King Solomon's Lost Gold Mine Found at Last

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1016, 5 July 1930, Page 17

King Solomon's Lost Gold Mine Found at Last

How a Woman Led an Expedition Into Ruined Zambabwe and Found the Site of the Biblical Treasures That Dazzled the Queen of Sheba.

IT has remained for a group of women archaeologists to discover what science believes are the lost mines of King Solomon, from which he obtained gold to dazzle the Queen of Sheba. Excavators, digging in the great ruined city of Zambabwe in Southern Rhodesia, Africa, are certain they have located the site of the famous Ophir gold mines, the fabulous richness of which is amply recorded in Biblical history. For centuries, soldiers of fortune and scientists alike have dreamed of finding the precious ruins. Not until an expedition under Miss Gertrude Canton-Thompson, distinguished British archaeologist, began work, however, were there any important finds. Recently Miss Thompson, aided by two other English women, Miss Dorothy Doric, a photographer, and Miss Katherine Kenyon, daughter of the director of the British Museum, uncovered important evidence. They not only found the ruins of the famous mines, but also of great smelting towers. These towers are believed to have been used by King Solomon's thousands of slaves to refine the heaps of shining yellow metal they had dug up. Relics found in ruins in Asia and Southern Europe indicate that primitive methods were employed to mine this yellow metal. The gold •was smelted in the great towers. Then it was borne for hundreds of miles on the backs of native slaves to Sofala, a port on the Red Sea. At the junction of two African rivers stands another large ruin, believed to have been used as a depot cn route from the sea. It was there that the black slaves deposited their precious burdens overnight, before continuing their 200-mile march through the jungles of Africa. Also along this vanished route are to be found demolished fort-like buildings of granite blocks, spaced about ten or twelve miles apart. These were to guard the mined treasures apd provided resting-places for the slaves and pack-animals that carried the gold. The theory that these evidences point to the location of the Ophir mines at Zambabwe is given further support by Professor Louis M. Termen. of Stanford University, who says: “In ruins throughout the ancient world, gold ornaments have been found that are similar to those discovered at Zimbabwe. The execution is primitive and justifies the theory that all work was done by slaves and supervised by overseers. The discoveries of the past year have convinced nearly ail scholars that the mines of South Rhodesia were worked by Phoenicians and Chaldeans, by order of King Solomon. “As further argument lor the Ophir theory, it may be mentioned that the present population of Zimbabwe, the Makalangas, still adhere to about 400 Jewish customs, and that some branch tribes show a strong Semitic strain.” . The vast ruins of the ancient city ml Zimbabwe, where these mines were located, in themselves provide one of m.

the great mysteries of the past. Archaeologists have uncovered enough relics to indicate that buried under the tropical jungle attd covered by centuryold trees lies what once was a great thriving metropolis. The solid construction of the towers and bastions has convinced scientists that they were used as strongholds in which to store the millions in gold mined in the Ophir. The largest and most complete of all the structure is known as the Great Zimbabwe. Part of this edifice has three walls, which are sixteen feet in thickness. The giant structure is a circular ruin with a round tower. Standing on its hill of granite rock, it resembles an intricate and elaborate fortress. The interiors are decorated with birds and other figures carved out of stone. Soapstone birds top the pedestal that form the decorations of the building. Signs of the Zodiac were found worked in the designs of amulets found near the Great Zimbabwe. Fragments of large bowls display hunting scenes and a procession of bulls appear in the decorative frieze. The Great Zimbabwe stands on a high rocky hill and commands a view of the surrounding plains stretching away mile after mile in all directions. From this hill can be seen the outline of other ruins, the remains of the buildings along what once was the route used by the ancient Jews to

carry the mined gold to the sea, where it was shipped to distant lands. The Tower,# the Temple and' the Acropolis, the three largest buildings found in the ruins, are all after the same circular pat-

to \ VMfiiti 0 t bcattfl « ol i ct n x» V”' noVt> toCIU ! t \,c °* **W ltt - -\L t t pout** ot t .® ho uOC ot W t t^tont the iC fe ' nfltot f i the oVtst °* it"wa* " ot Sr * J' 1 hoW *t of 'f t *itt»et; oV \ f&Stfg&JS '2«sg£* \ *2, «»«* *'is. *.<»»*•

tern. The floor and stairs of what is called the Temple are of stone set in cement and provided with excellent drainage. It was to solve the mystery of what happened to the first Asiatics who settled this country and hewed these great granite blocks that went into the temples, that archaeologists

excavated in the Zimbabwe. Miss Thompson and her two companions are the first women to attack the baffling mystery of this lost civilization. The discoveries they already have made indicate that they may be successful where so many "male scientists failed. Miss Thompson and her aides went to Africa at the invitation of the British Archaeologists Association and the Rhodesian Government. After making extensive excavations the South African Government was so impressed by her work that she was offered the use of planes for making further surveys. Some idea of the tremendous proportions of the mines found by Sliss Thompson may be gathered from the size of the shafts, 130 feet deep. The amount of gold ore that these subterranean treasure-houses furnished is also staggering. Three of the ancient mines found in southern Rhodesia are alone estimated to have produced 750 millions in gold. Experts believed that by employing modern mining equipment, vast deposits of gold may still be discovered by searchers in these long lost mining ruins. If future excavations confirm this interesting theory, King Solomon's famous mines may prove the scene of one of the great gold rushes of modern times. It is of interest, in this connection, to note that all the gold mined in the past 400 years was worth $20,000,000,000. In a lump it would consist of a cube only 38.5 feet high, wide and long. While this amount seems surprisingly small when depicted in this manner, four miles of street, thirty feet wide, could be paved with one-inch thickness of the precious metal. Even King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba would have gasped at that-