Searching Underwater for Moses’s Undiscovered Tomb?

ready to record Man Fire I didn’t know collecting data could be this much fun we’re dropping a seismic air gun in the Sea of Galilee to scan an underwater anomaly that could be connected to the biblical Legend known as Miriam’s well providing a historical link to the story of Exodus I like this okay fire it again to get a clear digital picture of what lies in the murky Waters below we do this again fire and again and again fire it again a total of eight charges are set off in a circle around the anomaly we found in the sea below this seismic survey of the area has generated enough data to form a 3D image on a computer okay let’s look at this first and we see this location of the shot point right where we made the noise and this is a higher resolution image of the structure

[01:13]and what is important here to see is that some of the reflection comes from the structure which is buried by sediments oh it continues under the sediment here it continues under the sediment so it means that the sediment accumulated after the structure was built right based on this sediment accumulated above the base we assumed that it was built about 4 000 years ago minimum or perhaps even earlier so we’re in the Bronze Age here in terms of our Exodus story we’re in the neighborhood okay so if we take a look at our final product of the of the Imaging we can see that this image is three-dimensional as we crossed in different profiles in different angles that is unbelievable look at that now you can look at a three-dimensional image of this somebody had to bring this huge borders of Basalt and put them one on top of the

[02:12]other it never happens naturally there’s no question this was constructed it’s just such an oddity on the sea floor and it does not match the Topography of the sea flow so right this is also supporting the the possibility that it was built and leveled by someone so we have this Jerusalem talmud that says that you could look down into the Sea of Galilee and see this this bump is there anything else like this that rises up out of the lake here no that’s the only place that we know of this mysterious man-made structure is the only thing like it in the Sea of Galilee and it matches the location of where Miriam’s well was said to have been interred so the million dollar question what the hell is this thing indeed it reminds me of a care in the other words an artificial stone Mount covering a

[03:04]tumb underneath so is it possible then that there’s something inside of this it’s very possible I mean it would be hugely significant right exactly it would be the only one untouched tomb of this kind in this region right obviously this isn’t a magic rock that followed the Israelites through the desert but you know is it possible that this is connected to the story of Exodus well in general religions are known for incorporating a unique landscape features into their own oral tradition right but you could see how something like this could become The Well of Miriam something dry that then is consumed by water it is definitely a possibility The Next Step will be to investigate exactly what lies inside the structure which will be an arduous undertaking for now though I’ll settle for the amazement of Imaging this most mysterious object as much work to be

[03:58]done this is just the beginning of the story the story of Miriam’s well is both miraculous and tragic because shortly before reaching the promised land Miriam dies and her namesake well runs dry to restore it God tells Moses not to strike the rock as he did before but to speak holy words instead yet when the panicked and thirsty Israelites angrily demand that Moses turned the water back on Moses defies God by striking the rock with his staff the water comes but with grave consequences for his pride and insolence God punishes Moses by forbidding him from entering the holy land with his people they will cross the Jordan River into Canaan but first Moses will die 120 years old and it’s this final part of his story that’s in my head as I set off back into the desert I have a nagging question about the

[05:02]Exodus story and you know something that would really help to cement this as an historical event would be to find the body of Moses himself after all someone this significant must have been buried with some real Pomp and Circumstance so I just have one question where’s Moses turns out there’s more than one answer to that question to learn why I’m headed back to the Palestinian territories here in the rolling and empty Hills of the West Bank an unlikely site emerges in the distance a huge walled compound called Nabi Musa which translates to the prophet Moses here to greet me is archaeologists and Islamic Studies professor tafiq dadli thanks for taking the time I appreciate it this is spectacular yeah I have questions about the end of the story of Moses so okay if there is a historical Moses where is this guy I mean where where was he buried according

[06:04]to the biblical tradition he ended on the other side of the valley and he dies where at Mount Nebo Mount Nebo so literally just across the way there across the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan sits Mount Nebo this place has been associated with the burial of Moses since at least the 4th century when a church was built here so over at Mount Nebo archaeologically do we have evidence for this burial okay there is also another story Islamic tradition Moses is mentioned a lot in the Quran yeah you have more than 130 times his name is mentioned in the Quran more than any other Prophet according to this tradition Moses did cross the river and he ended in this side like where we are standing the prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven from Jerusalem which is not so far from here yes the Dome of

[06:54]the Rock The Dome of the Rock yes so when he ascended to heaven in his way he said I saw Moses praying on his tomb and the tomb is believed to be healed on this side of the Jordan River yeah aha so we have one tradition over there and one tradition over here what evidence is there here what what is it the site here at this side we have the tomb of Moses there’s a tomb here of Moses yes can we see it yeah it’s downstairs please here we go to answer the question of where the Prophet Moses is buried I’ve come to the Palestinian territories to visit a site called Navi Musa and what the Islamic faith contends is his tomb [Music] okay Josh here we have the mosque [Music] here we have the tomb the tomb of Moses yes here please wow so this is the burial yeah when can we

[07:59]date all of this too this is the oldest part of the sign and near their entrance to this Mausoleum there is an inscription from the 13th century and we have the date it’s 12 69. so the 13th century we’re talking about a few thousand years after the life of Moses yes so do we have any indication of what was in this spot before the building was here there are written evidences earlier than the 13th century but not much earlier mentioning the tomb of Moses in this area but nothing earlier than that something that you can touch no right maybe an oral tradition but it’s been lost to history yes okay so do we know who’s inside this this was it Moses stone is relying on Muslim Traditions here and they pointed on this place and since this 13th century point it became a whole compound not only the

[08:53]mausoleum and the mosque it became like a caravan Sarai what we call Khan like people will come and stay for a few days they will have food so it became like a pilgrimage site yeah and what about today do people still pilgrimage here do people still come here yeah even from Indonesia even from India these people still believe this is the top of Nabi Musa has this ever been opened examined it’s religion you don’t mix religion with science and excavations especially in the holy land so as an archaeologist this is one of the great challenges is how to look at the stories of the Bible the stories of the Quran and places like this and find that intersection between faith and history and Archeology because we don’t really know what’s here but spiritually it’s a place that’s true for so many people and how do we square that

[09:50]off because we’re never going to be able to open this we don’t need to open that like we have the inscriptions around the building so it’s a different kind of archeology you read the buildings you don’t have to go down and dig the place to see or meet the person who is buried here for us you have to accept it even for archaeologists some things have to be left to Faith you can’t turn over every stone you have to accept some traditions some beliefs by asking to see what’s inside this tomb I’m knocking on a door that will never open at Nabi Musa science and Faith have reached an impasse and neither will yield to the other