Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy | Gold of the Pharaohs | How did the ancient Egyptians Extract silver and copper in the Pharaonic civilization of Egypt, What metals and precious stones were used in making Statues and Egyptian Antiquities, Building Mortuary Temples, and more about Ancient Egypt History.
Facts and history of the most important minerals used by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, such as silver, copper, iron, the most important gold mines of the ancient Pharaonic civilization, and more.
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Gold in ancient Egypt | Gold of the Pharaohs
Egyptian Monuments who found in Egypt Archaeological Sites accompanied huge amounts of gold that was used for many purposes, and Egyptian writings classified it into four or more categories (gold, good gold, mountain gold, and pious gold).
Egyptian Pharaohs kings and Female Pharaohs was probably the richest of the kings of the East in gold (it is a golden mountain that lights up the whole kingdom, like the god of the horizon) and when the people of Thebes took over the desert mines, the thriving temple of God Amun became a real bank. Egypt and Nubia were the two gold-producing countries.
How did the ancients refine gold?
The gold-laden quartz was abundant in the heart of the eastern and southeastern mountains, so the rock was broken and washed, and the gold was collected as dust in bags of leather, then melted and transformed into molds in the form of cuboids or rings.
Where did Egyptian pharaohs get their gold?
In addition to the Egyptian gold mines, Nubia was a source of gold, as well as Ethiopia, Puntland, and the Levant during the days of The New Kingdom in ancient Egypt, the beginning of the rule of the Pharaohs, the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
Gold was the purpose of chemistry, and for this reason it was a symbol of eternity for the Egyptians, and therefore it was associated with kings and pharaohs, and there are those who estimate that the weight of what was extracted from the land of Egypt was 3500 tons of gold over the course of thirty royal families in its ancient history.
Therefore, observers consider that the Pharaohs exhausted the Egyptian gold mines, especially the desert ones, and there are those who estimate the number of gold mines that were invested at that time to be 100 mines, and that gold was present in three basic forms, which are accompanying rocks (Al-Makhia), above Al-Makhia, and volcanic rocks, from which gold is extracted and re-deposited in The form of veins (quartz) that carry gold between these rocks.
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy. Gold was called in the The ancient Egyptian Pharaonic language Nwb and was associated with the sun because of their relationship to the color yellow. The word refers to Nubia, which is the largest area of gold at the time. The areas of Nubia, Qeft, Wadi Judami, Erdia, Idaht, Samla, Wadi Hamama and Abu Jarida were sources of gold.
As for the most important gold areas in the eastern desert, they are the mines of Wadi Hammamat (Turin papyrus), Wadi al-Sad (8 km from Wadi Atallah), Wadi al-Fawakhir (four km from the Bukhun quarry), Wadi Abbad near the Red Sea at the Temple of El Radisia, the Dungash mine northeast of Samut, and the mines of Wadi Al-Hudi and Wadi Al-Alaqi.
As for Nubia, inscriptions on the Luxor Temple from the era of King Ramses II of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt indicated its locations from south to north, namely: Al-Amin thrones (Mount Barqal), Mount Ammo (between Solia and Karma), Mount Kush (near Samala), Tasti desert (Wawat region), Mount Khatty Hannefer (Lower Nubia), Mount Purifier (Wadi Hammamet), Mount Edfu (Wadi Abbad mines), Qift Mountain (north of Wadi Hammamet).
There are mines on the road between Marsa Spies towards the inside of the Samla and Judami valleys. In one of the mines near Apollinopolis, a map of Papyrus was found dating back to the fourteenth century BC bearing the names of the gold mines east of the Nile River.
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy. There are traces of about 1,300 miners’ homes in Wadi al-Fawakhir, halfway between Kaptus and the Red Sea.
In the temple of King Ramses III of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty, the beginning of the The Ramesside Period, in the Temple of Medinet Habu in Luxor, there are inscriptions of eight large bags, seven of which contain gold. They were pieces of cloth containing washed gold grains.
How did the Ancient Egyptian find gold?
Perhaps the symbol of gold was the shape represented by the furnace or the piece of cloth, the symbol of which became the guardian bull over the eastern valleys of gold. Gold was extracted by two methods:
- Gold mines that contain gold inside stone mountains, and it is called mountain gold (nob-in-st).
- Gold mixed with sand on the coasts of rivers with silt, and it is called river gold (nob-in-mo).
Ancient Egyptian Silver
Was silver more valuable than gold in ancient Egypt?
Silver was discovered in Egypt since before the Predynastic Period, and it appeared in the Naqada III culture (3300-3900) BC at the sites of Umrah, Jezra, Ma’ani and Helwan.
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy. It was used with copper and gold metals in jewelry and utensils as in Industry in ancient Egypt. There are few Silver mines in Egypt, and that is why it was imported from outside Egypt as in Geography of ancient Egypt, especially from Western Asia.
