All language subtitles for expedition_files_s3e4_time_reveals_all

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.