Week-3 Resources
The Week-3 Resources
Carl Sagan's Cosmic Calendar
Video, 12 minutes
Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer/physicist, devised the Cosmic Calendar to make comprehensible the vast periods of time that have existed before humans ever opened their eyes on the world. Our civilization, our species, is a fragile newcomer to the Cosmos according to the best scientific evidence.
Watch this video to truly feel the impact of that fact in your bones. It may change the way you see yourself as well.
To access the video, click here or put this address in your browser's search box:
In Jerusalem, Archeology is Politics
The very stones of Jerusalem are political weapons in the age-old struggle for possession of the Holy Land.
And nowhere is this more sensitive than the great platform built by King Herod, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to the Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.
To understand the current row over excavation and repair work just outside one of the gates onto the compound, it is important to know that here history, religion and politics meet. Nothing in Jerusalem can be understood without all three.
This is confirmed in the following articles:
The Ancient Olympics -- a Website
Click here to visit the website.
Links to an external site.
Other Websites and Resources
The British Museum: Ancient Greece
(Links to an external site.)
The British Museum site is full of interactive tours, simulations, and games to make the study of Ancient Greece enticing for kids. Topics include the Acropolis, Athens, Daily Life, Festivals and Games, Geography, Gods and Goddesses, Knowledge and Learning, Sparta, Time, War. You can follow the procession of the Panathenaic festival and build a virtual temple, take a virtual tour of Athens and “rope” slaves into attending Assembly. You can also command a Greek trireme, explore the battlefield at Plataia, follow an interactive story about women in Greece, and “set the scene” in a virtual house. Another option is to take an interactive tour of the Olympics, Greek theatre, and Greek festivals. Other highlights include a God and Goddesses symbol game, an interactive tour of household items, a Spartan education challenge, and a farming challenge. The Geography section features a series of zoomable maps and an interactive dive of a shipwreck. Finally, there is a “staff room” with worksheets and discussion questions to help teachers use the site. War section explores Overall, a great introduction to ancient Greece for younger students.
Perseus Project (Links to an external site.)
Perseus Project is an impressive digital library for Greek and Classical resources from the Classics Department at Tufts University for primary and secondary source scholarly works that cover the history, literature and culture of the Greco-Roman world. The collection contains extensive and diverse resources including primary and secondary texts, site plans, digital images, and maps. Works are listed by author and you can browse the Greco-Roman Collection or use the search engine. Art and archaeology catalogs document a wide range of objects: vases, sculptures and sculptural groups, coins, buildings and gems. The site also has FAQs, essays, a historical overview, and an extensive library of art objects, and other resources. Special exhibits include The Ancient Olympics and Hercules. Site is updated regularly.
BBC Ancient History: Greece
(Links to an external site.)
BBC’s History section offers an impressive array of exhibitions, activities, games, photo galleries, and other resources. The BBC Ancient History section focuses on Anglo-Saxons, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Vikings. The Greece section covers five major areas: The Olympics, Athens and Democracy, Other Greek Cultures, Legends. It also includes related links to other BBC pages. The site consists of a series of extended expert essays on various topics: Ancient Greek Olympics, Alexander the Great, Lord Elgin, Fall of Minoan Civilization, Democracy, Greek tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece, and Plato’s Atlantis. Visual highlights include an Ancient Greek Olympics photo gallery and a related War and Technology gallery. Plenty of great information, though the site lacks the engaging multimedia features found on other BBC History offerings.
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
(Links to an external site.)
This engaging PBS educational companion site examines Ancient Greece’s Classical Period principally though a series of essays on four principal characters: Cleisthenes, Themistocles, Pericles, Socrates, and Aspasia. Each character is introduced via a video clip from the series. There are also a series of background pages on Greek culture, Greek warfare, Greek architecture, and other people and places in Greek history. Animation and simulations play an important role on the site. For instance, there is a 3D animation of the Parthenon, an interactive Greek timeline, an interactive Greek map, and audio to help you “speak like a Greek.” In the Education Resources section is a multidisciplinary unit that uses television, the Internet, and other resources to explore Ancient Greece. All in all, this is an excellent introduction to Ancient Greece for students.
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece
(Links to an external site.)
The Internet History Sourcebooks are wonderful collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts for educational use by Paul Halsall of Fordham University. The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook contains hundreds of well-organized sources also includes links to visual and aural material, as art and archeology play a prominent role in the study of Ancient history. The Greece section features complete text works of Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle, and others, as well as primary source texts concerning the Persian and Pelopponesian wars, Athenian Democracy, Sparta, religion, and other topics. The Sourcebook also has pages designed specifically to help teacher and students: Ancient History in the Movies, Using Primary Sources, Nature of Historiography. Last update in 2007.
Classical Art Research Center: The Beazley Archive
(Links to an external site.)
The Beazley Archive at The University of Oxford provides an impressive set of images of the art of ancient Greco-Roman art. Major categories include: “Art”, “Pottery”, “Gems”, “Sculpture”, and “Antiquaria” and helfpul features include “Dictionary”, “Databases”, and “Tools.” Not only are the images of high uality, but the referencing tools provide plenty of helpful context for appreciating how the objects and why they are significant.
Ancient Greece (Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)
An informative and image-laden guide to Ancient Greece, covering art and architecture, politics, Olympics, geography, mythology, peoples, war, history, and other topics. Of note is the Photo Gallery with panoramic images of Greek art. Contents include maps, biographies, and related links, though little in the way of engaging multimedia. Site last updated in 2008; some links are broken.
Ancient-Greek.org
(Links to an external site.)
Ancient-Greek.org is a broad introduction to Ancient Greece and is organized in eight categories: Archaeology, History, Photographs, Culture, Maps, Architecture, Museums, Art. Of note is the extensive photo gallery, which includes images of historic sites, art, and architecture. The History section contains a simple timeline and overview of Greek history, with specific focus on the Acropolis, Delphi, and Minoan Crete. It also includes a zoomable map of Ancient Greece. Though the content is sound the lack of interactivity will be disappointing for students and the lack of lesson plans disappointing for teachers.
