King Solomon's Mines? New Discoveries from Timna Valley, Israel

Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University presents results from the Central Timna Valley Project, begun in 2012 in the southern Arabah Valley of Israel, following an introduction noting his collaboration on the Cyprus Archaeomagnetic Project at Skouriotissa.

Ben-Yosef reviews the research history of the Arabah copper deposits at Timna and Faynan. In 1934 Nelson Glueck dated the smelting camps to the 10th century BCE and linked them to King Solomon, whereas Beno Rothenberg, after excavating an Egyptian shrine of Hathor with 19th and 20th Dynasty inscriptions at Timna in 1969, redated the smelting enterprise to New Kingdom Egypt. New radiocarbon and archaeomagnetic dates from Site 30 and Site 34 (Slaves' Hill) show that while production began under Egyptian oversight in the 13th century BCE, peak production occurred between the 11th and 9th centuries BCE, with Slaves' Hill active in the 10th century BCE.

At Slaves' Hill, excavations of the slag mounds and gatehouse yielded uncharred organic remains: donkey stables with dung containing Mediterranean grape pips and hay pollen, date seeds, grains, bones of sheep, goat and Mediterranean fish, and dyed wool and linen textiles. Charcoal analysis indicates depletion of local acacia and white broom fuel until smelting ceased in the 9th century BCE. Ben-Yosef argues that skilled metalworkers held high status within a semi-nomadic early Edomite kingdom.

In the discussion, Ben-Yosef notes that Cypriot dominance in copper metallurgy during the Middle Bronze Age and the Late Bronze Age coincided with a hiatus in the Arabah; after Late Bronze Age trade collapsed, Arabah copper reached Olympia and Delphi in the 10th and 9th centuries BCE alongside continued 10th-century smelting at Skouriotissa.