|
| |
[< Gallery Home | Latest Images | Top 100 | Submit Picture >]
101005 Pictures << Previous Picture | Next Picture >> Wadi Tawahin
[722 x 542 JPG]
 Print
Unless otherwise stated, this image is the copyright of the submitter. Contact them for permission to reproduce it. |  | | Description | Wadi Tawahin gold industry
Ancient gold industry in Eilat area, southern Negev desert, Israel.
Wadi Tawahin a tributary of wadi Roded, 4 Km NW' of Eilat.
GPS ,Israel datum(old) 142123 E' 889531 N,
An industrial site dated from the Umayyad period (7th to 8th centuries CE) to the Abbasid,and Fatimid period (8- 10Th century CE). consisted of several rectangular and round one-room structures,inc. many round diorite grinding mills and anvils. The anvils been used for crushing the quarts stones that contain small quantities of gold and the diorite mills to powder the crushed stones, the white powder that was found in the excavation showed in chemical analysis to contain minute quantities of gold(20 gram per ton), indicating that the site been used for gold processing.
By the found we can reconstruct the production proses, the mining was don in the merges of the wadi bed, separating the reddish quartz grains that contained small amount of gold, the quartz grains crushed on the anvils with stone hammers, the crushed grains milled in the round mills to powder.
as the area is very arid, the assumption is that the powder been transferred to the sea shore for final processing with water.
This kind of industry been found in the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia ) and in upper Egypt.
|
| No comments. Why don't you go ahead and post one! To post comments first you must Register! | |
Megalithic Portal eGallery, images of megaliths and prehistoric sites worldwide, free to view. |
Main News