The Greek Galleries
(Links to an external site.)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Greek Galleries is an extensive collection of Greek art. You can explore the galleries online by following four interconnected paths: a timeline illustrated with signal works of art, a menu of eighteen art objects selected for this online preview and accompanied by explanatory text, a geographical map of the Mediterranean area where the works of art were produced, and a gallery map coupled with descriptions of the newly designed spaces and a selection of art objects.
Olympics Through Time
(Links to an external site.)
From the Foundation of the Hellenic World, this bi-lingual (Greek – English) web site examines the Olympics long history and explores unknown aspects through a variety of activities. In addition to articles and photographs, it includes 3d reconstructions. A related link is to a virtual tour of Athens while a related exhibition is Tales From the Olympic Games. Site is both informative and engaging.
Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean World
(Links to an external site.)
The University of Chicago Library preserves deteriorated research materials relating to the history, art, and archaeology of the Ancient Near East and the ancient Mediterranean world. The project focuses on materials published between 1850 – 1950, drawn from two of the Library’s complimentary collections: the Ancient Near East and Classics Collections. This is an excellent research collection for primary source materials.
Ancient Greek World For Kids
(Links to an external site.)
Ancient Greek World is a broad introduction to Ancient Greece for younger students from History for Kids. The site is essentially an extended hyperlinked essay with images covering a wide range of political, social, religious, economic, and military aspects of Ancient Greece. There is also teachers section with suggestions on how to use the site in class. Overall, it’s a fine introduction for kids, though the site and its design are dated and there is a conspicuous absence of engaging multimedia.
The Ancient Greek World
(Links to an external site.)
Ancient Greek World is an online exhibit by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology that explores the land, time, economy, daily life, and religion of Ancient Greece. The site is a series of hyperlinked essays with images (mostly of Greek pottery), that cover a wide range of topics. As introductions go this site is broad and thorough, though it lacks engaging multimedia and does not appear to be updated since 2002.
The Ancient City of Athens
(Links to an external site.)
This is an educational photo archive of Athens’ architectural remains and a useful resource for students and teachers of classical art & archaeology, civilization, languages, and history. It can serve as a supplement to class lectures and reading assignments and as a source of images for use in term papers, projects, and presentations. The images are good quality, though there are no zooming capabilities nor multiple views. You are free to download and use these images provided but are asked to abide by the terms of the Creative Commons License.
The Internet Classics Archive
(Links to an external site.)
The Internet Classics Archive lists 441 works of classical literature — mainly Greco-Roman works — by 59 different authors, including “user-driven commentary and ‘reader’s choice’ Web sites.” A special feature are the full-text files of many of the works available via the site. The last major update was in 2007.
Diotima
(Links to an external site.)
Diotima is an interdisciplinary scholarly resource on gender in the ancient Mediterranean world and as a forum for collaboration among instructors who teach courses about women and gender in the ancient world. Diotima offers course materials, essays, bibliography, images, good links to related sites, a search feature, and a section on biblical studies. Last update was in 2006.
Exploring Ancient World Cultures: Greece
(Links to an external site.)
Exploring Ancient World Cultures out of Evansville University is an on-line course supplement for students and teachers of the ancient and medieval worlds. Chapters are built around eight “cultures”: Near East, India, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Early Islam, and Medieval European. The Greece section provides an introduction to Ancient Greece and includes essays, a chronology, images, a quiz, and related links. There are also excerpts from the work of Plato and Socrates.. Unfortunately the site is no longer actively maintained. The searchable index no longer functions and the chronology and Argos components are gone.
Maecenas: Images of Ancient Greece and Rome
(Links to an external site.)
These photographs were taken primarily for use in teaching by a professor at the University of Buffalo and can be used for any purpose except a commercial one. This website has been assisted by grants from the Classical Association of the Empire State and the Classical Association of the Atlantic States.
Odyssey Online
(Links to an external site.)
The Odyssey Online project was developed to help educators teach using works of art from the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Africa. Designed for elementary and middle school-aged students, the major sections include People, Daily Life, explores archaeology, Mythology, Death and Burial, and Writing. Sections include games and puzzles for kids. Last updated 2005.
BBC Schools: Ancient Greece (Links to an external site.)
This BBC school section is aimed at young students and explores the Olympic Games, conflict between Athens and Sparta, and Greek Theatre. There is a Flash-generated tour of the ancient Olympic games and Greek Theatre as well as a visual story of conflict in Mytilene.
The Last Days of Socrates (Links to an external site.)
The Last Days of Socrates aims to aid first year philosophy students read the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and the death scene from the Phaedo. It contains a hyperlinked glossary and notes and is also available in Spanish.
The Battle of Thermopylae (Links to an external site.)
This BBC Radio 4 companion page includes audio of experts discussing: How important are the Greek/Persian wars to the story of democracy? Was the West and its values really so far removed from life in the Persian Empire?
Historical Collections – Antiqua Medicina: From Homer to Vesalius (Links to an external site.)
The University of Virginia Historical Collections and Services offers an interesting and insightful presentation on ancient medicine. The site goes “From Homer to Vesilius” though an extended series of essays illustrated via some excellent photos. Unfortunately it is a static presentation with no multimedia nor hyperlinks to related resources.
Mr. Dowling’s Electronic Passport: Ancient Greece (Links to an external site.)
Mr. Dowling’s Electronic Passport helps kids browse the world in his virtual classroom. He introduces you to many civilizations with clear explanations, engaging graphics for kids, and “cool links”. His helpful study guides, homework assignments and exams are free and available for you to print or to edit. However, the site’s dated design and lack of interactivity are not so “cool.”
Greek Medicine (Links to an external site.)
This site by the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine explores ancient Greek medicine, provides a timeline and vocabulary, and discusses Hippocrates, Aristotle, and other Greek physicians.
The Real Story of the Olympics (Links to an external site.)
This site is from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and asks: Were the ancient Olympic games better than ours? More fair and square? More about sports and less about money? Are modern games more sexist? More political? It explores politics, commercialism, and the athletes themselves. There is a glossary, related links, and FAQs. Interesting content, though little interactivity. Last update appears to be in 2004.
The Ancient Olympics (Links to an external site.)
