The oldest solar eclipse ever recorded has been pinpointed to a specific date more than 3,000 years ago, helping historians to date the Egyptian pharaohs.

Cambridge University researchers believe that the eclipse occurred on 30 October 1207 BC and is referenced in the Bible.

They said the discovery helps explain text in the Old Testament book of Joshua that has puzzled biblical scholars for centuries.

The book states that after Joshua led the people of Israel into Canaan – a region of the ancient Near East that covered modern-day Israel and Palestine – he prayed: “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon. And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.”

Prof Sir Colin Humphreys from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, said that if these words were describing a real observation, “a major astronomical event” was taking place.

“Modern English translations, which follow the King James translation of 1611, usually interpret this text to mean that the sun and moon stopped moving,” he said.

“But going back to the original Hebrew text, we determined that an alternative meaning could be that the sun and moon just stopped doing what they normally do: they stopped shining.”