 hours of its discovery, the Nazis pack the room's contents into 27

crates and ship them by rail to Germany.

The Amber Room is then reconstructed at Königsberg Castle in Nazi -occupied

territory.

We know it arrives there because the castle's museum lists it in their

as Item 200.

It's even put on display for Nazi officials.

But by August of 1944, the Nazis are on the defensive.

British bombers hammer Königsberg, reducing much of the city, including the

castle, to rubble.

Then, in April 1945, Soviet troops surround the city. They fight block by

until Germany surrenders.

But in the aftermath, no trace of the treasure -filled crates are discovered.

Just a month later, a secret Soviet investigation is launched to locate the

Amber Room.

According to declassified documents from the Russian National Archives, this

report concludes that the treasure has most likely been destroyed, consumed by

fire during the bombing of Königsberg Castle. So that's the end of the story,

right? Not quite. No evidence of its destruction is found. But one man

want to give up easily.

Anatoly Kuchimov, a young Russian museum curator desperate to make amends.

It was Kuchumov who made the fateful decision to conceal the amber room

wallpaper in the Catherine Palace instead of sending it to safety.

Now, with colleagues already sent to the Gulag for failing to protect Soviet

treasures, Kuchumov is determined to find the remains of the amber panels and

save his own skin.

Kuchumov's team heads straight to the charred ruins of Königsberg Castle.

Sifting through the rubble, they make a startling discovery.

the damaged remains of three Florentine mosaics that once adorned the Amber

Room's glowing walls.

They were added to the room by Empress Elizabeth of Russia in the 1750s to

replace oil paintings that originally hung there.

These colorful mosaics were made from natural minerals and semi -precious

stones, carefully arranged to resemble detailed paintings.

The frames are fashioned from carved and sliced pieces of amber of various

shades. Though there were originally four mosaics, the remnants of only three

are found among the ruins.

But where is the rest of the amber room?

During his investigation, Kuchimov also discovers a cache of partially burned

German letters.

They reveal a Nazi plan to evacuate the amber panels after the Allied bombings

in 1944.

One dated January 12, 1945, just before the Soviets captured the city, states

the amber room was being packed to be moved far from the front. This finding

gives Kuchumov hope.

There was no trace of the amber wall panels uncovered in the ashes, only the

stone mosaics.

And since the mosaics were designed as four removable artworks, they were

packaged separately.

If so, there's a chance the amber walls themselves were taken out before the

flames engulfed the castle.

Anatoly Kuchimov becomes convinced the amber room is still out there waiting to

be found.

For the next decade, he leads excavation teams throughout the region.

Officially, they're prospecting for oil.

Secretly, they spend their days searching ruins, bunkers, and mines.

But despite years of excavations across the region, Kuchumov and his team come

up with nothing.

In 1958, the Soviet government makes a desperate plea for new leads.

And the international appeal launches a tidal wave of tips, theories, and wild

speculation, each one pointing to a different fate for the Amber Room.

In 2015, I joined the hunt myself, heading to the former site of Königsberg

Castle, where I followed a hot lead, a recently unearthed letter from a Nazi

soldier dated 1945.

It describes a secret shipment.

Four trucks sent from Königsberg to a remote factory in a small town in

called Deuchtendorf.

Hello, Peter. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. What's going on up here?

It seems like you guys have a full -scale operation going here.

Right

under

our feet, there's a huge network of mines, and we think it's in one of these

mines underneath the ground.

Beneath the factory is an old silver mine.

Here we go.

Miles of twisting tunnels where the Nazis could have easily stashed the

Room crates.

Look at this.

Look at this place.

Are you kidding me? This is unbelievable.

I mean, this is like Lord of the Rings down here.

Despite an exhaustive search of the old mine, the Amber Room's prized panels

were nowhere to be found.

But was this because I, like so many others, had been looking in the wrong

place? Now, a stunning new theory suggests that instead of hunting on

should have been searching at sea.

On the hunt for what happened to a priceless treasure, we find ourselves in

April of 1945.

