The beginning of Iron Age copper production in the southern Levant: new evidence from Khirbat al-Jariya, Faynan, Jordan

Abstract

The authors have explored the workplace and house of copper workers of the early Iron Age (twelfth to tenth century BC) in Jordan's Wadi Faynan copper ore district, showing that it belongs in time between the collapse of the great Bronze Age states and the arrival of Egyptians in the area under Sheshonq I. They attribute this production to local tribes – perhaps those engaged in building the biblical kingdom of Edom.

Environmental impacts of ancient copper mining and metallurgy: Multi-proxy investigation of human-landscape dynamics in the Faynan valley, southern Jordan

“…The literature on the geoarchaeological and paleoclimatological context of ancient agriculture and metallurgy in Faynan is extensive (cf. Barker et al, 2007;Ben-Yosef et al, 2010;Hauptmann, 2007;Hunt and El-Rishi, 2010;Hunt et al, 2007;Levy et al, 2014a;Mithen and Black, 2011), and further review is beyond the scope of this paper.…”

“…The Faynan area is also a natural resource zone rich in copper ore (Rabb'a, 1994), and for this reason hundreds of copper mines were exploited in the tributaries leading to Wadi Faynan (Ben-Yosef et al, 2010;Hauptmann, 2007;Knabb et al, 2014;Levy et al, 2014a). Copper ores from the Wadi Arabah have been subject to comprehensive analysis by Hauptmann (2007: 63e73, plus (Hauptmann, 2007: 73e79) demonstrated that the percentage of trace elements is low with the (Levy et al, 2012;Mattingly et al, 2007b), coinciding with the major episodes of metallurgy.…”

Iron Age Nomads and their relation to copper smelting in Faynan (Jordan): Trace metal and Pb and Sr isotopic measurements from the Wadi Fidan 40 cemetery

“…Additional data for this exponential rise in smelting activities has been recently obtained through the first stratigraphic excavations of copper production sites in the Faynan regions, most importantly at the site of Khirbat en-Nahas, a ca. 10 ha production swathed in widespread mounds of copper smelting waste (Levy et al, 2008;Levy et al, 2014a), as well as Khirbat al-Jariya (Ben-Yosef et al 2010), and other sites in Wadi Faynan El-Rishi, 2010 Figs. 8.9 and8.10, p.130-31, Mattingly et al, 2007).…”

“…While there exists a wide range of types of nomadism in the Middle East (Khazanov 1994), our excavations point to the presence of a nomadic population, though much about the exact nature of that occupation remains to be explored. Of key interest is the relationship of the nomadic populations from Wadi Fidan 40 and the different Iron Age smelting sites in Faynan such as Khirbat en-Nahas (Levy and Najjar, 2006;Levy et al, 2014b), Khirbat al-Jariya (Ben-Yosef et al, 2010), and Khirbat al-Guwayba (Ben-Yosef et al, 2013). This is especially intriguing because each of these sites has widespread evidence not only of smelting, but architecture e one of the attributes rarely linked to nomadic populations.…”

Characterizing the rural landscape during the Iron Age and Roman period (ca. 1200b.c.–a.d.400): An intensive survey of Wadi al-Feidh, southern Jordan

“…Surveys in Mesoamerica (Balkansky 2006;Balkansky et al 2000;Feinman et al 1985;Ford and Fedick 1992;Healy et al 2007;Killion et al 1989), South America (Drennan et al 1991;McAndrews et al 1997;Wilson 2009), the northern Mediterranean (Ammerman et al 2013;Bevan and Conolly 2002;Bintliff 1997;Given et al 1999), the Near East (Ur and Hammer 2009;Wilkinson 2000;Wilkinson et al 2007), and east Asia (Drennan 2010;Linduff et al 2002;Underhill et al 1998) have made significant contributions to our understanding of changing patterns of settlement and land use, particularly with relation to changing political, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions. These projects have also been successful in delineating the relationships between urban centers and their hinterlands, and recent research has continued to expand our understanding of peripheral areas through the study of non-sedentary pastoralism (Frachetti and Mar'yashev 2007;Rosen 1987a;Ur and Hammer 2009), local adaptation to ecological niches (Bevan and Conolly 2009;Ford and Fedick 1992), small-scale metallurgical production (Ben-Yosef et al 2010;Georgakopoulou 2014), and movement across landscapes (Gibson 2007;Snead et al 2006). Remote areas, often with relatively difficult terrain, are increasingly being targeted as a result of this new research.…”