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Characterization of a Collection of Ancient Egyptian Metallic Artifacts

From The Egyptian Museum

V. Gouda *, S. Abdel Razek**, A. M. Awad Abouelata* , M . Shehata*

*National Research Centre, Dokki, Egypt

**Egyptian Museum, Cairo , Egypt

Abstract

A survey has been conducted for metallic artifacts stored in the basement of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. The

examined artifacts were manufactured from copper base alloys .The objects are of different categories, namely,

figures, statues, tools, and household items. A collection of seventeen artifacts were chosen for detailed

examination. These objects were manufactured before the Greco Roman Period. Nondestructive testing and namely

using XRF technique was applied to determine the elemental chemical composition of the artifacts. In the present

investigation the results obtained for this collection are given. These objects are characterized by having uncommon

alloy composition and manufactured at different times, namely; new kingdom and late period. The analysis of three

objects indicated that their elemental chemical composition is mainly ternary system of Cu Pb Fe alloys, while for

the other fourteen objects their composition is mainly quaternary system of Cu Pb Fe Sn alloys. The percentage of

iron is different in all these objects; it varied from 0.5 up to 20 % .The elemental composition of the majority of

these objects showed iron in the range of 2-4 % . It is of interest to mention that such findings have not been

recorded in the literature, but only very low concentrations less than 0.1 % of iron have been found in copper alloys

in artifacts manufactured before the Greco–Roman period .This has been explained on the basis that iron enters

copper during the smelting process and its content depends on the smelting process.

The surface conditions of the artifacts have been examined visually. Most of the objects suffered from atmospheric

corrosion which varied between severe and light corrosion. Work is underway to find out how the ancient Egyptians

prepared ternary and quaternary copper base alloys containing Iron as an ingredient and not as impurity from the

smelting process. It is well known that the Egyptian Iron Age began in the 7th or 6th Century BCE when Greek

settlers at Naucratis (Kom Gaihf, 72 kilometers south east of Alexandria) introduced to the Egyptians the know -

how for iron production from local iron ores. Iron ores in Egypt are found in the mountainous areas of the Eastern

desert and Sinai. Naucratis then became the great Egyptian center of iron tools manufacture.

Key words: ancient, Egyptian, artifact, copper, alloys, metallic

Corresponding author: Venice K. Gouda, e-mail address: vgoudak@yahoo.com

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Introduction

The Egyptian Museum of Cairo is located in Tahrir Square in the center of the city. Its basement

occupies an area of 5000 m2, divided into 40 storage rooms. The basement is currently used as a

general storage area for the museum. It houses a vast collection of Egyptian antiquities dating

from as early as the Pre-dynastic Period (ca. 3500 B.C.) and as late as the Byzantine period (A.D.

641) .It covers about 5000 years of Egyptian civilization. Since the inauguration of the museum

in 1902, the basement has received objects in nailed wooden boxes; these objects were excavated

from different sites in Egypt by Egyptian and foreign expeditions. Very often, the name of the

site or the expedition and sometimes the date, were the only recorded information written in

thick black ink on the boxes. The objects that are stored in the basement are made of different

materials such as limestone, sandstone, granite, basalt, faience, metal and pottery. They include

royal and private artifacts including statues, stelae, coffins, vessels of pottery and stone, and

minor art objects such as amulets, seals, and scarabs, in addition to a large quantity of ushabti

figurines, oil lamps, and coins. Also there are human mummies and sacred animal mummies.

The artifacts in the basement have increased with time passing, in addition to the finds from

excavations. The basement has also received boxes of seized objects and, recently, boxes of

repatriated objects that were placed in the basement after being displayed in temporary

exhibitions. If we consider all these, we can say that the number of artifacts in the basement

might have doubled to reach over 200,000 pieces. Among its collections the basement houses a

vast collection of metallic objects including huge numbers of coins amounting to about 100.000

coins. Most of them are made of bronze; others are made copper, silver and gold. They are dated

from early the Ptolemaic until the Byzantine period and there are even some Islamic and modern

coins. The metal objects also include bronze, iron and copper tools used for non-funerary

proposes. In addition there are statues and statuettes of bronze of some important deities such as

Osiris. Some of the metals are cosmetic objects and others are jewelry that is kept in the

basement. Big bronze and copper vessels discovered in Qustul in Nubia are also there. Of the

objects for funerary purposes, there is a unique lead decorated coffin dated to the Graeco-Roman

period. Also there are fragments of a second lead coffin.

