A Legacy of Empires? An Exploration of the Environmental and Medical Consequences of Metal Production in Wadi Faynan, Jordan

Abstract

We have explored, and outline herein, the accumulation of copper in humans, plants, and animals in a remote desert area of southwest Jordan, Wadi Faynan, where mining and smelting activities began about 7000 years ago and effectively ceased 1500 years ago. The archaeological core of the area, Khirbet Faynan, is the ruin of the Roman city of Phaino, one of the major mining and smelting centers of the Roman world. In addition, the Faynan area was one of the most important suppliers of copper to ancient Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt (Klein and Hauptmann 1999). Ancient industrial archaeology abounds in the form of adit and shaft mines, ore and metal processing sites, kilns, and spoil and slag heaps (Hauptmann et al. 1992, Hauptmann 2000). The industrial archaeology is closely associated with a complex and extensive irrigated system of fields, which must have been constructed and maintained to feed the workforce in this remote arid area (Barker et al. 1998, 2000). Wadi Faynan is therefore ideally suited to explore the environmental impact of metal production in the past, and its impact, if any, in the modern environment. The study area is located in the hot and very arid Jordanian Desert at the mountain front at the eastern margin of the Wadi Araba, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. These environmental conditions promote the widespread deflation and redistribution of dusts, which inevitably include metalliferous materials released from eroding spoil and slag heaps and ore processing sites (Gee et al. 1997, Pyatt and Birch 1994). The geology of the region is very complex and of key importance to understanding the consequences of mining and pollution in the region. Copper and locally lead mineralization is present in several rock strata, in particular the Numaya Dolomite Limestone of the Durj Dolomite Shale Formation and the Umm’ Ishrin Sandstone Formation of Middle and Early Cambrian age (Barjous 1992, Bender 1974, Hauptmann 2000, Rabb’a 1992). Adjacent to Khirbet Faynan is a reservoir that was abandoned as a water storage facility before the fifth century BC.