Egyptian miners had a temple at Timna

Timna is located about 20 miles north of Eilat in Israel. The Rothenberg Expedition discovered a cultic temple used by Egyptian miners at a time when the Egyptians were actively mining copper in the region.

One of the main deities worshiped at the site was Hathor. Having recently seen numerous images of Hathor in Egypt, I thought this was an appropriate follow up.

Cultic temple at Timna devoted to Hathor, et al. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Cultic Temple at Timna devoted to Hathor, et al. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Those who have visited Petra will notice a similarity in the color of the rocks and soil.

The sign at the site gives a brief summary of the excavation and the items discovered.

Timna Hathor Temple Sign

Sign at Cultic Temple in Timna. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The LORD promised the Israelites that they would dwell in a land that included copper and iron. It is impossible to say whether this is one of those places.

… a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. (Deuteronomy 8:9 ESV)

2 responses to “Egyptian miners had a temple at Timna

  1. Pingback: Copper production in the time of Solomon | Ferrell's Travel Blog

  2. I noticed the dating on the sign in the photo. Erez Ben-Yosef presented a joint paper about this site at the ASOR meeting in November. He and his colleagues recently concluded there was also intense copper production at Timna during the Iron Age (11th – 9th c. BC).

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