אתרי כריית נחושת בערבה, בדרום-מזרח ישראל ובדרום-מערב ירדן: תפוצה ומאפייני החללים של אתרים "חדשים" ושל אתרי כרייה מוכרים

Ancient copper mining and smelting activities occurred on both sides of the ʻAraba valley. These took place in four main centers: The Faynan region and Wadi Abu Khushayba in the eastern ʻAraba and their counterparts Timna Valley and Nahal ʻAmram in the southwestern ʻAraba. However, beyond these well-known copper industry centers, there are isolated mining sites that so far have received only limited attention in research,some of which have only recently been discovered and are presented here for the first time. They include fairly large mines, some of which are of the type defined as 'Columned Mines' (or the Umm al-ʻAmad type) as well as a number of very small mines. The characteristics of these isolated mines will be discussed in the present article, compared with the known sites in the main mining centers. Despite their unusual location, it seems that at least some of the isolated mines had the potential to make a significant contribution to the history of copper exploitation in the area. Documentation of the isolated mines completes the overall picture of mining activity in the ʻAraba, in addition to what is already known about the major mining centers.