Archaeologist Erez Ben-Yosef factors to a trench at Slaves' Hill, a copper smelting camp in Timna Valley the place current excavations revealed a gatehouse.
Credit score: Tel Aviv College, Central Timna Valley VentureArchaeologists in Israel say they've found components of a classy gatehouse at a mining camp that dates again to the biblical period of King David and King Solomon within the 10th century B.C.
Current excavations on the hilltop copper-smelting manufacturing facility generally known as Slaves' Hill within the Timna Valley have revealed a fortified gatehouse with donkey stables. The archaeologists, led by Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv College, suppose these options present that this Iron Age settlement had a extremely organized protection system and trusted a powerful community of long-distance commerce.
The huge copper deposits within the southern Levant have been exploited by people for lots of of years. This explicit camp was first recognized within the 1930s by the well-known American biblical archaeologist Nelson Glueck. He known as it Slaves' Hill, theorizing that the huge partitions that surrounded the perimeter have been meant to maintain enslaved laborers from escaping into the desert. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]
Earlier analysis by Ben-Yosef's workforce, nonetheless, discovered that the laborers didn't have a typical slave's food regimen; as an alternative, the metalworkers ate good cuts of meat, pistachios and fish imported from the Mediterranean, suggesting that they had a reasonably excessive standing and have been valued for his or her craft.
For the latest examine, revealed within the Journal of Archaeological Science: Experiences, Ben-Yosef and his colleagues centered on the one entrance to the mining camp and the tip of the steep path to the highest of the mesa. Excavations in 2014 revealed a outstanding gatehouse with two rooms on either side of the primary passageway that led via the camp's partitions. The gatehouse in all probability would have been a outstanding landmark within the space, serving an necessary administrative —and defensive —operate: to regulate and monitor the move of products and folks into and out of the camp, the researchers stated.
"Whereas there isn't a specific description of 'King Solomon's mines' within the Outdated Testomony, there are references to army conflicts between Israel and the Edomites within the Arava Valley," Ben-Yosef stated in an announcement.
The Bible describes a battle between the Edomites, a seminomadic tribal confederacy, and King David's military within the Arabah (additionally spelled Arava) Valley. The historic accuracy of this account is debated, however the discovery of components of a classy fortification at Slaves' Hill means that copper may need been the useful resource at stake throughout army struggles within the area, Ben-Yosef stated.
"Copper was a uncommon product and really difficult to supply," Ben-Yosef stated. "As a result of copper — like oil right now, maybe — was essentially the most coveted commodity, it landed on the very coronary heart of army conflicts. The invention of the fortification signifies a interval of great instability and army threats at the moment within the area."
The researchers additionally discovered intact dung piles outdoors each rooms of the gatehouse and interpreted these areas as donkey stables. The researchers even investigated the contents of the dung, which revealed that the donkeys weren't fed straw however hay and grape pomace (the skins, pulp and stems of grapes), probably delivered from the Mediterranean area, lots of of miles away.
"The meals suggests particular therapy and care, in accordance with the important thing function of the donkeys within the copper manufacturing and in commerce in a logistically difficult area," Ben-Yosef stated.
The dung additionally gave the impression to be intentionally piled towards a wall of the gatehouse, suggesting it may need been collected and used as gas for the copper-smelting furnaces, the researchers wrote.
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