Iron Age copper smelters were skilled craftsmen who enjoyed high social status and adulation, scientists say.
In 1934, American archaeologist Nelson Glueck named one of the largest known copper production sites of the Levant "Slaves' Hill."
This hilltop station, located deep in Israel's Arava Valley, seemed to bear all the marks of an Iron Age slave camp - fiery furnaces, harsh desert conditions, and a massive barrier preventing escape.
New evidence uncovered by Tel Aviv University archaeologists, however, overturns this entire narrative.
In the course of ongoing excavations at Timna Valley, Dr Erez Ben-Yosef and Dr Lidar Sapir-Hen of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures analysed remnants of food eaten by copper smelters 3,000 years ago.
The result of this analysis, published in the journal Antiquity, indicates that the labourers operating the furnaces were in fact skilled craftsmen who enjoyed high social status and adulation.
They believe their discovery may have ramifications for similar sites across the region.
"What we found represents a general trend or reality related to metal workers in antiquity. They had a very unique role in society, and we can demonstrate this by looking at Timna," said Ben-Yosef.
The rare arid conditions of Timna have resulted in unparallelled preservation of organic materials usually destroyed by the march of time: bones, seeds, fruits, and even fabric dating back to the 10th century BC.
Using a technique called "wet sieving," the archaeologists found miniscule animal and fish bones, evidence of a rich and diverse diet.
"The copper smelters were given the better cuts of meat - the meatiest parts of the animals," said Sapir-Hen.
"Someone took great care to give the people working in the furnaces the best of everything. They also enjoyed fish, which must have been brought from the Mediterranean hundreds of kilometres away.
"This was not the diet of slaves but of highly-regarded, maybe even worshipped, craftsmen," Sapir-Hen said.
Copper, used at the time to produce tools and weapons, was the most valuable resource in ancient societies.
According to Ben-Yosef, the smelters needed to be well-versed in the sophisticated technology required to turn stone into usable copper. This knowledge was so advanced for the time it may have been considered magical or supernatural.
"Like oil today, copper was a source of great power. If a person had the exceptional knowledge to 'create copper,' it is not surprising he would have been treated well," said Ben-Yosef.
"In comparing our findings to current ethnographic accounts from Africa, we see smelters worshipped and even honoured with animal sacrifices," Ben-Yosef said.
