Mahd adh Dhahab gold mining cross section

The Mahd Al Dhahab (, "Cradle of (the) Gold"), is a small

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

area in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

. It is located in the Medina Province in the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

was first mined in Arabia c.

30th century BC The 30th century BC was a time period that lasted from the year 3000 BC to 2901 BC. Events * Before 3000 BC: An image of a deity (detail from a Cong (jade), cong) recovered from Tomb 12 in Fanshan, Yuyao, Zhejiang, is made during the Neolithic ...

. A second period of activity was during the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

between 750 and 1258. The latest activities, by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company began in 1936 using both open-pit and underground mines at Mahd adh-Dhahab. The Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources carried out further gold exploration in the 1970s, following the 1971 suspension of the US$-gold exchange rate and the consequent rise in value of the metal. Gold mining is done today by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company. The mine will close in 2023 as now only low-grade gold is being mined because of the depleting resources.

Antiquity

There is a possibility that the ''Cradle of Gold'' is mentioned in the

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

story of the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

. Research by archaeologists Juris Zarins of

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

and

Farouk El-Baz Farouk El-Baz (, ''Pronunciation'': ) (born January 2, 1938) is an Egyptian American space scientist and geologist, who worked with NASA in the scientific exploration of the Moon and the planning of the Apollo program. He was a leading geologist ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

indicates that the

Pishon The Pishon ( ''Pīšōn''; Koine Greek: Φισών ''Phisṓn'') is one of four rivers (along with Hiddekel (Tigris), Perath (Euphrates) and Gihon) mentioned in the Biblical Book of Genesis. In that passage, a source river flows out of Eden to ...

may be the now dried up riverbed that once flowed 600 miles northeast of Mahd al-Dhahab c. 3000 BC. The site has also been identified with "

King Solomon King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

's Gold Mine." Geologists have found a vast abandoned gold mine. Among their finds are huge quantities of waste rock, an estimated million tons, left by the ancient miners, still containing traces of gold. Thousands of stone hammers and grindstones were used to extract the gold from the ore litter the mine slopes. Robert W. Luce said: "Our investigations have now confirmed that the old mine could have been as rich as described in biblical accounts."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahd Adh Dhahab Populated places in Medina Province (Saudi Arabia) Gold mining Governorates of Saudi Arabia