This BBC News World Service archive is a companion site to a four-part Discovery special in which Olympic triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards takes a look at the original Olympic Games. Information is sparse, the highlight being audio excerpts from the show.
Atlantis – True Story or Cautionary Tale? (Links to an external site.)
This National Geographic article points’s out that few scientists think Atlantis existed, but there remains much speculation and theories about its existence. Of note is the related video: Atlantis Volcano Devastated Ancient Egypt?
The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology (Links to an external site.) The Ure Museum has one of the largest collections of Greek ceramics in Britain. The Museum’s Greek thematic section centers on Cultural Diversity in the Greek World.
Herodotus Project (Links to an external site.)
The Herodotus project is a free serialized translation of Inquiries by the Greek historian Herodotus along with extensive black-and-white photography of the locations and artifacts mentioned in the book. This site is updated monthly with photographic tours that are hyperlinked with the text.
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Links to an external site.) publishes timely reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies (including archaeology). Subscription to BMCR is free
Textkit (Links to an external site.) is an educational source for the study of Latin and classical Greek. It provides free and fully downloadable Greek and Latin grammars and readers, selected classical texts, and tutorials.
Oedipus the King: Introduction to Greek Drama (Links to an external site.)
There are some excellent resources as part of this PBS activity. The core information about Greek drama and playwrights can be found on this Web site under the following headings: How Salamis was remembered – Aeshylus’ The Persians (Event Page: 472 BC – The earliest surviving tragedy); The Origins of Theatre – The First Actor (Event Page: 534 BC Thespis becomes world’s first actor); The Origins of Theatre – The First Plays (continued); The Different Types of Greek Drama and their importance; and The Great Playwrights of Athens’ “Golden Age”.
Ancient Greek Olympics (Links to an external site.)
This four-day unit by Don Donn includes lesson plans for teachers and activities for students.
“The Daily Athenian”: A Greek Newspaper Project (Links to an external site.)
Working in small groups, students will produce sections of a historical newspaper or journal for publication in democratic Athens. Using the resources of a PBS Web site (as well as books and other resources listed in the Research Links & Resources Page) pick an approximate date and research stories for the newspaper. This section has been tailored for a newspaper about Athens during the time of Pericles, because of the greater amount of information available for that period. However, with some adaptation and additional research, it would be possible to compile newspapers for early or later periods. Grades 5 – 12.
Homeric Odyssey and the Cultivation of Justice” (Links to an external site.)
This is an online lecture and discussion series organized and led by Professor Gregory Nagy, Chair of the Department of Classics at Harvard University. It places a special emphasis on the heroic search for the goal of social justice. The series is now over, but you can access the readings, lecture notes, discussion questions, oral poetry notes, links, and video.
Oedipus the King: Ancient Greek Drama (Links to an external site.)
Read Sophocles’ famous work and explore what it reveals about ancient Greek culture. Grades 5 – 12. The goal of this activity is to gain an insight into Greek tragedy and such concepts such as fate, hubris, and (dramatic) irony.
Greek and Roman Land Use: What Was the Difference? (Links to an external site.)
In this National Geographic lesson students differentiate between the two civilizations’ practices of land and natural resource use. Students research Greek and Roman land use and illustrate maps with Greek and Roman land use practices.
Building a Greek Subway System (Links to an external site.)
This National Geographic lesson is intended for students grades 3 -5 who have already studied some of the basics of ancient Greek civilization. Students will investigate ancient Greek artifacts and artworks and will design museum exhibits to be placed in an Athens subway station.
Olympic Competition (Links to an external site.) In this National Geographic lesson students in grades K – 2 will discuss the concept of competition, see pictures of people participating in Olympic sports, and compare and contrast ancient and modern sports. Students will conclude by drawing pictures of themselves participating in both the ancient and the modern games.
Interview a Famous Greek (Links to an external site.)
Students will research and then role play famous ancient Greek citizens in a talk-show format and assemble an Ancient Grecian Hall of Fame. Grades 5 -12.
Parthenon Marbles (video) (Links to an external site.) The Parthenon is among the greatest national treasures of Greece, but important parts of it have been displayed at the British Museum in London for two centuries. Should they be returned to Athens?
An introduction to the Athenian Legal System
(Links to an external site.)Sections include Summons, Arrest, & Investigation, Preliminary Procedure, Courtroom Procedure, and Judgment & Punishment.
The Athenian Court and the American Court System (Links to an external site.)
Helpful comparison of the two systems. Includes teaching strategies
Pericles Funeral Oration (Links to an external site.)
This is considered a classic statement of ancient Athenian ideology and values.
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (Links to an external site.)
This Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute teaching unit is useful for its extended background information, but perhaps more for its “Suggestions for Developing Students’ Understanding of the Play.”
Roger Dunkle’s Study Guide for Oedipus Rex (Links to an external site.) From the Classics Technology Center. “Exercise for Reading Comprehension and Interpretation” is essentially a long list of reading questions and hyperlinked terms. Interesting part about the hyperlinked terms is that they lead to a Glossary where you can hear the pronunciation of Greek words. See also his guide for Antigone (Links to an external site.)
Oedipus Game (Links to an external site.)
Students should enjoy playing the Oedipus Game from the Classics Pages. Kids answer timed multiple-choice questions in this simulation activity. Not as easy as it looks!
Greek Myths, Oedipus, … and Star Wars (Links to an external site.)
An English and History education student at Memorial University has come up with an interesting lesson which should prove interesting and demanding for students. It uses “The Return of the Jedi” to teach “timeless humanistic themes expressed through a culturally responsive drama”.
Two Faces of Greece: Athens and Sparta (Links to an external site.)
Compare Athenian and Spartan culture from a variety of perspectives and through creative presentation ideas. (Grades 5 – 12.)
An Ancient Odyssey: Exploring Ancient Greek Mythology and History through Geography (Links to an external site.)
In this New York Times lesson, students identify both the traditional myths and historical facts that are associated with geographical locations in ancient Greece. They then create a “Travel to Ancient Greece” display to present their findings.(October 23, 2002)
Mediterranean Mystery Solved: An Ancient Artifact Counts Modern technology cracks the code of “the world’s first computer.” (Links to an external site.)