With Soviet forces closing in, the Nazis, on the verge of defeat, initiate

Operation Hannibal, one of the largest maritime retreats in history.

They frantically evacuate people and possessions on every ship they can find.

The SS Karlsruhe is departing Königsberg, packed with thousands

panic. But could it also be carrying the legendary Amber Room? If so, this

treasure is headed straight for disaster.

The following morning, Soviet planes strike.

In just three minutes, the Karlsruhe vanishes beneath the waves off the coast

Poland, taking a thousand lives and all of its secrets with it.

Could the wreck of the SS Karlsruhe have secretly carried the long -lost Amber

Room? In 2020, the wreck was located in the Baltic Sea, and in the years since,

divers have been searching the sunken vessel for any trace of the treasure.

Historian Martin Morgan has been following their efforts.

The Amber Room is a great piece of World War II mystery and mythology.

It's complete loss.

is something that the world is still lamenting because we're still looking

it.

Divers are sent down to the wreck. In the debris field, they find an intact

military vehicle. They find porcelainware.

And then also they find in a cargo hold a very large number of wooden crates.

Those wooden crates stand out as suspicious because the question

arises, what are the crates carrying?

But fully exploring a shipwreck at a depth of 290 feet isn't easy.

Searching most of the ship takes over 100 dives, with technical divers and the

latest remote submersible technology.

Then eventually they discover a crate that appears much better built than all

the others, one that is a bit more ornate in its construction.

And that immediately attracts attention because this could be it. This could be

the moment of discovery of the Amber Room.

When they open the crate, they're hoping to be greeted by something that glows

with this amber hue, this warmth, because after all, even underwater, it

not be dulled by the passage of time.

But they crack it open, expecting to be greeted by this amazing reveal, only to

find that inside the crate is a coiled U -boat cable.

This is a valuable artifact, and it's very interesting in and of itself, but

it's no Amber Room.

The team's search has been extensive but is not complete.

There are still parts of the ship to be explored, but for now, all diving on the

wreck is tightly controlled by the Polish government.

Exploration of this wreck site comes to an official stop when it is declared a

war grave.

With that declaration, no further dives could be conducted because the lives of

almost 1 ,000 people ended when that ship was sunk.

So far, no evidence has been found that Amber Room was packed aboard Karlsruhe,

but not every last corner and every last cargo hold of the ship has yet been

explored. If the Amber Room survived World War II, it might be aboard the

after all.

I certainly hope it's still out there, and I hope that we find it, because I'd

love to live long enough to see it installed at the Catherine Palace again.

Although the wreck has yet to produce the Amber Room, another small part of

treasure has been found.

In 1997, the last of its four mosaics was discovered in Bremen, Germany, in

home of a Nazi soldier's son.

As for the rest of the original...

Was it destroyed in the fires of war? Is it sealed inside a sunken ship? Or is

it still hidden somewhere else in Europe? The hunt continues.

In the last year alone, dozens of new leads have been reported, from a cave

system in Dresden, Germany, to a former SS training ground in Poland.

So stay tuned. One day, we might just be reunited with the eighth wonder of the

world.

We turn our attention now to a very different kind of treasure, a digital

fortune that could be right under my feet.

The year is 2017, and you'll have to excuse the smell. I'm just outside the

of Newport, Wales, and this is one of the largest waste sites in the country,

the Docksway Landfill. The guy rummaging through the trash there, that's

computer engineer James Howell.

He's desperately hunting for one of his old hard drives. Why?

Well, because it's worth a billion dollars.

But James faces two big problems.

Five million square feet of garbage and the fact that the city refuses to let

him properly search it. So how does an old hard drive become worth so much? And

why won't the authorities let him find it? In this maddening case of the lost

Bitcoin billion, one man's trash really is that same man's treasure.

To understand James' story, first we have to understand Bitcoin.

And nobody really understands Bitcoin.

But the basic idea is that Bitcoin is an electronic currency invented by a

mysterious character with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Instead of cold hard cash, Bitcoin is a digital asset.

Basically a really, really long string of numbers traded over the Internet.

But here's where it gets really interesting.

