‘A Land whose Stones are Iron, and out of whose Hills You can Dig Copper’: The Exploitation and Circulation of Copper in the Iron Age Negev and Edom

This paper reviews the archaeological data concerning the mining and circulation of copper ex-tracted from the mines of the Arabah valley (Timna and Faynan) during the Iron Age. In addition to describing the finds, the paper presents a socioeconomic reconstruction of the exploitation and exchange of copper controlled, in the Iron Age I, by the local pastoral groups, and in the Late Iron Age II by the Edomite state.