Will coral grow on gold?  I am looking for a definitive scientific
assessment of this question.  Question arises based on the story
circulating that "proves" the parting of the Red Sea and drowning of
Pharoah's army.  In that story it is stated that coral will not grow
on gold - chariot wheels were encased in gold.

Thanks,Lyle

 



 
Pharaoh's Drowned Army
 

Confirmation of the actual Exodus route has come from divers finding
coral-encrusted bones and chariot remains in the Gulf of Aqaba

ONE of the most dramatic records of Divine intervention in history is
the account of the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt.

The subsequent drowning of the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea was
not an insignificant event, and confirmation of this event is
compelling evidence that the Biblical narrative is truly authentic.
Over the years, many divers have searched the Gulf of Suez in vain for
artefacts to verify the Biblical account. But carefully following the
Biblical and historical records of the Exodus brings you to Nuweiba, a
large beach in the Gulf of Aqaba, as Ron Wyatt discovered in 1978.

Repeated dives in depths ranging from 60 to 200 feet deep (18m to
60m), over a stretch of almost 2.5 km, has shown that the chariot
parts are scattered across the sea bed. Artefacts found include
wheels, chariot bodies as well as human and horse bones. Divers have
located wreckage on the Saudi coastline opposite Nuweiba as well.

Since 1987, Ron Wyatt found three 4-spoked gilded chariot wheels.
Coral does not grow on gold, hence the shape has remained very
distinct, although the wood inside the gold veneer has disintegrated
making them too fragile to move. The hope for future expeditions is to
explore the deeper waters with remote cameras or mini-subs. (ABOVE
GILDED CHARIOT WHEEL - Mute witness to the miracle of the crossing of
the Red Sea by the Hebrews 3,500 years ago. Found with metal detector.
*Coral will not grow on gold)


   

1. Coral-encrusted chariot wheel, filmed off the Saudi coastline,
matches chariot wheels found in Tutankhamen's tomb


2. Mineralised Bone - One of many found at the crossing site (above
centre). This one Tested by the Dept. of Osteology at Stockholm
University, was found to be a human femur, from the right leg of a
165-170cm tall man. It is essentially 'fossilized' i.e. replaced by
minerals and coral, hence cannot be dated by radiocarbon methods,
although this specimen was obviously from antiquity.


3. Chariot wheel and axle covered with coral and up-ended. Exodus
14:25 "And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them
heavily:....."



Solomon's memorial pillars
 

WHEN Ron Wyatt first visited Nuweiba in 1978, he found a Phoenician
style column lying in the water. Unfortunately the inscriptions had
been eroded away, hence the column's importance was not understood
until 1984, when a second granite column was found on the Saudi
coastline opposite -- identical to the first, except on this one the
inscription was still intact.

In Phoenician letters (Archaic Hebrew), it contained the words:
Mizraim (Egypt); Solomon; Edom; death; Pharaoh; Moses; and Yahweh,
indicating that King Solomon had set up these columns as a memorial to
the miracle of the crossing of the sea. Saudi Arabia does not admit
tourists, and perhaps fearing unauthorized visitors, the Saudi
Authorities have since removed this column, and replaced it with a
flag marker where it once stood.

 



How deep is the water?


THE Gulf of Aqaba is very deep, in places over a mile (1,600m) deep.
Even with the sea dried up, walking across would be difficult due to
the steep grade down the sides. But there is one spot where if the
water were removed, it would be an easy descent for people and
animals. This is the line between Nuweiba and the opposite shore in
Saudi Arabia.

Depth-sounding expeditions have revealed a smooth, gentle slope
descending from Nuweiba out into the Gulf. This shows up almost like a
pathway on depth-recording equipment, confirming it's Biblical
description "...a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters."
(Isaiah 43:16) The Bible writers frequently refer to the miracle of
the Red Sea crossing, for it was an event which finds no equal in
history.

The Hebrew prophets describe the sea at the crossing site as "...the
waters of the great deep ...the depths of the sea..." (Isaiah 51:10).
Knowing the exact spot to which the Bible writers were referring, what
is the depth there? The distance between Nuweiba and where artifacts
have been found on Saudi coast is about 18km (11 miles).Along this
line the deepest point is about 800m (2,600 feet). No wonder that
Inspired writers of the Bible described it as the mighty waters. And
no wonder that not a single Egyptian survived when the water collapsed
in upon them. (above right NUWEIBA BEACH - The spot where the crossing
began. )

  

(left The saudi side also has a beach area of a similar size see approximate path.)