Unlike dollars, Bitcoin isn't printed. It's mined.

Think of it like digital gold. Instead of picks and shovels, miners use high

-powered computers to solve complex math puzzles that approve all Bitcoin

transactions.

To incentivize doing this, miners are rewarded in brand new Bitcoins.

And since there'll only ever be 21 million of them, they're scarce. Just

real gold, only online.

Once Bitcoin is mined, it automatically gets put in that person's digital

wallet. This wallet lives online and they can access it from anywhere or

it to other buyers.

But to keep the wallet secure, it's protected by an extremely complicated

password. So people usually save this key digitally, like on a hard drive.

The only problem is if you lose the hard drive or, say, throw it in the garbage,

you lose access to your Bitcoin forever, which is exactly what happens to James

Howell.

Born and raised in Newport, Wales, James has been tinkering with computers his

whole life. In 2009, he's working as a successful IT professional and living

with his girlfriend, Havina Eddie Evans.

One morning, he reads an online forum about a new thing called Bitcoin.

At the time, it's a novelty currency, perhaps fewer than 100 people even knew

it. James finds it intriguing and decides to give mining a shot.

Over the next few nights, his computer produces roughly 8 ,000 Bitcoin.

He adds them to a digital wallet and stores the password on his laptop's hard

drive.

The following year, in 2010, James spills lemonade on the laptop.

Whoops.

So he takes the hard drive out to preserve it and throws it in a drawer of

broken tech.

It's a seemingly inconsequential moment. After all, at this time, Bitcoin is

nearly worthless.

So the drive is hardly a precious object.

But it's this choice that will forever alter James' destiny.

Fast forward three years later to January 2013.

Bitcoin, once the plaything of coders and crypto nerds, starts climbing in

value. By the end of January, it's worth about 13 bucks a coin. But it keeps

going. And by April, a single Bitcoin is worth $200.

Why is the value rising?

Because Bitcoin is traded like stocks.

And by 2013, people are buying it, including big players like hedge funds

financial institutions.

In short, the world has officially taken notice.

James has, too. He remembers the hard drive from years earlier that holds the

password to his forgotten stash of 8 ,000 Bitcoin.

A drive that he realizes is now worth over $1 .5 million.

That is, if he can find it.

He frantically searches his home office, looking high and low. And then, a

sickening reality sinks in.

Remember that drive pulled from his laptop that got thrown into a drawer of

junk? Well, at some point, James' girlfriend was cleaning up the house,

a big pile of what she thought was junk, including the drive, and threw it in

the trash.

The trash then made its way to the local landfill, mixed in with thousands of

tons of household waste.

The simple act of taking out the trash has become a million dollar mistake.

James will embark on a relentless quest in a desperate attempt to reclaim his

thrown away fortune.

But can the missing Bitcoin be found?

Computer engineer James Howells loses a hard drive loaded with a fortune in

Bitcoin, and it ends up buried deep in a mountain of waste.

This bizarre twist of digital fortune quickly becomes a media sensation around

the world.

James, I'm sure there's an awful lot of people feeling for you right now. How do

you feel stood here?

Well, absolutely devastated, as you can imagine.

When I went up to the landfill site yesterday, there's a potential to find

drive. Is it still working?

Can the data be recovered?

I have no idea. I just wish I could go back in time and not throw that drive

away.

For years, author and crypto expert Tony Edward has followed the saga.

When I first heard about James' story, I was blown away because the amount of

Bitcoin that he had mined, even certain institutions don't have that amount of

Bitcoin. But one individual had that, and it's life -changing money.

I really feel for James.

This whole situation could have been avoided if James wrote down his private

keys on a piece of paper and put it in a safe or a safety deposit box.

But he put it on a hard drive, and that hard drive is unfortunately lost.

In November of 2013, he approaches the Newport City Council with a plan to

excavate the landfill.

By this point, his Bitcoin value has jumped to $6 million.

But the council rejects his plan, even when he offers to cover the cost

because excavating a landfill is a serious environmental risk.

Hazardous waste, methane gas, possible contamination, you name it.

