Khirbat Faynan

Khirbat Faynan, known in late Roman and Byzantine texts as Phaino[1] or Phaeno,[2] is an archaeological site in Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan.

History and archaeology

Bronze and Iron Ages

Located at the confluence of Wadi Dana and Wadi Ghuwayr, the settlement was occupied from the Early Bronze Age.[3]

The mining and smelting activities intensified during the Iron Age.[4]

In the Bible

The site has been identified with biblical Punon, one of the stations of the Exodus (Numbers 33:42-43).[4][1]

Nabataean period

In the time of the Nabataean kingdom, both the farming and smelting activities reached a new degree of sophistication.[4]

Roman and Byzantine periods

In the Roman and Byzantine periods, it was the centre of the area's extensive copper mining complex, the largest in the Southern Levant.[4][1]

Claims of early Christian authors including Eusebius and Athanasius of Alexandria of large numbers of Christians and heretics being deported to Phaeno, where they suffered under terrible conditions or even martyrdom, have not been supported by the study of 45 skeletons from the 4th-6th-century cemetery excavated at the site.[5]

References
  1. Novo, Alexandre; Vincent, Matthew L.; Levy, Thomas E. (2012-08-29). "Geophysical Surveys at Khirbat Faynan, an Ancient Mound Site in Southern Jordan". International Journal of Geophysics. 2012: 1–8. doi:10.1155/2012/432823. ISSN 1687-885X.
  2. Megan A. Perry et al., Condemned to Metallum?: Illuminating Life at the Byzantine Mining Camp at Phaeno in Jordan, in Bioarchaeology and Behavior, University Press of Florida, October 2012, ISBN 9780813042299
  3. Ward, Lauren (2012-05-29). "Excavations at the Site of an Ancient Techno-Revolution". National Geographic. Retrieved 2017-01-09.
  4. "Wadi Faynan, Copper Mine". World Archaeology (13). 2005-09-07. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  5. Candida Moss, Did Christian Historians Exaggerate Persecution by the Romans?, The Daily Beast, 24 November 2018, accessed 14 January 2019


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