LUCKY SEVERSON: This is Megiddo, one of the world's most important archaeological digs.
Dr. ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN (Director of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University): This is the mother of all mounds, so to speak, because this is the place where biblical archaeology was born.SEVERSON: Israel Finkelstein is director of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, about an hour's drive from Megiddo.
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: This is kind of an amazing place. We are walking through 30 cities, built one on top of the other starting in the seventh millennium B.C.
SEVERSON: In the world of archaeology, Megiddo is near the epicenter. Over the years it has revealed a treasure of information about early biblical times.
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: This is an altar. It is an altar from the third millennium B.C.SEVERSON: What did they sacrifice here?
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: Well, animals. They brought in animals from the countryside -- sheep, goats.
SEVERSON: Thirty civilizations guarding the strategically important Jezreel Valley and what was then the most important road connecting east and west. Historians say the Jezreel Valley has likely seen more bloodshed than any other place on earth -- huge monumental battles dating back thousands of years -- the last one, when the British defeated the Ottoman Empire in 1917. Megiddo has witnessed it all, including the reigns of two of the Old Testament's most important figures.
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: This is the famous Solomonic Gate at Megiddo. It has been described as one of the manifestations of Solomonic greatness. Look at it. It is beautiful. It's monumental.
SEVERSON: "Solomonic" refers to King Solomon, son of King David. Without Solomon, the great kingdom builder, and David, who conquered Goliath and the Philistines, Israel might not have survived.
Dr. BRYANT WOOD (Director, Associates for Biblical Research): Under David and Solomon, Israel became a political entity and became a nation similar to the nations around them.SEVERSON: But what if David and Solomon were not the great kings they were portrayed as? Bryant Wood has been digging in Israel for years.
(To Dr. Wood): How important is it, biblically, if Solomon and David were not great kings?
Dr. WOOD: Well, I think that would be significant because it would show that the Bible is exaggerating or somehow fabricating the greatness of these individuals.
SEVERSON: But that is exactly what Israel Finkelstein and his associates are claiming -- that archaeology does not support the Bible's description of David and Solomon as great kings.
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: The Bible says not only that Solomon was a great king; the Bible also says that Solomon built at Megiddo. So people in the past took this gate not only as a manifestation of Solomon's greatness but also as an example of what he did at Megiddo. However, it doesn't date to the time of Solomon.SEVERSON: You are saying this is really not Solomon's gate?
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: No, this is definitely not Solomon's gate.
SEVERSON: Along with his research, Finkelstein says radiocarbon dating, widely accepted as a reliable method for dating antiquities, proves the gate was actually built as much as 200 years after the time of Solomon, which the Bible places at 1000 B.C. There is no archaeological evidence, he says, that supports the Bible's depiction of the greatness of Solomon or David.
(to Dr. Finkelstein): He was a tribal chieftain?
Dr. FINKELSTEIN: He was a tribal chieftain, yes, that is correct, and David, too, in my opinion, as far as I can judge.
SEVERSON: There are those who disagree with Dr. Finkelstein's findings, of course, including other notable archaeologists. Among them there is a vigorous debate -- but with huge implications for those who take the Old Testament quite literally.
(to Dr. Wood): You say the Bible is under attack like never before. What do you mean?
SEVERSON: Ami Mazar is an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also disagrees with Finkelstein about Solomon and David. He says there is evidence outside the Bible -- a stone inscription about the "House of David" and ruins of ancient cities -- that signify a great king, such as Solomon.
Dr. WOOD: I think what we have are early documents that were written down and then handed along. Obviously the early documents have disappeared long ago, and so our earliest manuscripts now are the Dead Sea scrolls.
Dr. MAZAR: We have much more serious questions concerning the Exodus from Egypt, concerning the slavery in Egypt, concerning the stories about the patriarchs -- of their histories, of the stories of the judges, all of them. Are they true histories or not?
Dr. WOOD: The Book of Revelation says there is going to be a great final battle there -- in the end of days.
