ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the analysis of the radiocarbon chronology of Khirbat en-Nahas (hereafter KEN), Jordan, the largest Iron Age copper production site in the Faynan district. It is, therefore, a partial contribution to the Jabal Hamrat Fidan Project, which is engaged in extensive archaeological investigations in this region. Details of the archaeology of the site is discussed elsewhere in this volume (Levy et al. [Chapter 10, this volume]) and in a recent publication (Levy et al. 2004). The aims of the radiocarbon dating program were initially focussed upon two key areas. First, to date one of the large buildings and part of a gate complex at the site. Second, to date samples from the slag mounds to determine more reliably both the onset and span of metal production. We wanted to place the site into its proper chronological context and test whether iron and copper production was a local incipient development or whether it was influenced by external stimuli, such as the Assyrian empire in the 8th-6th centuries BCE. A key aim was to investigate the time span of manufacturing and copper processing at the site.
