Since 1997, the UC San Diego Levantine Archaeology Laboratory has worked closely with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan on a deep-time study of the role of mining and metallurgy on cultural evolution over a period of nine-thousand years – from the Neolithic period to Islamic times – in Jordan’s Faynan district, some 50 km south of the Dead Sea. Faynan, located near the beautiful Dana UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is home to one of the world’s best preserved ancient copper mining and metallurgy districts. The UCSD project is called the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project, or ELRAP.  ELRAP is special because of its focus on developing and using a high-tech, on-site digital archaeology system. Students will gain extensive experience not only participating in archaeological survey and excavation, but also mastering an array of digital survey and recording tools. There is also a strong daily field laboratory component where students work in labs including ceramics, zooarchaeology, archaeometallurgy, lithics, digital photography, GIS and more.