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After more than twelve years of intensive archaeological research under the directorship of Dr Beno Rothenberg the full significance of Timna, Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines, has been revealed. Timna lies near the northern tip of the Red Sea in the Arabah, about 19 miles north of the Gulf of Elat- Aquaba. The Arabah Expedition, originally founded by the author in 1959 as an independent archaeological research team and now part of the Department of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, discovered over 300 previously unknown sites. It became apparent that the Timna Valley was a major centre of copper mining and processing over a period of 6000 years and excavations revealed various complete copper smelting installations from the earliest primitive beginnings in the fourth millennium BC to the sophisticated technology of Roman times. The finds are of considerable importance for the archaeology and history of the Holy Land. We know now that during the XlXth and XXth Dynasties of Egypt the mines were operated by pharaonic expeditions using Kenite-Midianite tribes as labour. One of the outstanding discoveries has been a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Hathor. The last, Midianite, phase of the temple suggests connections with the Midianite cult of the copper snake and with the actual tent-shrine, the Tabernacle, of Israel’s desert wanderings—so helping us to piece together the factual background of the early part of the Exodus story.
Dr Rothenberg presents the findings of the Arabah Expedition, unfolding the story of the search for copper in the Timna area until Mameluke times. His book is a major contribution to Biblical archaeology —invaluable for the many long-standing problems that it solves and fascinating for the new ones it raises.

With 153 plates, 25 in colour, and 77 line drawings

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