Edutopia article about Antikythera Mechanism, also considered the ancient computer.
Greek Music Video Contest (Links to an external site.)
An English teacher combines the following assignment with her honors level sophomores and watch the videos on “Greek Feast Day” when they each make an authentic Greek dish for a grade.
Mythological Character Research (Links to an external site.)
This High School project is to refine research skills in the library using the Internet, card catalogue, encyclopedias and To help students develop a character’s voice.
Xpedition Atlas printable Map of Greece (Links to an external site.)
Brief Review in Global History and Geography: Document Based Essays and Practice Tests (Links to an external site.)
PH@School’s Brief Review in Global History and Geography Web site provides multiple-choice questions from actual Regents exams. You can also practice your test-taking skills on document-based essay questions (DBQs), with the option of e-mailing answers directly to your teacher for review. See Achievements of the Ancient Empires.
A Tour of Ancient Olympia (Links to an external site.)
One version provides just photos and the other a QuickTime video tour. Students can also read about the athletes and sports of Ancient Greece.
The Transcript for The Quest for King Solomon's Mines
Quest for Solomon's Mines
PBS Airdate: November 23, 2010
NARRATOR: King Solomon: son of David, ruler of the first great Israelite kingdom, builder of the first temple in Jerusalem. The Bible tells us Solomon was not only the wisest, but the richest of all kings, but where did his wealth come from? Legends tell of fabulous mines of gold and copper, but where were they? Archaeologists have searched for evidence of Solomon and found nothing.
ERIC CLINE (The George Washington University): So far, there is absolutely no evidence for Solomon outside the Bible.
NARRATOR: Now, in the deserts of Jordan: mineshafts carved from bedrock a hundred feet deep, and the remains of ancient smelting.
THOMAS LEVY (University of California, San Diego): We have industrial-scale metal production, layer after layer.
NARRATOR: Are these King Solomon's mines? Are these the bones of his miners? At last, new finds from Solomon's era: ancient cities and the first evidence of early Hebrew writing, clues to the real world of the great biblical king.
The Quest for King Solomon's Mines, right now, on this NOVA/National Geographic Special.
Solomon: in the Bible, the wise ruler of a magnificent Israelite kingdom, a star on the stage of the ancient Near East.
BIBLE VOICEOVER (1 Kings 10:24): All the world came to pay homage to Solomon and to listen to the wisdom which God had put into his heart.
NARRATOR: The kingdom created by his father, the warrior-king David, under Solomon, reached new heights of power and prosperity.
BIBLE VO (2 Chronicles 9:22-24): King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the Earth in wealth and wisdom. They brought him tribute: silver and gold objects, robes, weapons and spices.
NARRATOR: In addition to his vast wealth, the Bible tells us Solomon was a great builder. In Jerusalem, he built the famous Temple of Solomon to house the Ark of the Covenant, spiritual focus of the newly unified Israelite kingdom.
Three thousand years later, he is still revered by all three of the Holy Land's great faiths: the Jewish people love Solomon because he built the first temple; to Christians, he is the wisest of Old Testament kings; Muslims, too, claim him as one of their own, the great prophet, Suleiman.
But no conclusive archaeological proof of Solomon or his great kingdom has ever been found, few traces of his palaces, temple or the sources of his vast wealth. His century, the 10th century B.C., remains a mystery.
ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN (Tel Aviv University): In the 10th century B.C., there are things which we know, but it's like a puzzle. Much of the puzzle is dark, and here and there you have lights in the puzzle.
NARRATOR: Many scholars have questioned whether Solomon was a great king at all.
THOMAS LEVY: Archaeologists and biblical scholars have been arguing about whether or not David and Solomon were magnificent kings or simple chiefs.
NARRATOR: If they were great kings, where did they get their wealth?
Now, for the first time a provocative find may help answer this question: ancient mines, their shafts disappearing deep beneath the sands of Jordan; and bodies. Were these the miners? And who was their master?
King Solomon's mines were never mentioned in the Bible, but over the centuries became the stuff of legend, popularized by a 19th century adventure story and no less than three Hollywood movies.
Are these the real King Solomon's mines? Were they the source of the wealth the Bible chronicles?
New finds are reshaping our image of the ancient world, giving credence to some of the Bible's historical accounts, but also casting an entirely new light on Solomon's era. Our quest for Solomon's world begins, not in Israel, but far to the east: Petra, an ancient trade center, built over 2,000 years ago, in the highlands of Jordan.
In the mountains around Petra, lie the ruins of an ancient kingdom called Edom. For over a decade, archaeologist Tom Levy has been researching the evolution of that Edomite kingdom.
According to Genesis, the Edomites, descendents of Jacob's brother Esau, created a kingdom even before ancient Israel. The remains of Edomite settlements cling to the mountaintops and plateaus high above Petra. Tom wants to know about the sources of wealth behind the Edomite kingdom.
His search has led him down from the highlands into the baking desert cauldron of the Dead Sea Rift Valley. It was here, in the no-man's land between ancient Israel and Edom, that he discovered the clues he was looking for. In an area called Wadi Feynan was an entire valley covered with a mysterious black rock. This was solidified slag, the waste product of metal smelting and on a massive scale.
Nearby, multiple shafts dug through rock and, far underground, tunnels, stretching deep inside the hills. And everywhere a striking blue-green rock: the unmistakable evidence of natural copper.
The slag, the mines, the copper, it all added up. This was an ancient copper mining and smelting complex, perhaps the source of wealth behind the Edomite kingdom.
THOMAS LEVY: Most scholars had assumed that it was traderoutes that stimulated the rise of the Edomite kingdom, but I thought that metal production and mining might be a key factor.
NARRATOR: The local people called it Khirbet en Nahas
THOMAS LEVY: Khirbet en Nahas, in Arabic, means "the ruins of copper." As you can see around us, the site is just covered with heaps of black industrial slag.
NARRATOR: Tom has been excavating this site for almost 10 years. He has shown how ancient smelters separated pure copper from the ore in which it's found, then spewed out slag, the molten waste product of the process.