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The majority of the collections in the basement remain undocumented and poorly registered,

furthermore they were often deposited in an uncontrolled storage environment without chemical

or physical characterization.

In ancient Egypt, copper tin alloy (Bronze), was the preferred material for casting statues and

other decorative artifacts because it reproduces every detail of the mold and because its high

corrosion resistance ensures that the object will last [1].Tin bronzes containing more than 10%

Tin are generally harder than either of the pure metals .The addition of lead to the bronze alloy (

leaded bronze alloy ) has many advantages It improves the fluidity of the melted bronze alloy

and thus makes easier to machine [2]. In addition artifacts manufactured from leaded bronze

alloy is protected from atmospheric corrosion as the presence of lead in the alloy will form

protective coating or insulating coating to the artifact [3].

Through a recently approved project, funded by Science &Technology Development Fund

(STDF) work has been conducted that involved: survey, documentation and characterization of

the metallic artifacts stored in the basement of the Egyptian museum of Cairo.

In the present investigation the results of the characterization, physical chemical analysis of 17

copper base alloy artifacts are presented. These artifacts were chosen because of their unusual

alloy chemical composition.

Experimental

The investigation was conducted on a collection of 17 objects, which are stored in the basement

of the Egyptian Museum. In situ non- destructive technique was applied by using Portable X-Ray

Fluorescence (XRF, CT3000-USA) to determine elemental chemical composition of the chosen

collection at the Egyptian Museum. Much care was taken not to harm the precious artifacts.

The objects were thoroughly inspected visually and macroscopically to determine the surface

condition and the degree of deterioration.

.

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Results and Discussion

Based on the results of elemental chemical composition, the artifacts can be grouped two main

systems

1. Ternary Alloy Cu Pb Fe

2. Quaternary Alloy Cu Pb Sn Fe

Detailed characteristics of objects of the first group are given in Table-1 and for the second

group are given in Tables 2, 3 and 4. The photos of all objects are given in Fig. 1.

Table-1: Characteristics of objects of ternary alloys Cu Pb Fe

No.

and

Name of Object

1

Statue of Osiris

2

Statue of Osiris

3

Statue of Osiris

Description

Standing statue of Osiris wearing

the Atef crown, the lower part is

missing.

Standing statue of Osiris

wearing the Atef crown, the

lower part, is missing

The statue is missing the lower

part

Archeological

Age Late Period Late period Late Period

Dimensions L. 16.4 cm

W 5.5 cm

L 14.7 cm

W 5 cm

L 14.3

W 5.7 cm

Place found unknown unknown Midmoud – Louxor

Surface

conditions

The surface is covered by

brownish and greenish layer

The statue is moderately

degraded

The surface is covered by

brownish and greenish layer

The statue is moderately

degraded

The surface is covered by

brownish and greenish layer

The statue is moderately

degraded

Chemical

Composition Max Min Max Min Max Min

Cu % 81 56 84 58 79.9 62.2

Pb % 40 17 36 11 33 13.8

Fe % 3.3 0.5 4 2 4 2

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1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17

Fig.2: Collective photographs of the investigated objects

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Table-2: Characteristics of the objects (4-7) of quaternary alloys Cu Pb Sn Fe

No.

and

Name of Object

4

Statue of Osiris

5

Statue of Osiris

6

Statue of Osiris

7

Statue of Osiris

Description Headless

standing statue of

Osiris with fixed

base and

protruding

part to fix it to a

base.

Big standing statue of

Osiris, the crown and

beard are missing; the

eyes were once inlaid

with other material. He

is represented with the

royal insignia, the

crook and flail.

Standing statue of

Osiris, the lower

part, beard and

crown are missing

Headless standing statue of

Osiris, the lower part is

missing. There are

engraved designs on it.

Archeological

Age

Late Period Late period Late period Late period

Dimensions Fixed base 8.5 x

3 x 4 cm

Base 12 x 11 5

cm

H 60 cm W 23.5

cm

L 102.5 cm

W 29 cm

H 69 cm

W 29 cm

H 100 cm

W 33 cm

Place found unknown unknown unknown Karnak, Cachette,

Excavated by G. Legrain

in 1905

Surface

Conditions

Surface is mainly

covered with

brownish color

layer and small

scattered

greenish areas

The statue is

severely

degraded

Surface is mainly

covered with brown

colored layer and

small scattered green

spots.

