THE EMPIRE AND THE ARAVAH’S COPPER: ASSYRIA’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE ECONOMY OF ITS SOUTHWESTERN CLIENTS AND THE HISTORY OF COPPER PRODUCTION AT KH. EN-NAHAS AND TIMNA

Recent discoveries at Kh. en-Nahas and Timna revolutionized our understanding of southern Levantine Iron Age copper production. The excavations revealed that contrary to the prevailing view that associated copper production with outside empires, massive production was carried out when the area was not under the yoke of foreign empires, and should be associated with local groups and polities. The paper will review the data and will show that these insights fit the growing body of evidence regarding the Assyrian imperial policy in the region, the nature of its economic exploitation of its clients, and of Assyrian hegemony at large.