Red and Black Smiths

Alice C. Linsley

This bronze figure of a blacksmith (7th-8th century B.C.) was discovered by a farmer in Vranište, Serbia. This figure is likely a proto-Celt and the reference to "black" smith may pertain to more than the soot from the forge. It may indicate a genetic stock that today is identified as "black Irish", a reference to dark or black hair. Vran in Serbian means "black". 

These blacksmiths were probably in Y-DNA haplogroup R1b and the point of origin of their ancestors was the Nile Valley and the Wet Sahara. From the earliest times, populations in the Upper Nile included people of red and black skin. This image shows red and black Nubian captives. 

Drawing done by Ippolito Rosellini during the 1828 Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt.

The Varn smiths worked copper and gold, but they were especially fond of gold because it was associated with divine power. Or/oro are words for gold and are related to the name Horus. Grave 43 from the Varna cemetery, the "golden grave" contained more gold than has been found at any other archaeological site from that epoch.

In the ancient world royal metal smiths were found in many regions of the world. They were in the service of rulers who had widely dispersed out of the Nile Valley and out of Mesopotamia. They lived among the Hittites of Anatolia and among the Horites living in the Zagros Mountains. There is evidence that some Croats came from western Iran. 

This hypothesis is supported by the regional names for the Croats which are linguistically related to the words Horite, Horim, Har, Hor, and Hur. In Iran and Afghanistan, they were called Harahvaiti and Harauvati. In Armenia and Georgia, they were called Hurravat and Hurrvuhe. In Azova and the Black Sea region they were called Horoouathos. Present day Croats along the Adriatic are called Horvati and Hrvati.

A territory in Eastern Ukraine was known as "Red Croatia" and its inhabitants were called "Sarmatian" Horites. Their red skin tone and their description as metal craftsmen suggests that they might be related to the Horite Hebrew of Edom. Esau of Edom is described as "red" in Genesis 26. The Greeks called Edom Idumea, meaning "land of red people". 

Abraham's territory was in the land of Edom. Some of his ancestors are described as red: Adam and Seth. At the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship at Nekhen on the Nile red figurines of Seth have been found that show him with a man's body and the head of hippo. The oldest know decorated tomb was found at Nekhen (3500-3200 BC). One of the more intriguing discoveries at Nekhen was the redheaded man in burial no. 79. (The ancient Greeks and Romans described the Celts as redheads.)

Horite Hebrew ruler-priests were famous for their metal work. Aaron forged the golden calf, a representation of the youthful Horus, and Moses forged the bronze serpent, a symbol of deliverance and healing. 

Copper mine at Faynan

Edom and Timna were famous for their ore deposits. The Horite Hebrew rulers of Edom were experienced at mining operations. The copper-rich region of the Faynan is in ancient Edom. Mining operations have run here and at Timna for 12,000 years. At both sites smelting of the extracted copper has been done since 2,500 BC.  

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew were devotees of God Father, Horus, and Hathor, the mother of Horus. The term "Horite" is derived from the word Horus who was called "son" of God. Messianic expectation appears to have originated among their Nilotic ancestors. Horus is the Greek for the ancient Egyptian HR, meaning Most High One.

A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwest edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University. The smelting works, slag and flints at this site were found to be identical to those discovered near Beersheba where Abraham spent much of his time.  In his book Timna, Rothenberg concluded that the peoples living in the area were "partners not only in the work but in the worship of Hathor." (p. 183)

Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef draw a social distinction between the low-class miners and the higher-class smelters: “The people engaged in smelting were actually highly skilled crafts persons and were treated as such. This fundamental observation stems from the inherent complexity of the technology that demanded and created an idiosyncratic class of workers.”

Related reading: Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Sethites and the Red Hippo; The Obed-Edom Connection; Adam Was a Red Man; Afro-Asiatic Metal Workers; Edo, Edom, Idumea; Vinča Metal Workers; The Priesthood in England - Part 3; Miners Venerated Hathor