The statue is

moderately degraded

The statue is

covered by greenish

brown layer with

faint green spots.

The statue is

moderately degraded

The statue is casted in a

mould, the lower part is

heavily deteriorated with

cracks and

pores all over the surface

and remnant of decoration

is found in one area

The statue is severely

degraded

Chemical

Composition Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min

Cu % 96.4 66 79.6 56.5 71 54 53.3 41

Pb % 26 1.7 36 16 35 22 26.2 8.7

Sn % 23.2 1 5.6 2.3 7.5 4 13 7.4

Fe % 7.1 0.5 2.4 0.4 1.7 1.4 20 10

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Table-3: Characteristics of objects (8-11) of quaternary alloys Cu Pb Sn Fe

No.

and

Name of Object

8

Statuette of the

Osirian Triad

9

Bracelet

10

Sculpture in the

round

11

Sculpture in the round

Description Triad statuette

Bracelet with

decorated shape

Part of statue of

Hathor crown with

two horns and sun

disk

Part of crown represented

ureaus with two horns and

sun disk. It is inlaid with gold

on the outlines and colored

materials in three parts on

upper part of the body of the

cobra, and the last one

missing.

Archeological

Age

Late Period

Late Period Late Period Late Period

Dimensions L 5.7 cm W 4 cm Diameter 5 cm L 4.4 cm

W 4 cm

L 6 cm

W 2.5 cm

Place found unknown unknown Tehna el-Gebel

(Excavation of

Japanese Mission in

1988)

Tehna el-Gebel

(Excavation of Japanese

Mission in 1988)

Surface

conditions

The surface is

heavily corroded

and covered by

thick greenish

brownish colored

lasyer.

The statuette is

degraded

The surface is covered

by thin brownish layer

The statue is

moderately degraded

The surface is

covered with thick,

rough greenish

layer. Few black

spots are observed

under the sun disk.

The surface is

degraded

The surface is covered by

thin, smooth brownish green

layer. Remains of gilded

areas are observed on the sun

disk and the body.

The object is moderately

degraded

Chemical

Composition Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min

Cu % 85 84.6 86.5 73.5 85.6 77.3 65.8 52.3

Pb % 7.4 6.9 11.5 2.5 16.3 8.8 28 12

Sn % 4.08 4.05 3.4 2.7 4.5 3.3 8.3 5

Fe % 3.37 3.21 0.7 0.3 1.4 0.7 4.4 1

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Table-4: Characteristics of objects (12-15) of quaternary alloys Cu Pb Sn Fe

No.

and

Name of Object

12

Sculpture in the round

13

Sculpture in the round

14

Jewelry

15

Sculpture in the round

Description Osiris statue with Atef

crown

Osiris statuette

wearing Atef crown

and false beard, There

is a suspension ring for

hanging in the back

pillar.

Ring with a bezel in the

middle

Head of a lion, part from

the back of head is

missing

Archeological

Age

Late Period Late Period Late Period

Late Period

Dimensions L 10 cm

W 3.5 cm

L 8.5 cm

W 2.9 cm

Diameter 1.7 cm L 9.5,

W 6 and

H 5.5 cm

Place found Tehna el-Gebel

(Excavation of

Japanese Mission in

1988)

Tehna el-Gebel

(Excavation of

Japanese Mission in

1988)

Tehna el-Gebel

(Excavation of Japanese

Mission in 1988)

Unknown

(Collection of king

Farouk)

Surface

conditions

The surface is covered

by a thick, rough

greenish layer with

brownish spots.

The statue is severely

degraded particularly

the lower part.

The surface is covered

by a thick, rough

greenish layer with

dark brown spots.

The statue is severely

degraded particularly

the lower part.

The surface is covered by

a very thin, smooth dark

brown layer.

The ring is lightly

degraded

The surface is covered by

thin, smooth reddish

brown layer. Green areas

and spots are observed

all over the surface.

