The large Iron Age (12th – 6th centuries BCE) copper production center of Faynan, southern Jordan, is the focus of an on-going interdisciplinary research started at 2002 by the University of California, San Diego and the Department of Antiquity of Jordan, Amman (Edom Lowland Regional Archaeology Project, ELRAP). The project includes excavations in several industrial sites and high resolution surveys in the vicinity of the copper ore deposits, as well as thematic surveys of trade routes and natural resources in the northern Arabah valley.

Our results, coupled with anthropological models and a large set of radiocarbon dates, provide new insights into the Iron Age copper industry of Faynan. The industry flourished during the first part of the period, with a peak in smelting activities during the 10th – 9th centuries BCE. The technological and industrial developments coincide with the emergence of the Edomite polity in the region, suggesting a direct relation between technological change, exploitation of natural resources and social evolution.

The general technological achievements of the period were recognized and studied by others (e.g., Hauptmann 2000). Our new data help refining previous conclusions, especially by providing new materials from deep and well stratified sections that represent sequences of a few hundred years each. In addition, we treat the technological reconstruction and the Chaîne opératoire of the copper industry in Faynan as important tools for assessing the Iron Age society and as proxies for social change. This approach helps us to contextualize the copper industry of Faynan in the wider geopolitical, historical and social picture.