Wadi Khalid
Iron Age mines
There was a major expansion of copper mining and smelting during the Early Iron Age with more than 100 mines and five major copper smelting centres in the Faynan area, notably Khirbat an-Nuhas.
As in the Bronze Age, Wadi Khalid had a major concentration of mines, with their shafts now having to go deeper to reach the copper-rich ore, in some cases up to 70m deep. The most striking is the triple shaft mine. Two of these shafts were first sunk in the Iron Age, while a third was made in the Roman period, during which ancient mines were being re-opened.
![](http://faynanheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Wadi-Khalid_East.jpg)
Location of Wadi Khalid
![](http://faynanheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Wadi-Khalid-mine-1.jpg)
Image: Professor Tom Levy, University of California, San Diego, USA
![](http://faynanheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/WF4-9-Iron-Age-wall-new.jpg)
Image: Professor David Mattingly, University of Leicester, UK