Refractory ceramics from an iron age bronze melting workshop at Khirbet edh-Dharih, Jordan

An excavation at Khirbet edh-Dharih implemented by the Institut Francais D'Archaeologie du Proche-Orient brought forth a few archaeometallurgical remains such as lumps of bronze, slags, and refractory ceramic fragments. Khirbet edh-Dharih is located in Jordan, near the Feinan area at Wadi Arabah. The Feinan area is well known as a major supplier of copper in the Near East's history from the Chalcolithic to the Roman period. The remains from Khirbet edh-Dharih were dated from the Iron Age II, and they are pointing to a workshop for further treatment of copper from Feinan. Khirbet edh-Dharih is the first bronze melting site excavated in the Feinan copper district.