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== Metallurgy ==
The area of [[Timna valley]] contains large deposits of copper that had been mined from the prehistoric times onward. Copper was mined here by the Egyptians during the reign of Pharaoh [[Seti I]] at the end of the 14th century BCE.<ref>Jacob Edward Dunn 2015, [https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/dunn_jacob_e_201505_ma.pdf ‘A Land Whose Stones Are Iron And From Whose Hills You May Mine Copper’: Metallurgy, Pottery, And The Midianite-Qenite Hypothesis.] Thesis, University of Georgia. 129 pages</ref>
== Religion ==
{{see also|Kenite hypothesis}}
It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. Through their apparent religio-political connection with the [[Moabites]]<ref>{{bibleverse||Numbers|22:4, 7|HE}}</ref> they are thought to have [[Polytheism|worshipped a multitude]], including [[Baal-peor]] and [[Astarte|Ashteroth]]. According to [[Karel van der Toorn]], "By the 14th century BC, groups of Edomites and Midianites worshipped [[Yahweh]] as their God;" this conclusion is based on identification between Midianites and the [[Shasu]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Karel van der |last=Toorn |title=Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit, and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life |location=Leiden |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |page=283}}</ref>
The Midianite connections to metallurgy at Timna have been noted by many scholars. Large amounts of Midianite ceramic ware has been discovered at these mining sites.<ref>Rothenberg, Beno. Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972</ref><ref>Rothenberg, Beno. The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna. Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies London: Thames and Hudson, 1988</ref>
An Egyptian temple of [[Hathor]] at [[Timna Valley|Timna]] continued to be used during the Midianite occupation of the site (terminal Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age); the Midianites transformed the Hathor mining temple into a desert tent-shrine.<ref>{{cite book |title=Unearthing the Wilderness: Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age |last=Avner |first=Uzi |publisher=Peeters |year=2014 |isbn=978-90-429-2973-9 |pages=103–162 |editor-last=Tebes |editor-first=Juan Manuel |chapter=Egyptian Timna – Reconsidered |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9g1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103}}</ref> In addition to the discovery of post-holes, large quantities of red and yellow decayed cloth with beads woven into it, along with numerous copper rings/wire used to suspend the curtains, were found all along two walls of the shrine. [[Beno Rothenberg]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Beno |last=Rothenberg |title=Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines |location=London |publisher=[[Thames and Hudson]] |date=1972}}</ref> the excavator of the site, suggested that the Midianites were making offerings to Hathor, especially since a large number of Midianite votive vessels (25%) were discovered in the shrine. However, whether Hathor or some other deity was the object of devotion during this period is difficult to ascertain. A small bronze snake with gilded head was also discovered in the [[Cella|naos]] of the Timna mining shrine, along with a hoard of metal objects that included a small bronze figurine of a bearded male god, which according to Rothenberg was Midianite in origin. Michael Homan observes that the Midianite tent-shrine at Timna is one of the closest parallels to the biblical [[Tabernacle]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Michael M. |last=Homan |title=To Your Tents, O Israel!: The Terminology, Function, Form, and Symbolism of the Tents in the Bible and the Ancient Near East |journal=Culture and History of the Ancient Near East |volume=12 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |date=2002 |page=118}}</ref>
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