Silver mining was not known in Egypt due to its scarcity, as it was considered more valuable than gold for this reason. Some tools made of silver were found in the Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I within the Mastabas Of The Old Kingdom in Giza, “Queen Hetepheres I”, wife of King Sneferu of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt in the era of the Old Kingdom in Pharaonic Egypt.
We add here this table with the most important minerals in ancient Egypt, their names and symbols:
Electrum metal “White Silver Gold”
A mixture of gold and silver, either natural or synthetic. It was present in Egypt naturally and was used as thin panels for cladding the walls of palaces and Egyptian Tombs and Egyptian Temples in the era of the New Kingdom.
It is a mixture of 75% gold, 22% silver, and 3% copper, and it was present in nature in proportions close to these or made with it. Ancient Egypt imported it from the country of Punt (Somalia), and it was flexible in making ornaments and cladding wooden furniture pieces as Funerary Equipment, doors, and the tops of Obelisks as Obelisk of Senusret I.
Where did Ancient Egyptian people get copper?
Copper ores are ozoite, crococolla, and henbane. Copper was the first metal discovered and used in Egypt. It accompanied the era of calcite (the Chalcolithic period) around 3400 BC. And areas or copper mines appeared in the eastern desert between the Nile and the Red Sea. Copper was extracted from Wadi Mount Al-Maghara and Serabit El-Khadem in South Sinai.
Yellow copper | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy.
It is a mixture of copper and zinc, the raw materials of which were found in Egypt, and jewelry was found in the tombs of the country of Nubia made of it in the Late Period, the beginning of the rule of the Black Pharaohs and the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.
How did ancient Egyptians get copper?
“The copper ore was extracted from the layers of dahnaj, where the layer containing the metal was cut, then that layer was taken and heated until it turned into fine atoms like dust, after that it was mixed with an amount of coal and then formed in the form of a pile above the surface of the ground or placed in a hole, and then a fire was lit Make this mixture dissolve.
After that, it is left until it cools down, then the process of separating the melted copper from the deposits begins, then the copper pieces are cut into parts to facilitate the process of carrying and transporting them.
Scientists Ancient Egyptian science point to the remains of a cream furnace in Sinai, which is likely to have resembled a closed room – it may have been used for this purpose – and after melting the metal, the furnace was raised.
Burning until the metal has cooled and then broken into smaller pieces for use.
Egyptologist, Flinders Petrie, points out that the method of forming copper, after melting it, is by pouring it into open molds carved from thick pieces.
Did the ancient Egyptians have iron?
Iron was discovered in Egypt at an early age and was used in a limited way, but its adequate use took place around 800 BC. It was called the metal of the sky (ba-in-bet). Iron was called by this same name in the Mesopotamia Valley.
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy. The first traces of the use of iron appeared in the era of King Khufu from Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, where an iron machine dating back to that era (around 2800) BC was found. It was used in the manufacture of Pharaonic Ushabti Statues, Pharaonic Scarab, Pharaonic Cartridges , Ancient Egyptian Amulets, beads, doors and windows.
There are abundant iron ores in the lands of Egypt, but they are not pure, as they are found in two forms, one in the form of crystals of iron oxide in volcanic rocks, and the other in the form of dust or pieces of celestial meteors, except that the latter is found mixed with the metal nickel.
Iron ores are found in the Eastern Desert and Sinai and in the Maghra region near Aswan, and the ancient Egyptians did not use iron in its known form as a metal, as they did not know the method of extracting it from its ores, and its use was not widespread except in late ages The beginning of the rule of the kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, and researchers attribute its slow use to the fact that iron needs to be heated and then formed, In contrast to the metal Althass, which is formed while it is cold.
Cobalt Metal | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
It was used to color glass and to polish it.
Lead Metal
found in pre-dynastic tombs; It was found mixed with galena minerals in Jabal al-Rasas, near the coast of the Red Sea. It was used in eyeliner, making small statues, rings, ornaments, household utensils, fishing net weights, rings and necklaces.
Mercury Metal | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
It was found in Egyptian tombs around 1600-1500 BC.
Tin Metal
It is not found in Egypt, and it does not have a mine or primary ores, and what is found from it is imported from the regions of Asia, and the oldest found from it is a ring and a water bottle in Egyptian tombs dating back to the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Bronze Metal – Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
It is a mixture of copper, tin, and a little lead. It was discovered late in Egypt, reaching the era of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt, and it was popular in the era of the New Kingdom.
But the information about it is very little and there is no evidence that it was discovered in Egypt or that its raw materials were discovered.
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy. There are other stones that are less important in use, such as albrecia, dolomite, flint (flint), gypsum, and porphyry rock, all of which are not used for building, but rather for stone industries such as pots obelisks, Gold and The Coffins in Ancient Egypt.