The layers of slag reveal an astonishing record of hundreds of years of ancient copper production.
THOMAS LEVY: I'm really excited about this. Look, right before us we have industrial-scale metal production; layer after layer, almost like a book that, page by page, would reveal the history of metal production at this site.
NARRATOR: Tom believes that metal production played a key role in the evolution of not only Edom but of ancient Israel, too. For ritual and prestige, weapons and tools, metals helped turn simple agrarian societies into kingdoms.
Ancient peoples discovered that, from blue rocks like these, a mysterious new substance could be created. When heated, it was soft and malleable; when mixed with tin, cooled and polished, it had a magical luster. The Stone Age was over. The age of metals had begun.
Tom's student, Erez Ben-Yosef, has been trying to find out how those first copper-producing techniques evolved.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF (University of California, San Diego): It's really, as you see, a pit in the ground. We have the copper ore here. We need to crush it, and then we need to sort out the copper-rich fragments. You will see it's not easy.
NARRATOR: Ancient metalworkers needed a way to raise the temperature of their charcoal fires to over 1,200 degrees Celsius, the point at which copper separates from ore.
They did that with blow pipes.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: We need three people constantly blowing.
NARRATOR: It takes Erez and his friends two hours of constant blowing before they see the first signs of smelting.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: Can you see the blue flame? This is a good indicator that the smelting process is actually taking place.
NARRATOR: When they finally take the crucible out of the fire, they hope to find tiny droplets of copper in the bottom.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: Alright, yes, that's how it looks like. It looks like that.
Very few...
RESEARCHER: There's another one here.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: It's tiny, tiny, but it's metal!
RESEARCHER: It's a copper color.
NARRATOR: That's an awful lot of work for very little metal, but for thousands of years, this is how people smelted copper. The difficulty of producing it may have been why it was largely used for ritual objects and ornaments.
But that small-scale village production is not what Tom has discovered at Khirbet en Nahas. Over years of excavation, his team from the University of California at San Diego has revealed the remains of a massive operation, a copper producing factory.
The site is so large, they send up cameras attached to helium balloons to get a better sense of its scale. The aerial photos clearly reveal the structures of the ancient factory: a fortress and gate house, an administrative building, a tower, a temple.
The site was enormous. Its massive walls, buildings and slag heaps covered an area of 25 acres. Up to a thousand men worked here, day and night, feeding the furnaces where the copper was smelted.
Erez Ben-Yosef is excavating one of those smelters.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: It's like a treasure for us to try and actually reconstruct the technology, step by step.
NARRATOR: At the moment, Erez is unearthing the business end of the smelter: the nozzles, called "tuyeres," where the air from the bellows blasted into the smelter.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: It's the nozzle of a bellow pipe. And it's just one of the best preserved tuyere we have seen in this area.
NARRATOR: The nozzle of a bellow pipe may not sound like a great find, but to Erez, it's crucial evidence for the technological innovations that made large-scale smelting possible.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: We will try to take it out. If we can take them from this side...try not to break them.
Alright, okay, that's a nice one. You can see the nozzle, but it's all covered with slag. And this was the hottest place in the furnace. You can see even some copper prills in the slag, some actual copper metal.
NARRATOR: Beneath the slag, the nozzle has been carefully made from layers of fired clay. This was necessary for it to withstand the 1,200-degree temperatures of the furnace.
This new shaft furnace was powered by foot bellows providing a steady stream of air into the smelter.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: During the second millennium B.C.E., we have the introduction of this amazing shaft furnace that made this copper production process much more efficient.
NARRATOR: With men working day and night, copper could be produced on an industrial scale, and it was.
Environmental scientist, John Grattan, is discovering ancient pollution, a measure of just how intensive this copper production was.
JOHN GRATTAN (Aberystwyth University): I'm using this instrument, which measures metals in the environment, to see and map where the pollution actually is.
It says there is nearly 7,000 parts per million copper, just in the small sample I've taken. That's really nearly 7,000 times more than is safe to be in the soil. And, as if copper wasn't bad enough, looking down here, I can see extremely high levels, dangerously high levels of lead, zinc, arsenic. And this is just on this one tiny spot.
NARRATOR: Using a state-of-the-art X-ray fluorescence device, John Grattan has found powerful confirmation of the scale of ancient copper smelting at Khirbet en Nahas.
Copper was no longer an ornament, it was a commodity, vital for tools, weapons and buildings. Demand for the precious metal exploded, turning the Dead Sea Rift Valley into an industrial powerhouse.
JOHN GRATTAN: We've got here the evidence of the earliest industrial revolution and what I see as the birth of the modern world.
NARRATOR: But how did they get the tons of copper ore they needed to power this revolution?
Over 15 mines have been found, cut into the copper-rich hills surrounding Khirbet en Nahas. Project co-director, Jordanian archaeologist Mohammed Najjar, is exploring one of them.
MOHAMMAD NAJJAR (University of California, San Diego Levantine Archaeology Lab): During our work here, we find out that the shafts are from 3,000 years ago.
NARRATOR: Many of the mines were over a 100 feet deep, to reach the copper seams far below ground. Even with modern climbing gear, the descent is perilous.
MOHAMMAD NAJJAR: It's not easy to go down or up. We know that probably ancient miners were inside the galleries, inside the mines, for many months.
NARRATOR: Dr. Najjar and Tom both believe the miners were slaves.
THOMAS LEVY: This was not the kind of work that anyone would want to do, even for pay. In order to mine on this industrial scale, some sort of forced labor system must have been in existence.
NARRATOR: Imprisoned in claustrophobic tunnels far underground, the miners hacked out the copper-bearing rocks that fed the smelters of Khirbet al Nahas. Above ground, camel trains waited to transport the copper ore to the smelting site.
THOMAS LEVY: Okay, guys, we're going to take our ore.
NARRATOR: To understand the copper ore supply system, Tom Levy is recreating one of those camel trains.
THOMAS LEVY: We want to try an experiment, what it would be like to actually take ore that would have been mined in one of these mines. We've got one right behind me here. And by having these camels and our Bedouin friends helping us, we'll be able to reconstruct that process.