And you can imagine the people in the community are probably not fans of this

either, because they could be affected by any type of environmental risk.

While I appreciate what James is trying to do, because if I were in his shoes, I

would be doing the same thing.

But it's not just about James. It's about the community and the folks on the

council at the landfill are definitely thinking about that.

But James isn't ready to throw in the towel. He is dead set on convincing the

council to grant him access to the site.

He rallies support from hedge fund backers, offering them a percentage of

fortune if he ever recovers the lost Bitcoin.

Now, armed with ever more high -tech proposals, he returns to the council

new search approach featuring drone mapping, AI -powered waste analysis,

containment systems, and even robotic dogs, all in the name of digital

Then he sweetens the deal, offering the council and the town a generous cut of

the profits potentially worth millions.

The council deliberates, but again...

Their answer is no.

By 2023, the value of James' lost Bitcoin has skyrocketed to over half a

dollars. With polite proposals getting him nowhere, he changes tactics, going

full throttle and filing a lawsuit against the city to the tune of $647

in U .S. currency.

The gloves are off.

Over the next two years, the courtroom drama drags on like a download over a

dial -up connection.

All the while, the value of James' Bitcoin goes higher and higher, from

of millions to approaching a billion dollars.

But in January of 2025, a judge pulled the plug, ruling that James has no

realistic prospect of succeeding.

James appeals to the highest court in the U .K., but in March of 2025, they

say no.

Game over.

Or is it?

So James, over the years, has been very persistent.

He's trying everything and anything to gain access to this landfill.

But up till now, the council has denied all of his proposals. He's lost in the

courts. It's an arduous process.

And so his last -ditch effort is to try to buy the landfill.

And that way, he can dig it all up without any red tape, or roadblocks from

local government.

The city ignores James' attempts to buy the landfill, and after his legal

actions failed, now insists James owes $150 ,000 in legal fees.

The big question remains, even if James were to get permission, could he

actually find the drive in all that trash?

On its face, this is a crazy idea, to try to go unearth tons of garbage.

And to go through that and all types of nasty stuff, this is the biggest needle

in the haystack problem.

One UK waste management company says the odds of finding this hard drive is one

in 902 million.

But with the slim chance of finding that hard drive and getting access

to what could be billions of dollars as Bitcoin continues to grow in value, it's

worth it.

But by August of 2025, with the city council continuing to ignore his

James finally gives up on his bid to buy the landfill.

But he isn't done with his quest to make a fortune. His new plan? Forget diving

through millions of pounds of garbage.

Instead, he's going to create a cryptocurrency of his own. Best of luck,

Oh, and if your new currency does take off, one word of advice, hold on to your

hard drive.

It's 940 B .C., and as far as traveling through time and space goes, I've hit

the jackpot. I'm currently standing inside what is perhaps the richest

vault in human history, and it all belongs to this guy, the biblical King

Solomon. We're standing in his palace, but you might be more familiar with

all this bling came from, King Solomon's mines, which overflow with gold and

diamonds. But what's the reality behind his immense wealth?

Well, for millennia, no one has found solid evidence of the legendary mines.

That is, until now.

According to the Old Testament, Solomon, the son of King David, ascends to the

throne of Israel in the 10th century B .C.

The Bible tells us that God appears to him in a dream and offers him anything

desires.

Solomon asks for wisdom to govern justly.

Pleased with this humble request, God grants him exceptional wisdom, along

great wealth and honor.

And in 1 Kings chapter 3, we find the most famous demonstration of that

Two women come before him, each claiming to be the mother of the same child.

To reveal the truth, Solomon proposes an unthinkable solution.

Cutting the baby in two and giving each woman half.

The real mother immediately offers to surrender the child rather than see him

harmed, revealing her as the true parent.

But according to the Bible, King Solomon's greatest legacy isn't just his

legendary wisdom, but the vast wealth he amasses, which he uses to

construct the first temple in Jerusalem.

An architectural and spiritual marvel, the Bible offers detailed descriptions

the lavish materials used in its construction.

Monumental bronze columns flank the entrance.

