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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Erez Ben-Yosef ,
Thomas E. Levy ,
Thomas Higham ,
Mohammad Najjar  and
Lisa Tauxe
Erez Ben-Yosef
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Center for Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archeology, California Institute for Telecommunication and Information Technology (Calit2), University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA (Email: tlevy@ucsd.edu)
Thomas E. Levy
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Center for Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archeology, California Institute for Telecommunication and Information Technology (Calit2), University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA (Email: tlevy@ucsd.edu)
Thomas Higham
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Mohammad Najjar
Affiliation:
Levantine Archaeology Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Lisa Tauxe
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla CA 92093, USA
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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.

Keywords

Iron AgeEdomcopper archaeometallurgyradiocarbonarchaeomagnetism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 325 , September 2010 , pp. 724 - 746
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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