NARRATOR: They've discovered that a single camel can carry about 300 pounds of ore. But, usually, that ore is only 10 percent copper and 90 percent useless rock. So for every 30 of pounds of pure copper, they needed at least a camel-load of ore.
That means that 3,000 years ago, ancient camel supply trains like this probably made their way through these same desert wadis every day, all heading for the largest copper smelting site of the Dead Sea Rift Valley, Khirbet en Nahas.
The size of the slag heaps indicates that, over its lifetime, the site produced 5,000 tons of copper, enough to supply copper to the entire region.
Isotope analysis of copper objects from sites all over ancient Israel has proved that they came from the Wadi Feynan area.
AMIHAI MAZAR (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Right in Israel, metallurgical studies of copper objects found in contexts of 11th century, late 12th and 11th century B.C., were proven to originate from Feynan.
NARRATOR: Perhaps this copper even reached Jerusalem, where Solomon built his temple.
THOMAS LEVY: The Bible tells us that the temple would require precious metals, including tons of copper. And the closest source of copper for Jerusalem—it's about a three-day ride from here—is this area of Feynan.
BIBLE VO (1 Kings 6:12-14): Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, "Concerning this house which you are building, if you keep all my commandments, I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people." So Solomon built the temple.
NARRATOR: In the outer rooms, he placed elaborately carved figures and massive pillars, and, according to the Bible, all were cast in gleaming copper.
BIBLE VO (1 Kings 6:19-20): The inner sanctuary he prepared, setting there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. And he overlaid it with pure gold.
NARRATOR: If Solomon's temple and his palaces existed, they would have needed a lot of copper. So who controlled the burgeoning copper industry of the Dead Sea Valley? One thing is for sure, it had to be an advanced society.
MOHAMMAD NAJJAR: Copper production involves many different activities—mining, then smelting, distributing—you need management to do that. And that can be done only by a complex society.
THOMAS LEVY: It had to have been controlled by something as complex as an ancient kingdom. The question arises, what kingdom?
NARRATOR: Khirbet en Nahas was in the no-man's land between three ancient kingdoms. Any one of them could have had a hand in copper production.
To the west was ancient Israel; to the east, Edom; far to the southwest, the great power of the region, Egypt.
THOMAS LEVY: While I was sitting over there, my colleague, Dr. Najjar, was waving his arms furiously, said, "We just found something. It's an Egyptian scarab."
NARRATOR: The scarab suggests that at one time Egypt was an important player here.
Based on this and other evidence, like an Egyptian shrine at a nearby site, it's clear that in the centuries preceding Solomon, Egyptians controlled the copper industry of the Dead Sea Valley.
EREZ BEN-YOSEF: Undoubtedly, we had Egyptians here, running the mines. They had the control during the 13th century.
NARRATOR: But then, in the 12th century B.C., unexplained events shook the ancient Near East.All of its great civilizations fell.
AMIHAI MAZAR: Around 1200 B.C., the entire political structure of the Bronze Age collapsed. First, the Hittites in the north, the Mycenaeans on the west, and, finally, the Egyptian Empire collapsed and left a great void.
NARRATOR: In this political void, new powers emerged.
ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN: We basically have a vacuum. This collapse took down the big empires and opened the way for something new.
NARRATOR: In the area of Khirbet en Nahas, that something new was the rise of ancient Israel and Edom.
Tom believes these are the only two candidates for control of the copper mines. The more likely is nearby Edom. And now, a new find near the smelting complex may confirm that. It's an ancient cemetery.
THOMAS LEVY: These were circular graves with a cyst burial in the middle, which is like a stone-lined box, and capstones on top of it. We're hoping that by the end of the day, we'll be ready to lift those capstones.
So, the moment of truth has arrived. This is windblown sediment here. This tomb looks like it's going to be filled with sediment.
NARRATOR: It seems they are in for a disappointment. They are not the first to open this grave.
THOMAS LEVY: It looks like it's been disturbed in antiquity. We had hoped that we would pop these stones and find a beautiful pristine grave, but let's wait. Archaeology is about patience.
Okay, so this is five.
NARRATOR: But before long, good news. They catch their first glimpse of bone.
THOMAS LEVY: It looks like we've got a skull.
There's a lot of pieces missing. It's possible that we're going to have an articulated skeleton extending here, so that's exciting.
NARRATOR: Carefully, Tom's team starts the process of extracting the skeleton from the sand which has encased it for 3,000 years. Finally, the entire skeleton is revealed. This is a fully articulated skeleton in a crouched position, almost a fetal position.
So did this man have any connection with the mines?
If he did, his teeth and bones would contain copper and lead, the telltale traces of copper smelting.
Samples are crushed and dissolved, then analyzed in a mass spectrometer to reveal their chemical composition. The results are compared to skeletons from before the copper revolution.
MARC BEHEREC (Grad Student, UCSD): The remains from the cemetery have four times as much copper and lead content as the prehistoric remains.
THOMAS LEVY: That may mean that we've identified some individuals that were actually involved in the smelting activity.
NARRATOR: Even though this man was probably one of the copper workers, there was nothing in the grave to suggest his ethnicity. But artifacts from the cemetery and pottery found nearby provide the answer. The people buried here were from this region.
MOHAMMAD NAJJAR: We are talking about ceramics and different finds here. What we have here is Edomite.
NARRATOR: The discovery that the workers at Khirbet en Nahas were probably Edomite seems to confirm assumptions about the dating of the mining complex.
THOMAS LEVY: I assumed, like the scholarly consensus of the time, that it must date to around the seventh century B.C.E.
NARRATOR: That seventh century B.C.-dating was crucial to Tom's first understanding of what went on here.
He knew that Egypt had collapsed in the 12th century B.C., along with all the other great empires of the region. Based on the timeline of kings laid out in the Bible, Solomon's Israel flourished in the 10th century B.C.
The rise of the Edomite kingdom has traditionally been dated to the seventh century B.C. So with the evidence from Khirbet en Nahas pointing to Edom, it made sense the smelting complex would be from the seventh century, too.
To confirm that dating, Tom has brought radiocarbon specialist Tom Higham, from the University of Oxford to help him.