(right Model of depths at crossing site.)


(below right THE EXODUS ROUTE - With the correct crossing site in the Gulf of Aqaba)

The following link is to the webpage which is the origin
of the above article, and provides the missing pictures:
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~leedas/redsea.html

And do we have any reliable, authoratative sources for this?

Even if it is true that coral will not grow on gold (and I don't know
whether it's true or not), the fact that these wheels are gold would
not prove or disprove anything, since you don't know whose wheels they
are, nor how they got there, nor when. The same is true of the
skeletons. The "evidence" reported by the article you mention can only
be used to support the possibility that the parting of the Red Sea
occurred; it can not definitively *prove* that the parting did occur.

Hi there

When dealing with Ron Wyatt, you have to remember you are dealing with
a proponent of alternative history and one who is prone to flights of
the imagination.  He also claimed to "see the Blood of Christ" on the
"Judgement Seat" beneath the Temple site in Jerusalem.  Ron Wyatt has
no little or no standing within the archaeological community.  He
ranks right along with J. Anthony West and VonDanikan (sp?) for
speculative fictions passed off as history and archaeology.

In fact, Ron Wyatt was not an archaeologist at all.  He was a nurse
anesthetist from Tennessee who had a special interest in Bible
archeology.  He had a Biblical agenda to prove and was able to dodge
realities and provide an excellent scientific doggeral to back his
positions.  For far too many people, if it "sounds" like science it
probably "is" science.  Ron Wyatt, like creationists and others with
an agenda based on religious dogmatic absolutes, was a master at such
misuse of language.

The so-called discoveries of Ron Wyatt are nothing more than a great
hoax perpetrated upon the Christian community for money and fame.

As to the so-called discoveries on Ron Wyatt's video entitled
"Presentation of Discoveries," those interviewed whom Ron Wyatt
presented with his "facts" put little or no archaeological value on
any of the material. "Fraud" was the word most often used when
discussing these discoveries.

That part of the Red Sea had trading centers and seaports from the
time of ancient Egypt through the Byzantine Empire and later.

The discovery of chariot wheels, bone and other items on the sea
bottom came as no surprise to legit archaeologists.  It was expected. 
So much so, in fact, that the sea bottom in the region is not that
high a priority for research.  Things found there are safer and better
off left where they are and reserved for future study.

If an Egyptian king and his army had been lost, the Egyptians would
have been very vocal about it.  There is nothing in the record
pointing to any such loss and there is no "missing" Pharoah.

There is also no archaeological record in the Sinai of the passage of
large groups of people as there would be if such a thing had taken
place, especially if they were wandering around for forty years.  The
archaeological evidence from very small groups still remains, so we
know that the remains from a large group would have an even easier
time surviving.  They simply don't exist.

The only archaeological and historical evidence of the Hebrews
(Hyksos) leaving Egypt is in their being driven out of Egypt by the
founding king of the 18th dynasty, Amose. (Moses in Hebrew)

Cheers
Digsalot

I believe that coral can grow on gold-- coral is not a plant, it is an
animal, and it does not get its nutrients from the soil or rock it
grows on. Instead, it eats zooplankton and other small marine bugs,
and it gets its calcium, amino acids, etc. from the surrounding sea
water. To structurally support themselves, corals grow next to each
other and harden together, forming reefs. Thus they could grow on
anything!! It doesn't matter. Coral also uses photosynthesis to make
sugars out of sunlight. The only way they wouldn't grow on gold is if
it were toxic to coral. I do not think this is the case, since gold
has little or no affinity for binding oxygen, carbon, or nitrogen. The
only thing it really has an affinity for is sulfur. So if sulfur is
necessary for coral to live, then perhaps.... The only thing that my
pharmacology book says gold inhibits is mycobacterium tuberculosis,
nothing else. Besides the point, however, I'm all for historical
evidence of the bible, but this guy's argument is so ridiculously
flawed that it's an embarrasment to believers.