Corrections on Timna and Tel Yinʿam in the "Bulletin"

Abstract

Two papers, in Bulletins 242 and 243, contained very perturbing statements. As, to my mind, this is a matter of basic scientific integrity, I find it imperative to put the facts on record. 1. In Adaptive Strategies in the Archaeology of the Bulletin 242, in Table 2, Archaeological Summary of the Negev, Timna-Industrial Sites in Arava, Aileen G. Baron lists Timna as I (United Kingdom), 1200-1000 B.C., and II (Divided Kingdom), 1000-586 B.C. She describes Timna as Iron I industrial sites in the Arava in the vicinity of copper and malachite sources, identified as 'Ramesside' by Rothenberg (1967, 1972)... . Trying to establish why Dr. Baron would date Ramesside copper mining and smelting sites to I-II, I referred to her doctoral dissertation, Glueck Survey: Issues and Problems in the Archaeology of the (University of California, 1978). There she states: Although Rothenberg (1972) attributes the building of the 'Hathor Temple' near Timna, and associated mining activities to the reign of Sethos I (1318-1304 B.C.) of the XIX Dynasty, the associated pottery suggests that the Egyptian installation cannot be earlier than the 12th century B.C.... At the Egyptian 'Hathor Temple' scarabs with the names of Ramses III and Ramses IV suggest that it remained in use throughout the twelfth century. No Late Bronze Age sites have been identified in Glueck's Negev survey. The fact is that the pottery from the Ramesside Sanctuary of Timna, which Dr. Baron implied should be redated to I-II, has not yet been published. It has been in my charge since the excavations, and Dr. Baron has not seen it. The list of Pharaonic cartouches of the 19th and 20th Dynasties, from Sethos I to Rameses V, found in stratified context, together with the pottery under discussion, as well as the drawings and photographs, was published in 1972 in my Timna book (1972), which Dr. Baron quotes in her bibliography. These cartouches date the Timna Sanctuary, its mines, and its smelters to the New Kingdom, i.e., the Late Bronze Age, or late 14th to mid-12th century B.c. I refrain from further comments.