TIMNA

cliff formations featuring "Solomon's Pillars",
courtesy, Wikipedia

The Timna Valley is located about 18 miles north of Eilat and covering an area of 23 square miles. The ancient mines are situated in the western part of the Timna Valley, and malachite and chalcocite ores can still be found there in white sandstone formations. The mines and mining camps are spread over an area of approximately 4 sq. mi. The ancient smelting camps, where crude copper was produced, are located in the center of the valley, west of Mt. Timna. Three wadis run through the valley into the Arabah: Naḥal Mangan, Naḥal Timna, and Naḥal Neḥushtan.

It was the site of intensive copper mining and smelting activities especially during the time of King Solomon. However, the mining site was considered by most archaeologists to actually be earlier than the Solomonic period. The discovery of numerous hieroglyphic inscriptions in Timna dating to the 14^th–12^th centuries BCE now indicate that its copper industry, and probably of most of the other copper-producing sites in the Arabah, was developed by Egyptian mining expeditions during the 19^th and 20^th Dynasties. Usually, they would travel from Egypt by sea and then overland to the mining site. The inscriptions were found inside an Egyptian temple, and dedicated to the goddess Hathor and located at the foot of "Solomon's Pillars" in the center of the mining and smelting area; it was probably the central sanctuary of Timna. This temple was built in the reign of Seti I at the end of the 14^th century BCE. Numerous temple gifts, including a partly gilded copper snake, a neḥushtan of Midianite origin, and finds in the smelting camp indicate that the Egyptians operated the copper industry of Timna together with the Midianites, Kenites, and, probably, the Amalekites from the central Negev, possessing metallurgical traditions going back to prehistoric times, as reflected in Genesis 4:22. The Egyptian temple and copper industry, built in the Arabah at a time close to the Exodus, and the numerous objects found in the excavations contribute materially to understanding the cultural and social relations between the tribes of Israel at the time of Moses and the Midianites and Kenites, through the Midianite priest Jethro, father-in-law and adviser to Moses. Gifts were also sent to the temple by Ramses II, Merneptah, and Seti II. Nowadays, the mining site can be identified with "Atika, the great copper mines," described in the Papyrus Harris I dating to the time of Ramses III. The bay of Jazīrat Farʿun, the only natural anchorage in the Gulf of Eilat, can be identified as an Egyptian mining port before it became the shipyard of King Solomon.

An archaeological excavation led by Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University found evidence indicating that this area was also being mined by Edomites, a group who the Bible says were frequently at war with Israel. Afterward, mining was continued by the Israelites and Nabataeans through to the 1st and 2nd centuries CE during the Roman period.

Since the 19^th century, many explorations and excavations were carried out at the site, the most well-known having taken place in 1932-34 by German explorer Fritz Frank and American archaeologist Nelson Glueck who gave the mines the name “King Solomon’s Copper Mines”, and from 1959, by Israeli archaeologist Benno Rothenberg.

The modern Timna Copper Works were opened in 1959 and produce copper cement (with a content of approximately 80% pure copper) from sedimentary ores mined in open pits and shafts over an area of approximately 8½ sq. mi. Nearly all the employees of the Timna Works were residents of Eilat. The modern works were first closed in 1976 owing to an economic crisis in the copper industry. They were reopened in 1980 and then permanently closed in 1985.

In 2002, 42,000 dunams in Timna Valley were declared a nature reserve, ending all mining activity within the reserve's area. It was opened by the Jewish National Fund to share Rothenberg’s findings with the public. There are around 20 different walking trails and some roads in the park to lead visitors to the various attractions. A life-size replica of the biblical tabernacle, a tent that God is said to have instructed Moses to build in order to have a transportable sanctuary during the Exodus from Egypt to the Holy Land, was constructed in recent years. It does not use the materials described in the Bible. Gazelles and ibex still roam the area, but an image of these animals with ostriches found on a high ridge of sand suggests that ostriches once lived here, as well.

Other attractions include: the archaeological antiquities of the Shrine of Hathor and the Chariot Rock Drawings; the natural phenomenon of The Arches (natural arches formed by erosion); Solomon's Pillars; The Mushroom (a mushroom-shaped rock that was carved by the natural forces of humidity and wind); the multimedia "Mines of Times" shown in the new visitors' centers; and the Timna Lake, an artificial lake designed for recreational activities. The park is also used as the location for open-air concerts and cliff-climbing events. Because it is not part of the system of national parks in Israel, there has been controversy over construction of hotels and a large tourist reserve in the area.

In July 2011, the Israeli government approved the construction of an international airport, the Ramon Airport, in the Timna Valley.