More than 7,000 years ago, man began to produce metal and use it for his needs. The first metal, and for thousands of years the main one that was used significantly by man, was copper. Through a long and exhausting process, the ancients learned where to look for minerals containing copper, how to mine them, how to extract copper from them, and how to make necessary tools from it. This process took place in different parts of the world and at different times.
Central sites in Israel are in the southern region of the Arava, of which the best known is Timna. According to many researchers, the main mining and copper production activity in Timna was in the 10th century BCE during the United Kingdom of King David and King Solomon. What is very interesting is that during the same period, evidence of massive mining and copper production activity was uncovered in the Kingdom of Edom. The nature of the sites, the findings, and the production technology, link the activity in the Timna area with the site at Punon, also named Faynan, or later in Roman and Byzantine texts as Phaino or Phaeno, I will refer to it as Punon which is located in the Jordanian Arava, at the foot of the Edom Mountains, about 130 km north of Timna. Researchers conclude that there was tight connection at that time between Timna and Punon and that maybe Timna was a southern extension of the mining and copper production activity that characterized the early Kingdom of Edom, which grew and established itself during this period in parallel with other kingdoms in the region.
There are a few differences between Timna, Mount Amir and other sites in the Israeli Arava and Punon in Jordan. Punon is a water-rich area. The streams in the area, which receive their water partly from melting snow in the Edom Mountains, which are much higher than the Eilat Mountains, flow most of the year. One result of the abundant flowing water is the large number of acacia trees in the Punon area, significantly more than in the Israeli Arava, and acacias were a key ingredient in the copper smelting process, and I will touch on this a bit later.
We are in Jordan, in the northern part of the territory of the biblical kingdom of Edom from 3,000 years ago, in the biblical site of Punon. The site is located about 15 km east of Ein Yahav, about 130 km north of the Timna Valley and about 35 km south of the Dead Sea. But for me, the most important aspect of the location is related to its proximity to both the Arava Road and the King’s Highway, two roads from ancient periods that had enormous economic importance, and more on that later.
According to the Book of Numbers, Chapter 33, there was a station on the journey of the Israelites in the desert between Zalmonah and Oboth, and it is written: “42 And they journeyed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. 43 And they journeyed from Punon and pitched in Oboth.” So where were they before they arrived in Oboth? In Punon, and it’s related to the book of Numbers chapter 21, the story of the bronze serpent, and it says: “4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient because of the way. 5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: ‘Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.’ 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said: ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.’ 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. 10 And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in Oboth.”
Where were they before Oboth? In Punon, meaning there is a connection between Punon and the copper serpent, and this should not be a surprise as copper was produced here in Punon.
Punon is identified with the residence of one of Esau’s champions or chiefs as described in the Book of Genesis, and the reference to a chief is as to the head of a region. “40 And these are the names of the chiefs that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: the chief of Timna, the chief of Alvah, the chief of Jetheth; 41 the chief of Oholibamah, the chief of Elah, the chief of Punon; 42 the chief of Kenaz, the chief of Teman, the chief of Mibzar; 43 the chief of Magdiel, the chief of Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau the father of the Edomites.”
A large amount of copper slag and the remains of smelting furnaces were found here. According to researchers, the amount of slag indicates that Punon was the most important center in Edom for smelting copper ore. Its geographical location in the center of the copper mining center extending from Tzoar in the north to Petra in the south. The abundance of water in the area and its location at a major crossroads also added to the importance of the place.
There was no significant copper mining in Punon itself, and the ore was probably brought here from the rich mine at Umm el-Aamid, about 8 km south of Punon and from other mines in the region. Although mine shafts were found on one of the slopes near the site, and copper ore were found in the area of the ancient settlement, but only in small quantities and in general, no traces of significant mining in ancient times were found here. Similar to Timna, the peak of activity in Punon was during the Israelite period in the 11th-6th centuries BCE, when Punon sometimes belonged to the Kingdom of Judah and sometimes to Edom. During the Nabataean period, smelting technology improved. The site grew again when the Roman Empire conquered the region and annexed the Nabataean kingdom in 106. The site itself was one of the largest copper producers in the Roman Empire. Researchers have estimated that 10,000 tons of copper were mined in this area.
It is important for me to clarify that copper production is a complex process, involving many stages and knowledge in various fields. In contrast to the copper mining stage, which was relatively simple but difficult, the smelting itself required skill and management: the professional expert is required to build a clay furnace of very specific dimensions, supply this furnace with a precise amount of oxygen and coal and a complex mixture of minerals, while maintaining a temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius, and all of this occurred here 2,000 years ago. I describe the copper production process in detail in the video ‘Amram’s Pillars’, which you are of course welcome to watch.
Most of the kingdoms that controlled the ‘Arava Way’ that was along the Arava from Eilat to the Dead Sea, and the ‘King’s highway’ that along its rout now is Highway 35 in Jordan, controlled among other things the mines in this region. For this reason, many wars were fought in the Salt Valley and the northern Arava Valley between the days of the Biblical Kingdoms and the days of Herod the Great, with the aim of controlling the trade of luxury goods, mainly perfume plants, and control over the copper ore in the Arava. The Salt Valley in the northern Arava extends over the area of Hatzeva/Tamar to Khirbet Nahas in the Punon area, and through it passing several brooks that flow into the Arava brook and the Dead Sea. It is also possible to assume that the ancient Dead Sea extended as far south as Hatzeva. Also, from the Salt Valley, convenient roads depart both to the northern Edom Mountains to Basira, the capital of the Kingdom of Edom, and also to the south of Moab, to Kir Moab, Karak today, the capital of the Kingdom of Moab. Hence, in ancient times, the ‘Salt Valley’ was the entrance and gateway to the northern Edom Mountains and the southern Moab Mountains from the Arava in the west.
We reached the end, and as usual I have a question for you, 10km north of Eilat, between Ramon Airport and Eilat, there is another place where copper was mined and produced for thousands of years. What is the name of the place? The answer will appear at the end of the video.
