Most people think that sustainability is a modern concept – that there was no practical knowledge of it until the last few decades. Research is showing that this is not true. History shows areas and events where sustainability guidelines were successfully followed (perhaps “unknowingly” or not by the precepts of today) and others where sustainability principles were ignored for short-term goals, leading to dire results.
Recent research confirms an example of the latter dating back to Biblical times. As shown in Scientific Reports – Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18940-z), there was a very active copper industry dating back at least 3,000 years in the Timna Valley of Israel (southern Israel, near the current Jordanian border). In the Bible, this area was known as Edom, and is mentioned as an area of conquest by King David. Biblical writings do not say why he conquered it, but King David and King Solomon built many structures and also needed to support armies. They would have needed the large amount of copper that that area could produce to make bronze and other needed items.
Evidence exists of many earthenware furnaces operating at 2,200°F to extract copper from the plentiful ore by smelting in Edom 3,000 years ago. What fuel did the Edomites use to maintain this heat and produce a lot of usable copper? This is a critical question given that the ore was found in a desert. The answer is trees. Studying over 1,000 charcoal samples, well preserved after all of these years by dry, desert conditions, scientists determined that in those years smelters burned primarily local acacia and white broom trees to produce the necessary heat. Broom trees are mentioned in Psalms in the Bible as an excellent firewood. However, scientists found that charcoal remains from more recent furnaces of that time contained elements not found in these trees. In time, the smelters had to shift the fuel to other types of wood, such as junipers and terebinth, found dozens of miles away. Calculations by the researchers estimated that at its peak the smelters were burning about 400 acacias and 1,800 broom trees per year, a much greater rate than can be regenerated. Bringing in trees to Edom from a distance was not cost-effective and evidence exists that copper smelting stopped there around 800 BC. Thus, to satisfy the short-term demands of kings, the Edomites overexploited the local natural supply of trees, eventually making copper smelting unproductive. Also, by wiping out the supply of these native trees, irreparable damage impacted the local ecosystem, affecting water storage and the soil. This damage still impacts the current Timna Valley to this day. Although no smelting has been done in 2,800 years and there is relatively little human activity in this desert region, only some white broom trees have returned, nowhere near the level of back then, because of the damage to water retention and the soil. Thus, the overuse of trees to support copper smelting 3,000 years ago did damage to the ecology of that region to this day.
An interesting historical and Biblical lesson for us all.
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