Radon and ‘King Solomon's Miners’: Faynan Orefield, Jordanian Desert

Grattan, John; Gillmore, Gavin; Gilbertson, D. D.; Pyatt, FB; Hunt, Chris; McLaren, Sue; Phillips, Paul S; Denman, Anthony R

doi:10.1016/s0048-9697(03)00442-x

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Details of the location, dimensions and antiquity of the deposits in this mine entrance (5740) attributed to the Hamman Member and the Nabatean-Byzantine period are given in Grattan et al [55] where it is mine 2 of that survey. The lower part of this mine's infill deposits are slumped post-abandonment mining and ore wastes overlain by surficial material that has slumped back into the mine from higher ground outside.…”

Section: Copper Mine In the Wadi Danamentioning

confidence: 99%

The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan

Grattan¹,

Gilbertson²,

Hunt³

2007

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Grattan, J.P., Gilbertson, D.D., Hunt, C.O. (2007). The local and global dimensions of metaliferrous air pollution derived from a reconstruction of an 8 thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 83-110This paper establishes an eight thousand year history of anthropogenic metal pollution at one of the oldest, most important and longest sustained sites of the extraction and smelting of copper ores in the Old World: the Faynan Orefield in Jordan, which is located between the hyper-arid southern desert and the front of the wetter Mountains of Edom. The modern land surface is shown, in significant part, to be a complex palimpsest of archaeological sites, metal pollution of various ages and ore processing deposits. Quantitative and qualitative observations of the storage and cycling of heavy metals through the local natural and domestic systems have produced a body of information on processes with which the past has been interpreted. Heavy metal concentrations in semi-continuous sedimentary bodies indicate that over the last 1500years, metals were removed by natural processes at a comparatively slow rate given the scale of the original anthropogenic metal burden: the proportions of lead with respect to copper have increased as the overall metal burden has been lowered. Distinctive anthropogenic metal-pollution signatures have been detected in ash- and charcoal-rich deposits that were discarded onto the banks of a perennial stream in the late Neolithic. At present, the nature of the human activities that might have produced these pollution signatures is unknown. Substantial metal pollution from industrial-scale smelting activity was present from the Early Bronze Age. The intensity of heavy metal pollution produced in Classical Times locally exceeded that recorded at major European copper smelting centres in the nineteenth century A.D. The pollution evidence indicates that intensive copper smelting at the immediate area took place until approximately the end of the Byzantine period; with the exception of one further minor episode of smelting radiocarbon dated to cal. BP 530-330. An observed partial, but perhaps significant, parallelism is also noted between this local record and the records of the metal burdens of the northern hemisphere determined at mire or ice-sheet sites at high-altitudes or high-latitudes. The paper discusses the extent to which this parallelism might be a geochemical indicator of the actual existence of ''economic systems'' of a geographical scope and scale to have both exercised substantial ''pull'' upon the resources of such isolated and difficult locations at the Wadi Faynan, and to have generated sufficient overall metal pollution to have materially altered the chemistry of the global atmosphere. The comparative absence of quantitative information upon the nature, spatial scale and impacts of human, industrial and natural processes affecting metal-pollution in other metal-rich arid lands provides a ...

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Section: Copper Mine In the Wadi Danamentioning

confidence: 99%

The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan

Grattan¹,

Gilbertson²,

Hunt³

2007

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Gillmore et al (2005), Grattan et al (2004) andel-Rishi et al (2007) noted elsewhere that raised indoor radon concentrations can occur in regions that have been mined, partly because of the presence of associated uneconomic uranium minerals, partly because of introduced ground permeability (Appleton, 2005). In the Hamadan area there are 142 active mines, although mostly for building materials (Markaz-e aamaar-e Iran, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A reconnaissance study of radon concentrations in Hamadan city, Iran

Gillmore

Jabarivasal

2010

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This paper presents results of a reconnaissance study that used CR-39 alpha track-etch detectors to measure radon concentrations in dwellings in Hamadan, western Iran, significantly, built on permeable alluvial fan deposits. The indoor radon levels recorded varied from 4 (i.e. below the lower limit of detection for the method) to 364 Bq/m 3 with a mean value of 108 Bq/m 3 which is 2.5 times the average global population-weighted indoor radon concentration -

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“…Nonetheless what remains today of the Faynan field system are those fields developed to support a relatively large population involved in the extractive and polluting metal producing industries of the area Barker, 2002;Grattan et al, 2004Grattan et al, , 2007. Tied in with some, but by no means all of these fields, are some sophisticated hydraulic structures, such as a reservoir, aqueduct, conduits, dams and sluice systems.…”

Section: The Wadi Faynan Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high levels of heavy metals detected in these slags (Pyatt et al, , 2000Grattan et al, 2007) suggest that there would be episodic major pollution events in the conduit system and possibly also in some runoff fed fields. Certainly sediments in the conduit would be expected to bio-accumulate such problems as this is a major feature of sediments behind the Khirbet Faynan barrage (Pyatt et al, , 2000Grattan et al, 2004Grattan et al, , 2007.…”

Section: Water Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrology of the combination irrigation system in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan

Crook

2009

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Original article can be found at : http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierThe field system of the Wadi Faynan in southern Jordan was fed by an ancient combination irrigation system that incorporated runoff farming and diversion irrigation techniques. The hydraulic characteristics of this system were most probably designed to take advantage of the confluence of three tributary streams. A theoretical model of discharge produced by runoff is based on contemporary ground conditions and historic climate reconstructions. The design principles of the main hydraulic features are examined and velocity and discharge measurements in principal conveyance irrigation channels are reconstructed. The design of this hydraulic system took into account the environmental constraints and opportunities of the area and maximized different sources of water in the catchment using various techniques of water collection

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Radon and ‘King Solomon's Miners’: Faynan Orefield, Jordanian Desert

Cited by 16 publications

References 36 publications

The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan

The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan

A reconnaissance study of radon concentrations in Hamadan city, Iran

Hydrology of the combination irrigation system in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan

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