Digging up evidence of the Queen of Sheba^s wealth page 1
oblivion 12th February 2012, 02:43 AM It's almost Indiana Jones-esque. A legendary queen, her empire, and the source of her treasures. Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ethiopia) and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory. Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, who headed the excavation on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, said: "One of the things I've always loved about archaeology (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/archaeology) is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary." An initial clue lay in a 20ft stone stele (or slab) carved with a sun and crescent moon, the...