At the guardhouse and the slag heap, they look for samples of organic material that can be dated: twigs, pieces of charcoal, date seeds spat out by the miners.
THOMAS HIGHAM (University of Oxford): Well, in order to get really precise dates, we have to have a sequence of samples.
THOMAS LEVY: So you're saying we need samples from all these sedimentary layers?
NARRATOR: A sequence of samples allows them to create a chronology. All the dates need to be consistent or the whole sequence is called into question.
Tom Higham takes the samples back to the lab at Oxford. Radiocarbon dating combined with modern statistical analysis will allow him to calculate their age to an accuracy of plus-or-minus 30 years.
The result is really a surprise.
THOMAS HIGHAM: We've got the preliminary results here that you can see on the screen, and what is immediately apparent is that the samples are all fitting in the 10th and 11th century.
NARRATOR: This means the mines were operating, not in the seventh century B.C., but three to four centuries before that.
THOMAS HIGHAM: We're able to say with a great deal of confidence now that these sites were operating in the 10th and 11th centuries B.C. There is absolutely no question about it.
NARRATOR: The dating has thrown the team a curveball. According to the well-accepted archaeological chronology, there was no Edomite kingdom in the 11th or 10th century B.C. that could have controlled these mines.
Is this evidence of an earlier Edomite kingdom? If so, it might lend credence to the Bible's accounts of David's campaigns against the Edomites.
THOMAS LEVY: The Bible tells us that David conquered Edom and established strongholds over the area, like the fortress at Khirbet en Nahas.
BIBLE VO (2 Samuel 8:14): He stationed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became vassals of David.
THOMAS LEVY: The fortress that we found at Khirbet en Nahas is similar to other fortresses found in ancient Israel.
NARRATOR: Could it be that David invaded Edom to get hold of its copper? If so, his son Solomon would have inherited these mines. But was the kingdom of David and Solomon advanced enough to control the copper industry of the Dead Sea Rift Valley?
The biblical account of Solomon's kingdom makes it sound so huge and powerful that controlling the Dead Sea Rift Valley would have been no problem.
BIBLE VO (1 Kings 4:21): And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.
NARRATOR: But in the last 20 years, archaeologists have cast doubt on that story.
For decades, they have searched for evidence of the great 10th century B.C. kingdom of David and Solomon and found almost nothing.
There are a few clues. A carved inscription from the 9th century B.C. records the victory of an Aramean king over what it calls "the House of David," good evidence for David, but not necessarily for a great kingdom. Ruins in Jerusalem, claimed to be the City of David, have still not been conclusively dated. Some archaeologists believe they are from a later period.
The same uncertainties surround the kingdom of Solomon described in the Bible. Few doubt that David and Solomon existed. There is just no proof they were great kings capable of commanding a copper industry like Khirbet en Nahas. Some believe they were more like tribal chieftains.
If that is true, how did the Bible come to describe Solomon as ruler of a magnificent kingdom? Perhaps because the stories of Solomon were passed down by word of mouth for generations. In the process, they were embroidered.
BIBLE VO (1 Kings 11: 1,3): King Solomon married many foreign women, in addition to Pharaoh's daughter. He had 700 royal wives and 300 concubines.
AMIHAI MAZAR: When we read the biblical tradition concerning Solomon, there is no doubt that the text is exaggerating, to a huge extent, the dimensions of the kingdom, the prosperity, all those gold troves in Jerusalem, et cetera.
The fact that Solomon had 1,000 wives, I mean, there was almost 1,000 people living in Jerusalem in this time, so to have 1,000 wivesâ¦it would be quite difficult.
NARRATOR: So, David and Solomon: great kings or tribal chieftains?
The debate has raged for 40 years. Finally, discoveries at an extraordinary new site may help resolve it. Khirbet Qeiyafa: on the border of ancient Israel and the land of the Philistines, in exactly the place where the Bible says the young King David slew the Philistine giant Goliath.
Here, archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel has been excavating a fortified ancient settlement. Its massive walls are testament to a highly organized workforce.
YOSEF GARFINKEL (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): We have here the city wall of Khirbet Qeiyafa, and we calculate that about 200,000 tons of stone were needed to build the fortification of this city.
NARRATOR: This is no tribal encampment. These massive fortifications seem to be the sign of a political structure far more developed than a highland chiefdom. Other tantalizing clues include the handles of some pottery jugs, which bear thumb imprints, often used as an official state seal.
YOSSI GARFINKEL: You see here a very nice impression. This is a thumb impression made by the potter before the jar went into the kiln to be fired. They were marked so you know they were not private jars but jars that belong to the kingdom.
NARRATOR: Further evidence suggests it was an early Israelite city. Among animal bones found in the rubbish heaps of the settlement, Yossi and his team have noticed an intriguing absence.
YOSSI GARFINKEL: So these are animal bones and you can see these are teeth and part of a mandible. And this is sheep or goat. And in our site, we have only sheep, goats and cattle. We don't have pig bones.
NARRATOR: Philistine settlements are full of pig bones. So could this be a sign that at Qeiyafa, the Israelite taboo on pork was already being observed?
When Yossi and his team had organic remains from the site dated, their excitement grew.
YOSSI GARFINKEL: According to radiocarbon dating, this is from the late 11th, early 10th century B.C. So this is really from the time of King David.
NARRATOR: If Qeiyafa was an Israelite city, it would be the earliest ever found. Another discovery suggests an Israelite site in an even more dramatic way. It was made by a teenager working here on his summer break.
ODED YAIR (Student): When I found it, I thought it was just another piece of pottery. Me and my friend Sanyo were digging up pieces of pottery, lots of them. But among them was this one piece with writing on it, the ostracon.
NARRATOR: The ostracon is a piece of pottery with writing painted on it.
YOSSI GARFINKEL: It was a nice geometric shape. It was quite strange, because usually pottery shard are much smaller and they don't have a geometric shape. Only in the afternoon, when it was washed in water, suddenly we saw that it has inscription on it. And then the question is, what is the language?
NARRATOR: The ostracon is faded and almost illegible.