A massive ceremonial basin known as the Sea of Cast Metal adorns the courtyard.

And inside, a sanctuary with gold -lined walls is said to have held the Ark of

the Covenant, the sacred chest containing the Ten Commandments.

And the temple isn't his only grand construction.

Solomon reigns from his royal palace in Jerusalem, a treasure -filled sanctum

with cedar pillars, which takes 13 years to build. And this brings us back to

the incredible source of his wealth, King Solomon's mine.

There's just one hiccup. The Bible makes no mention of them.

It does make reference to copper quarrying in the Holy Land and describes

mysterious kingdom called Ophir as a source of Solomon's wealth.

But the text gives no hint of Ophir's location or the legendary gold and

mines we associate with Solomon today.

In fact, the first time we hear about actual mines is almost 3 ,000 years

in the 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines by H. Ryder Haggard.

The story follows the fictional exploits of Alan Quartermain, a hunter hired to

lead a search for Solomon's legendary source of wealth in Africa.

So, is it all just a literary invention?

Well, not so fast.

In the 19th century, European explorers venture deep into southern Africa in

search of the site of the mines and stumble upon something extraordinary.

The massive stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe.

a mysterious ancient city surrounded by abandoned gold mines.

One structure, the Great Enclosure, they say, bears similarities to biblical

descriptions of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

Suddenly, the world is buzzing with a thrilling possibility.

Had they found the lost kingdom of Ophir, the source of King Solomon's

wealth?

A stunning archaeological find in Africa, ornate stone ruins unlike

seen before, leads many to believe they've uncovered the lost city of

legendary source of King Solomon's mines.

But in time, the site, known as Great Zimbabwe, is revealed to not be a relic

Solomon's empire at all, but the legacy of the Shona people, an advanced African

civilization that flourished around the 11th century.

nearly 2 ,000 years after Solomon's reign.

Even so, the myth refused to fade.

The dream of discovering the source of Solomon's hidden riches continued to

imaginations around the world, which brings us back to H. Ryder Haggard's

novel, King Solomon's Minds.

The book is an international mega -hit, eventually spawning more than a dozen

novels and at least seven films.

not to mention serving as a template for Indiana Jones.

It also inspires a generation of explorers, many of whom continue to

Solomon's treasure.

Enter Timna Valley, a rugged, sun -scorched stretch of desert in southern

just 200 miles from Jerusalem, the seat of Solomon's biblical kingdom.

On the surface, it looks like little more than rock and sand, but beneath it?

a very different story.

In the 1930s, archaeologist Nelson Gluck discovers massive ancient copper

quarries in the valley.

While the Bible doesn't name Timnah, it does mention Solomon's extensive use of

copper, which was alloyed with tin to produce the bronze used in his temple

palace.

Copper might not sound glamorous today, but in the ancient world, it's a big

deal. Copper is essential to making tools and weapons.

It is a cornerstone of trade and the backbone of empires.

Suddenly, Timnah isn't just a pit in the sand.

It's a possible engine of Solomon's immense wealth.

Nelson Gluck boldly dubs the site the real King Solomon's mines. But many

dismiss his claims since he can't produce definitive evidence to tie the

the famed biblical king.

But here's where things get interesting.

For years, most scholars believed the copper mines at Timna were controlled by

the Egyptians. After all, they found Egyptian -style shrines, hieroglyphs,

a temple to the goddess Hathor.

But new radiocarbon dating flipped that idea on its head.

Turns out the real copper boom at Timna happened after the Egyptians left, right

around the 10th century BC.

the exact window when Solomon is said to have ruled.

And the head of the new Timna excavation effort declares, quote, if King Solomon

had mines, they were of copper and they were here.

The fact that over 10 ,000 ancient mine shafts have been currently identified

makes this a compelling theory.

But can it be proven that they were Solomon's?

Now, a recent discovery may settle the question once and for all.

When it comes to vanished treasures, the 12 -panel masterpiece known as the

Ghent Altarpiece holds the honor of being the most stolen artwork in

Completed in 1432 for St. Bavo's Cathedral in Belgium, it was first

Napoleon in 1794.

