Timna, Israel

(2022-2023)

Site 34 ("Slaves' Hill") is a large copper smelting camp on a mesa at the center of Timna Valley. The excavations focused on the main slag mounds, related metal liturgical installations, the gatehouse, and the site's perimeter wall. 

The results suggested a new chronological framework for Iron Age copper production in southern Arabah. They revealed more information on the nature of copper production at Timna at the turn of the first millennium B.C.E. 

Various finds, including a substantial defense system, indicate that a well-organized and centralized society conducted sophisticated copper production at the site. It is suggested that Site 34 was abandoned due to Pharaoh Shoshenq I's campaign and the consequent reorganization of production in the Arabah Valley. 

The new evidence further stresses the limits of archaeology in tackling questions of social complexity in non-sedentary societies, which, unless engaged in unique activities such as mining and smelting, are transparent in common archaeological practice.