Heyday of King Solomon’s copper mines proved by carbon dating

The legendary, biblical copper mines at Timna, Jordan enjoyed their heyday during the reign of King Solomon, in the 10th century BC, according to a carbon dating test by Tel Aviv University archaeologists.

The copper mine sites were previously believed to have been at their peak of activity three hundred years before Solomon, during the 13th century BC when the Egyptian Empire was running the show in Timna.

Although the mines at Timna bear Solomon’s name, it’s unlikely that he had any direct connection to them, according to Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef.

Ben-Yosef suggests that the mines were probably operated by the Edomites, traditional enemies of the Israelites who lived on the eastern bank of the Jordan River and were not converted to Judaism until the reign of John Hyrcanus in the 2nd century BC.

King Solomon

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