Radiocarbon and the History of Copper Production at Khirbet En-Nahas

The article deals with the 46 14C determinations from Khirbet en-Nahas, described as the largest Iron Age copper-smelting site in the southern Levant. It is suggested that production at Khirbet en-Nahas: (1) commenced in the early Iron I (after the collapse of the Egypto-Canaanite system) as an outcome of the decline in Cypriot copper-trade with the Levant; (2) peaked in thefirst half of the 9th century, possibly as a result of the need for considerable amounts of bronze by the vast and powerful armies of the rising territorial kingdoms of the Levant; (3) ended in the late 9th century BCE, probably as a consequence of the revival of contacts with Cyprus and the economic interests of Aram Damascus.