EZION-GEBER — GLUECK 455 



called Mene 'iyeh in the Wadi el-'Arabah, some 30 kilometers north 

 of the present shore line of the Gulf of 'Aqabah. This was believed 

 in at a time also when it was not known that Mene 'iyeh was 

 actually the site of one of the largest mining and smelting sites in 

 the Wadi el-'Arabah, worked intensively particularly during the time 

 of King Solomon.^ Other identifications have been with Ghadyan ' 

 and with a place near 'Ain Defiyeh,^ which latter site is some 16 

 kilometers from the present shore of the sea. For various reasons, 

 it had been thought that the waters of the gulf had retreated in the 

 course of some three millennia from approximately 30 to 16 kilometers 

 to the position of its present north shore. The waters of the Gulf 

 of 'Aqabah, have, as a matter of fact, retreated during the course of 

 the last 3,000 years, but the retreat measures about 550 meters, and 

 not as many as 25,000 meters more or less. It remained for a German 

 explorer, Fritz Frank, to discover the small mound of Tell el-Khe- 

 leifeh, which is situated about 550 meters from the shore and is 

 about halfway between the eastern and western ends of the gulf.' 

 He found large quantities of pottery fragments on the surface of the 

 mound (pi. 2, fig. 2), which he judged to be old, earlier than Roman. 

 When the expedition of the American School of Oriental Research, 

 Jerusalem, subsequently examined the site, it was seen that the pottery 

 there was the same as that at the mining sites in the Wad! el-'Arabah, 

 and that the main period of occupation of Tell el-Kheleifeh must be 

 assigned to and after the time of King Solomon." The excavations 

 (pi. 3, fig. 1) have shown that in all likelihood Tell el-Kheleifeh is 

 to be identified with Ezion-geber : Elath, although it cannot be arche- 

 ologically demonstrated beyond all question of doubt. It is, how- 

 ever, now clear that the shore line of the north end of the Gulf of 

 'Aqabah has not changed appreciably in the last 3,000 years. 



It would facilitate the identification of Ezion-geber greatly if we 

 knew exactly where Elath was situated. Both sites, if indeed there 

 ever were two separate sites, which we doubt, are at least to be sought 

 in close proximity to each other, according to the Biblical passages 

 referring to them. We have attempted to identify Elotli, or Elath, 

 as it is variously called in the Bible, with the large ruined site of 



' Glueck, Nelson, Explorations in Eastern Palestine. Ann. Amer. Schools Oriental Res., 

 vol. 15, pp. 42-45, 1934-19.35 ; Musil, Alois. Arabia Petraea. Vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 186-190, 

 Wien, 1908 ; Phythian-Adams, W. J., The call of Israel. Pp. 187-188. London, 1934. 



' Cf. Glueck, Nelson, Explorations in Eastern Palestine. Ann. Amer. Schools Oriental 

 Res., vol. 15, p. 45, 1934-1935. 



• Cf. Glueck, Nelson, Explorations in Eastern Palestine. Ann. Amer. Schools Oriental 

 Res., vols. 18-19, pp. 5-6, 1937-1939. 



• Frank, Fritz, Aua der 'Araba, I. Zeitschr. Deutsch. Paiastinaverelns, vol. 57, pp. 243- 

 244, 1934. 



• Glueck, Nelson, Explorations in Eastern Palestine. Bull. Amer. Schools Oriental Res., 

 No. 65, p. 12, February 1937; The first campaign at Tell El-Kheleifeh (Ezion-Geber). 

 Ibid., No. 71, p. 4, October 1938 ; Explorations in Eastern Palestine. Ann. Amer. Schools 

 Oriental Res., vol. 15. p. 48, 1934-1935 ; vols. 18-19, p. 3, 1937-1939. 



