Appendix 4. Archaeology of Solomon's Era

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
(Audio 2:57)

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Kenneth A. Kitchen provides abundant evidence from Egypt and the Ancient Near East that the descriptions of the temple, trade, and political entities found in 1 Kings conforms with what we know elsewhere.²⁸⁸ Actual archeological evidence of Solomon's reign, however, is scant at this point in time and subject to lots of debate within the field. Some evidence, however, offers some tantalizing clues.

Ophel Inscription. In Eilat Mazar's excavations in the Ophel in Jerusalem, a partially preserved inscription engraved on the shoulder of a pithos was found in 2012 in a context dated to the 10th century BC. It appears to be Canaanite, consisting of seven letters. It may indicate a spice trade between ancient Judah and South Arabia during Solomon's time.²⁸⁹

City Gates. Dating of the six-chambered city gates at Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer has been disputed, but Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar argues that these monumental gates "cannot be dated later than the tenth century [BC]," Solomon's era. If so, they are evidence of Solomon's fortification efforts.²⁹⁰

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Clay Seals. Six clay seals dating from the tenth century BC have been found in the ancient village of Khirbet Summeily in the northern Negev desert. They seem to be bullae, used to seal official correspondence, suggesting administrative or political activities beyond those of a rural town.²⁹¹

Copper Mines: Excavations in 2013 by Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University in the Timna Valley of the Aravah desert have dated copper mines and smelting sites there to Solomon's period, challenging earlier beliefs they were built by ancient Egyptians three centuries earlier.²⁹²

Endnotes

References and Abbreviations

[288] K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2003), pp. 81-158.

[289] Daniel Vainstub, "Incense from Sheba for the Jerusalem Temple," Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology (2023) 4: 42-68.

[290] Hershel Shanks, "First Person: Did the Kingdoms of Saul, David and Solomon Actually Exist?" Biblical Archaeological Review, Sept-Oct 2017.

[291] James W. Hardin, et al., "Iron Age Bullae from Officialdom's Periphery: Khirbet Summeily in Broader Context," Near Eastern Archaeology (2014) 77: 4, pp. 299-301.

[292] American Friends of Tel Aviv University, "Evidence of Solomon's mines: Archaeologists dates mines in south of Israel to days of King Solomon," ScienceDaily, 3 September 2013 (www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130903141356.htm).

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