What types of stones and material was used in Egyptian architecture?
In addition to the fertile mineral black earth, there was a stone and rocky land in Egypt that formed the main source for the Agriculture in Ancient Egypt, Sculpture in Ancient Egypt, and Architecture in ancient Egypt and urban tools of Egypt and others. We have put in this table important information about the types of stone to know more about The Secrets of Pyramid Construction, their names, places of existence, and areas of use.
For example, the field of its use and its whereabouts in ancient Egypt. The name of the stone
White limestone | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Locations in ancient Egypt: Sinai (Gebel Um Asnan, Al Baroud) and Ashri and Um hills
Mtella, Cairo Hills, Tarqa, Al-Masara, Jabal Al-Silsilah, Al-Jabalain, Qao Al-Kabir, Renjama, Al-Barsha, Tell el-Amarna, Beni Hasan Tombs, etc.
Use: Carving statues, Phantom doors, Funerary furniture, Building pyramids and temples
Example:
Quartz and sand | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Locations in ancient Egypt: Sinai: Umm Asnan, gunpowder quarries: Eastern Desert, Nubia, Silsilah and Bani Hassan.
Use: Building temples after the New Kingdom.
Example:
- Temple of Al-Toud
- Mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II
- Karnak Temple
- Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
- Deir El Bahari
- The Funerary Temple Of King Thutmose III
- Palace of Malkata
- Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III
- Luxor Temple
- The Colossi of Memnon
- Temple of Seti I
- The Temple of Ramesseum
- Funerary temple of Merenptah
- Medinet Habu
- El-Tarif Tombs
- The Temple of Esna
- Temple of Al-Shalweit
Granite | Crystalline bankani | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Locations in ancient Egypt: Sinai: Umm Asnan, gunpowder. Quarries: Aswan, Elephantine, Abhit, Wadi Al-Fawakhir, Mount Mneiq
Use: Building temples and houses, vessels and dishes, coffins and obelisks, statues and paintings.
Example: Construction of the Second Pyramid Temple of King Khafre.
Diorite | Black and white striped | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Locations in ancient Egypt: South Aswan (Wadi Shallil, Mobile), Jabal al-Dukhan, Wadi Sagha, outside, Khafre’s quarries
Use: Cups and utensils.
Example: Statue of King Khafre.
Schist – slate – (fine-grained quartz, hard, crystalline, light greyish in color)
Locations in ancient Egypt: Qena short road near Wadi Hammamat, Wadi Sad, Wadi Atallah, Wadi Marrali.
Use: Cups, plates, tombs, and graves.
Quartz – White, yellow, red cohesive sandstone
Locations in ancient Egypt: The Red Mountain, northeast of Cairo, north of Aswan, on the way to Bir Hamam Cave, Fayoum Depression.
Use: Door lintels in funerary temples, Pyramid of Teti at Saqqara.
Example: Coffin of King Thutmose I and Queen Hatshepsut.
Basalt – black with shiny grains | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Locations in ancient Egypt: Southeast of Samalout in Aswan, Abu Zaabal quarries in Ahnasia.
Use: Making pots since prehistoric times and paving the floor of the pyramid.
Example: The Sun Temple of Userkaf in the Abusir area between Giza and Saqqara.
Alabaster Marble
Calcium carbonate is a crystalline type of limestone that is white or gray in color
Locations in ancient Egypt: Wadi Abu Diab, east of Esna.
Use: Manufacture of utensils and statues and The niches and rooms of the pyramids.
Example: The Pyramid of Unas was built in the era of king Unas in Saqqara.
Astatite – a dark, mottled, blackish-green crystalline rock | Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy
Locations in ancient Egypt: Barque rocks, north of Umm Granite, Wadi Moreh, making a watering hole, Wadi Umm Dis.
Use: Utensil making and sculpture, Beads and scarabs.
Gemstones in ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy. They are precious stones, and they were used in jewelry and decorations, in making spells as in Magic in ancient Egypt and Ancient Egyptian religion, stitches, jewelry, scarabs, and inlaying and inlaying boxes and coffins.
Did ancient Egypt have gemstones?
Among these stones: agate, amethyst, Egyptian emerald, blood stone, chalcedony (white agate), coral, agate (ceylon stone), jade, red agate and lapis lazuli, aquamarine, onyx (nail stone), pearls, rock crystals, Onyx, turquoise, feldspar, alum.
It must be recalled that the ancient Egyptians did not know diamonds, lapis lazuli, opals, or red or blue sapphires, and they were sometimes mentioned as gifts or spoils from abroad. Pearls were extracted from the shores of the Red Sea and used extensively in jewelry.
Sources Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy: Book of Egyptian Civilization, Khazal Al-Majidi
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