The object is moderately

degraded

Chemical

Composition Max Min Max Min Ring Bezel Max Min

Cu % 73 69 74 71 85 43 74.5 58

Pb % 28 23 19.4 16 40 1.3 35 12

Sn % 1.8 1.5 4.5 4.3 18 7.5 12.5 11

Fe % 1.2 0.7 4.2 3.9 1.7 2.5 3.8 1

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Table-5: Characteristics of objects (16 and 17) of quaternary alloys Cu Pb Sn Fe

No.

and

Name of Object

16

Sculpture in the round

17

Foundation Deposit, Model

Description Head of a lion Situla with hanged handle

hollowed out; There are three

lines of incised divinities.

Archeological Age Late Period Late Period

Dimensions L 10.5,

W 6.5 and

H 5.5 cm

H: 14 cm

Diam. 5 cm

Place found Unknown

(Collection of king Farouk)

Unknown

(Collection of king Farouk)

Surface

conditions

The front surface is covered by

thin, smooth reddish brown layer.

The back surface is covered by a

thick, rough layer and shallow

cracks are observed. Green areas

and green spots are distributed all

over the artifact.

The object is moderately degraded

The surface is almost covered

with a thin, smooth dark brown

layer. Green spots are observed

particularly on the upper part of

the neck. The hanging handle is

covered with a thick greenish

brown layer.

The whole artifact is slightly

degraded except the hanging

handle which is in good

condition.

Chemical

Composition Max Min Max Min

Cu % 80 65 93 72

Pb % 19 11 13 8.3

Sn % 14 12 13.3 5

Fe % 3.6 0.6 1.1 0.5

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It is clear from Table 1 that the three objects ( 1 , 2 and 3 ) are very similar in many aspects

;same category statues of Osiris , have same archeological age , same degree of corrosion and

the most important characteristic is having similar elemental chemical composition and namely

Cu Pb Fe alloy .The Cu content ranged from 56 to 81% , Pb ranged from 17 to 40% and Fe

ranged from 1 to 4% .

On the other hand , the characteristics of objects 4 to 17 shown in Tables 2-4 , indicate that these

objects are various .Thus the category varied statues , jewelry, sculpture in the round , amulets

and foundation deposits .Their elemental chemical composition also varied , thus the Cu content

ranged from 60 to 84% , Pb ranged from 7-25% , Sn ranged from 2-16% and Fe from 1-10% .

The main alloying elements are quaternary system: Cu Pb Sn Fe. Object number 7 has a

noticeable very high content of iron than the rest of the objects, it ranged from 10 - 20 %.

Such alloy composition of ancient Egyptian artifacts of ternary system of Cu Pb Fe or quaternary

system Cu Pb Sn Fe are well illustrated in our present work for the chosen collection.

The fact that the content of iron in both systems is much more than the impurity level (0.3%)

may indicate that iron was deliberately added to the alloy mix.

Generally it was noticed while conducting the XRF analyses the measurements for the same

element varied greatly from one spot of the object to another nearby spot .This may indicate that

the alloy material in most of the studied artifacts was not homogeneous.

Analyses of ancient Egyptian bronzes [4] where, the iron content has been determined show that

the copper almost invariably contains iron but as impurities in the range of 0.03 during the

predynastic – first dynasty while during second dynasty – new kingdom the iron content

increased to 0.33 %. This has been explained on the basis that iron enters copper during the

smelting process .Thus the differences of iron content was due to the differences in the smelting

process ; those averaging around 0.05 % were made by the short simple process while those

averaging around 0.3%were made by the more sophisticated process involving slagging .

.A study of large numbers of copper alloys from a wide range of cultures and locations such as

Ancient Egypt [4, 5] ; Greece, Etruscan and Roman civilizations [6, 7], Britain [5]; and Spain

[8], indicated that of all minor and trace elements regularly found in early copper , iron was the

most dependent on the smelting process. It was clear that the earlier more primitive metalwork

has a much smaller trace of iron than is found in the late metalwork [5]. In addition, the rise of

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iron content was attributed to changes in smelting practice which was the introduction of

deliberate slag formation within the furnace.

Recognition of low iron content in metalwork of the European Bronze Age was attributed to

non-slagging process utilization [9]. According to Craddock and Meeks [5] the iron content of

artifacts tends to rise substantially in the copper alloys of any region when the local cultures

attain a certain level of technical civilization or encounter other more advanced groups .They

concluded that the iron content of the copper alloy gives an indication of the contemporary

copper smelting technology applied.