By 1815, six panels were secretly sold and smuggled into Berlin. Yet in both

cases, the artwork was recovered.

Then, in 1934, thieves stole a single panel, which vanished without a trace.

In World War II, Hitler's forces hid the remaining panels in a salt mine.

But the Allied art saviors, known as the Monuments Men, rescued it from

destruction.

Today, the 11 recovered sections once again grace the cathedral in Ghent. As

the 12th, it's still out there, just waiting to be found.

A new archaeological discovery in Israel's copper -rich Timna Valley may

confirm King Solomon's true source of wealth. And they're not the mythical

African diamond mines from the popular novel.

archaeologist and professor Kent Bramlett has been tracking the latest

from the dig site.

Finding proof of King Solomon's mines would be dramatic. It would be

sensational. It would be fantastic.

I think any archaeologist working in the field would be delighted with

confirming, finding things associated with a famous king like Solomon.

In 2021, the team excavating at Timnah surprised the world.

Archaeologists found artifacts like tools and architectural remains and

foodstuffs as well. And this is due to the extremely dry climate there that

preserves organic remains that you wouldn't expect to find in many other

locations.

Among the articles they recover are charcoal and clay pieces of ancient

furnaces, proving a massive industrial operation was underway here.

The archaeologists also find ancient food waste, olives.

dates, and fish bones.

As anyone who's ever cleaned out their fridge can relate to, discovering old

food is not normally a jackpot moment. But in archaeology, it can be as good as

gold.

Because olives grow and are eaten within a single season, their tiny pits can be

radiocarbon dated with incredible precision.

The pits that were found were dated with carbon -14 sampling, and the dates that

resulted fell squarely in the early part of the 10th century, the time that,

according to biblical chronology, King Solomon reigned in Jerusalem.

Confirming that the mines were active during King Solomon's reign is an

intriguing discovery.

But then comes a find that ups the ante even more.

Near the lower levels of the excavation, a number of textiles, I believe

hundreds of fragments of textiles were found. And this is very rare. Textiles

usually don't survive.

Among all of the fragments of textiles found at Timna, there was a real

surprise. A few had evidence of royal purple dye.

This was extremely exciting and unexpected.

In the ancient world, purple is the color of kings, emperors, and high

So rare it becomes a symbol of power and divinity.

Before modern dyeing techniques, it is made from Mediterranean sea snails, and

it takes thousands of them and a painstaking process to produce even a

this precious color.

By weight, it was once worth more than gold.

Finding purple cloth at Timna certainly indicates that this isn't an isolated

and primitive mining operation.

It's connected with kingship, with royalty, most probably.

Royal purple would not be something that was worn by local administrators.

So what was it doing there? Was it the evidence of a royal visitation? Was it

evidence that we are connected with kingship somewhere that is organizing

mining operation?

Possibly so.

Probably so.

And the scrap of this fabric found in Timna?

It's the oldest purple wool discovered in the region, dating all the way back

the 10th century BC, King Solomon's time.

Some say it's even possible that this could have been worn by Solomon himself.

King Solomon would undoubtedly have worn garments dyed in purple. And Solomon

was possibly involved with the mining at the location of Timnah.

But one of the challenges in archaeology is linking specific remains or finds

with specific people, like King Solomon.

If you want to connect it with a figure, you need DNA from that person to start

with. But King Solomon, unfortunately, we don't have even his tomb.

but the evidence is circumstantial. So it remains a challenge to connect King

Solomon with an artifact.

Considering that at Timna we've already found surprising artifacts like purple

cloth, we can only guess what will be found in the future. We hope that as

excavation and research continues, that more exciting finds will be found at

Timna.

King Solomon's mines may be more than just a fable ginned up by a Victorian

novelist. Many experts now believe the Timna copper mines may well have

to Solomon, and perhaps he even rocked his royal purple during a visit. So it

turns out the old adage, all that glitters isn't gold, is true, especially

it comes to King Solomon's mine of copper.

I'm Josh Gaith, and I'll see you on the next expedition.