This paper grew out of an archaeological field season conducted in southwestern Sinai by the Department of Egyptology at the University of Bonn during November and December 2022. It specifically discusses the social and cultural relations between Egyptians and Canaanites in southwestern Sinai during the Middle Bronze Age (the first half of the second millennium BC), focussing on the inscription S 357 which was carved into the rock face inside a large copper and turquoise mine. By invoking the god El, the inscription sacralized the workspace. This paper seeks to understand mine and inscription within a cultural-historical polygon made up of landscape, ethnicity, economy, religion, and media.