Before Yossi can decipher it, he has to be able to read it clearly. That means sending it to Greg Bearman, in Santa Barbara, California, who uses a unique imaging technology.
GREG BEARMAN (ANE Image): The reason you're unable to see things on pottery or papyrus or any kind of thing like this is the substrate has somehow gotten faded. It's dark. And so you're looking at a dark background with dark text. It's very hard for the human eye to see. It's, you know, looking for the black cat at midnight situation.
NARRATOR: The photo spectroscopy system takes hundreds of pictures of the ostracon at different wavelengths to find out where the contrast between writing and background is highest.
GREG BEARMAN: Here's an example taken with 365 nanometers. It's blank; it may as well not be anything on there. So this shows that, in this wavelength, the pottery and the ink basically reflect the same amount of light and you don't see anything.
As you go up in wavelength, we're stepping into the blue, and we're now into about 500 nanometers, and you see text is starting to show up.
NARRATOR: By combining and processing photos taken at many different wavelengths, Greg finally arrives at a clear image of the text.
A replica of the ostracon was sent to Bill Schniedewind at U.C.L.A.
WILLIAM SCHNIEDEWIND (University of California, Los Angeles): This is really the most important early alphabetic text that we have. Frequently, when we talk about texts from this time period, there are three letters, four letters, five letters. Here you have five lines!
NARRATOR: The letters are Canaanite, the first alphabetic writing system that would give rise to many others, including Hebrew and our own. But deciphering what the script says is a challenge.
To the ancient writing experts working with Yossi in Jerusalem, they seem to be written in a haphazard way, sometimes upside down, sometimes standing up, sometimes on their sides.
HAGGAI MISGAV (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): The 'a', the aleph, which is the same as the 'a', stands here three times: one on the, one on the legs, the other time on the head, which is the original one, and then on the side.
NARRATOR: Struggling to piece together the words which the letters form, the experts can hardly contain their excitement.
EXPERT: This is definitely a Hebrew word.
Don't do.
NARRATOR: They can make out other Hebrew words too: "eved," worship; "shafat," judge; "nakam," revenge; and "melekh," king.
The writing is Canaanite, but the words are Hebrew.
BILL SCHNIEDEWIND: So it's not quite Hebrew script yet, um, but, eventually, this script will develop into Hebrew.
NARRATOR: It makes the ostracon a historic find, a remarkable testament to the birth of Hebrew writing in the process of being systematized.
HAGGAI MISGAV: I only can say that I hold in my hands the most ancient Hebrew text so far found.
NARRATOR: But what everybody really wants to know is what does it say? That question is not easy to answer.
BILL SCHNIEDEWIND: This is a very difficult inscription. Hebrew was written without vowels. So imagine a poorly preserved, vowel-less text. There's a lot of different ways to read a word. It could be a noun, it could be a verb. It's much more problematic than I think most people realize.
NARRATOR: Haggai Misgav is cautious.
HAGGAI MISGAV: You can say, very carefully, it's a text and not just a list of names.
There are sentences there. And there may be sentences with a judicial or a moral meaning, and that's all.
NARRATOR: The exact meaning of the Qeiyafa ostracon may never be deciphered, but its significance is undeniable. It shows that in Solomon's century, in fortified cities, texts were being copied in a very early version of written Hebrew.
The finds at Qeiyafa suggest a solution to the long running debate about Solomon. Like Hebrew writing, Solomon's Israelite kingdom was in the early stages of its formation, a small kingdom struggling to become a bigger one.
This may make sense of one of the few facts about 10th century B.C. Israel we can be sure of: the Bible notes that five years after Solomon died, an Egyptian army invaded, and Solomon's kingdom was crushed.
BIBLE VO (2 Chronicles 12: 2-3): In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt marched against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and innumerable troops who came with him from Egypt.
NARRATOR: Many scholars claim the biblical account of Shishak's invasion of Israel is backed up by a giant relief in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Figures containing images of bound captives and city walls represent the places Shishak ransacked.
AMIHAI MAZAR: We can see that this raid was intended to cross the central hill country just north of Jerusalem. No pharaoh before him did this. They always just moved along the coast. That means he, in particular, wanted to reach the area of Jerusalem.
Perhaps the Solomonic kingdom threatened some Egyptian interests in this region.
NARRATOR: If that is the case, Shishak's raid is one last piece of compelling evidence for the rising power of Solomon's kingdom. If ancient Israel was a land of tribal chiefdoms, why would Shishak bother to invade?
Perhaps this was a Sherman's march through the ancient Near East to flatten its upstart kingdoms. And at Khirbet en Nahas, there may be evidence that one of Shishak's targets was copper production in the Dead Sea Rift Valley.
In a cross section of a slag heap, Tom Levy sees layers of slag laid down regularly year after year. But then there is a break.
THOMAS LEVY: And what you see is this disruption in the metal production activity at the end of the 10th century.
NARRATOR: The thin layers suggest a stoppage of work at the smelters. Levy believes this corresponds to the time of Shishak's invasion.
While scholars debate the details of Shishak's campaign, they all agree on one thing.
ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN: To put your hand on the copper supply at that time was really critical. Whoever controlled or tried to monopolize this was in power.
NARRATOR: So were these King Solomon's mines?
THOMAS LEVY: I hope that in our excavations at Khirbet en Nahas we'll ultimately find inscriptions that can tell us about biblical characters, whether they were Edomites or the early Israelite kings like David and Solomon. But that's a hope.
NARRATOR: Perhaps control of the mines changed hands as different kingdoms came into power. Whoever controlled the mines, we know copper from Wadi Feynan was traded throughout the region and probably reached Jerusalem.
AMIHAI MAZAR: I believe that if, one day, we should find the copper objects from the temple in Jerusalem, it will prove to come from this area.
NARRATOR: One thing is certain: the finds at Khirbet en Nahas and Qeiyafa have transformed our image of the mysterious 10th century B.C., Solomon's century. It was a time of walled cities and scribes, of rising kingdoms that could command a flourishing copper industry.
At last, King Solomon's Israel and the mysterious kingdom of Edom are emerging from the shadows, and along with them, the long forgotten metal revolution, which transformed their era.