Timna Valley

The Timna Valley is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arabah, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the town of Eilat. The area is rich in copper ore and has been mined since the 5th millennium BCE. There is controversy whether the mines were active during the Kingdom of Israel and the biblical King Solomon.

A large section of the valley, containing ancient remnants of copper mining and ancient worship, is encompassed in a recreation park.

In July 2011, the Israeli government approved the construction of an international airport, the Ramon Airport, in the Timna valley.

Copper has been mined in the area since the 5th or 6th millennium BCE. Archaeological excavation indicates that the copper mines in Timna Valley were probably part of the Kingdom of Edom and worked by the Edomites, described as biblical foes of the Israelites, during the 10th century BCE, the period of the biblical King Solomon. Mining continued by the Israelites and Nabateans through to the Roman period and the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, and then by the Ummayads from the Arabian Peninsula after the Arab conquest (in the 7th century CE) until the copper ore became scarce.

The copper was used for ornaments, but more importantly for stone cutting, as saws, in conjunction with sand.

The recent excavations dating copper mining to the 10th century BCE also discovered what may be the earliest camel bones with signs of domestication found in Israel or even outside the Arabian peninsula, dating to around 930 BCE. This is seen as evidence by the excavators that the stories of Abraham, Joseph, Jacob and Esau were written or rewritten after this time seeing that the Biblical books frequently reference traveling with caravans of domesticated camels.

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