Riederer [10] has conducted an extensive study that involved detailed analyses of more than

1000 Egyptian bronze statuettes made during the Middle Kingdom and Late Kingdom. He

illustrated that the percentage of copper content ranged from 65-93, tin ranged from 15 – 3 and

lead 30-0.3. He also found out that iron was present in many objects in concentrations from 0 to

0.1 and some artifacts had iron in the range of 0.1 – 0.5 % while an exception case of iron

content was 4%.

.Gouda et al [11] conducted in situ non- destructive XRF elemental chemical analysis on copper

base alloy artifacts that included statues which are being displayed at the Egyptian Museum of

Cairo. Most of these objects were manufactured during the late period and the rest during Greco-

Roman Period. The results indicated that the copper content was in the range of 86.5 – 67 %, the

tin ranged from 10. 5 - 2.5 %, lead ranged from 20.8 – 3.4 %, iron ranged from 0 .01-1.35 and

zinc ranged from 0.1-1.84 % .These results agree with that reported by Riederer [10]. However,

the results of the present investigation clearly indicate that there is great differences in the iron

content than that for the previous collection of bronzes [3, 11], in spite of the fact that in these

studies the same technology of copper based alloy production was adopted .This clearly indicate

that iron was encouraged or deliberately added to the alloy mix to produce objects with relatively

high iron content as has been reported above. The elemental chemical composition of several

objects from the basement of the museum indicate the presence of metallic Iron in the copper

that reached about 2% and Cu about 97 % [12]. The purpose of producing such alloys in ancient

Egypt is not yet clear. Thus further studies are needed to determine the iron content in copper

based alloy artifacts covering all different Archeological ages. In addition the lead content in the

ancient Egyptian bronzes or other copper based alloy needs to be investigated whether stored in

the basement of the Egyptian Museum or in display in the different museums. This is due to the

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fact that the lead content of many copper based alloys of ancient Egyptian objects is much higher

than that of other ancient civilizations [12, 13].

It has been reported that the iron content of the copper alloy in rare cases of ancient civilizations

went up 10%-40% in China, India, Etruria and Britain and not Egypt. This was mainly used in

the form of currency and coinage [5].

The iron age started in Ancient Egypt during the Greaco-Roman Period [14].The Greeks

introduced to the Egyptians the know-how for iron production from local iron ores .The Greek

settlers at Naucratis (Kom Gaif, 72 kilometers south east of Alexandria) introduced iron

production . Iron ores in Egypt are found in the mountainous areas of the Eastern desert and

Sinai. Simple fluxing with slag production was in use at Timna in Sinai by the end of the fourth

millennium and was soon fairly universal in the East Mediterranean world. Its introduction into

Egypt seems to have occurred during the second Dynasty [5, 15 and 16] . Investigations of slags

from Bir Nasib in Sinai show the production of unfluxed copper in Predynastic times and the use

of of iron ore fluxes during the old Kingdom [17, 18]. The introduction of more efficient copper

production methods lead to the sharp increase in cast copper alloy objects during the third

Intermediate Period and Late Period [16].

Copper objects with several per cent iron occurred sporadically during Ancient Egyptian history.

Examples include a Fifth –Dynasty amulet [19] with around 6.5 % iron , a fine hollow cast head

from a statuette of a Ramesside pharaoh with around 95% copper , 2% lead and 2 % iron

(Schoske and Wildung 1992 , 221-2 ) [20]. Native iron of meteoric origin with a high nickel

content was the first metallic iron to be used during pre-dynastic. The ancient Egyptians believed

that iron came from the sky, the place of gods thus defining it as a divine material [21]. It is of

interest also to mention that we did not find objects made of mainly iron before the Greco-

Roman Period except the objects manufactured from iron meteorites such as Tutankamoon

dagger blade (Egyptian Musem, Cairo) and Tube-shaped beads[22] (The Manchester

Museum )

In conclusion the results of the present investigation indicate that the iron was deliberately added

to the alloy mix whether Cu Pb or leaded bronze alloys to produce ternary or quaternary systems

.

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Acknowledgement

The present investigation includes important results of the project of entitled “Survey,

documentation and characterization of the metallic artifacts stored in the basement of the

Egyptian Museum and monitoring of the basement environmental conditions”.

This project is funded by STDF, Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research, Egypt

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