Pharaonic Egypt's history stretches long, and in that period much was done in the technologies of mining and the working of metals found there naturally and imported from abroad. The earliest metals found and used were quite probably what is termed free or native metals; nuggets found in the metallic state. Such nuggets of native iron or copper, for instance, were rare and the Egyptians had to learn to mine metal-bearing ores and the smelting processes used to extract workable metal.
Copper was the first metal to see extensive use in Egypt. Soft, malleable, and with a relatively low melting point of 1,083 degrees Celsius, copper tools, weapons, and ornaments are found beginning approximately 4000 BCE. Conditions for miners were described as “wretched,” and for most of the years of Egyptian history, the work seems to have been done by teams of slaves. Mining was also seasonal in many cases, and since the majority of mining sites were in the desert east of the Nile and on the mountainous and dry Sinai Peninsula, it's easy to understand why. Provisioning remote locations in the eastern desert was especially difficult, as well, as caravans' risked attack by raiding desert-dwellers. Generally, mines of all types were placed as near as possible to rivers to facilitate travel and provisioning. Deposits of copper ore mined were almost always on the surface, and extraction was usually of the distinctive green malachite ore (which was also used as a pigment), but also of chrysocolla, and the somewhat rare bluish azurite.
Smelting to extract metal from the ore was almost always done on-site, no matter what was being mined. Copper ore was extracted and broken into small pieces and mixed with charcoal fuel in a fire on the ground or in a shallow pit. This method produced temperatures of between 700 and 800 degrees Celsius, enough to separate the metal from the rock, but not hot enough to reduce it to a truly molten state. After sufficient time had passed, the fuel was removed and the resulting bits of freed copper were gathered up. Later, smelting operations utilized furnaces and bellows, causing the copper to become truly molten and allowing casting of the copper into ingots for easier transportation and measurement.
Estimates made from slag heaps found at these copper mining operations indicate that an average of five tons of copper were produced annually in Egypt during the Bronze Age, which was not enough to supply the kingdom with its metal needs, necessitating importation of copper as well as tin for Egypt's bronze production. This harder, easier to cast metal eclipsed copper as the major material for tools in Egypt after its introduction from western Asia.
Egypt's gold was typically obtained by two different methods. Placer gold, found in river deposits of silt, was simply extracted by washing the lighter silt away with water, picking out any particles of gold, and setting aside whatever was found for later melting into ingots. This is possibly the way the metal for Egypt's earliest golden artifacts was obtained. Gold-bearing veins of quartzite were also exploited in the eastern desert and in Nubia. Quartzite is a harder stone than the stone bearing copper ores (malachite could be mined with flint tools, which it was during early periods), so greater effort had to be used to extract it. A Greek account from the 2nd century BCE describes the Egyptian miners lighting fires over deposits of gold-bearing quartzite to make the stone more brittle and smashing the stone with hammers and picks. The broken rock was then reduced to dust by a series of mortar and pestles and hand mills. Gold was separated by hand from the resulting powder. Trenches along the surface were what characterized the typical Egyptian gold mining operation, though particularly promising veins were followed underground vertically or horizontally into mountainsides for as long as was practical, with one especially deep shaft recorded as extending 120 cubits straight down.
Gold is typically found in native form, but it usually contains some sort of metallic impurity, in Egypt this impurity was usually one of iron, copper, or silver. Ironically, the chief impurity of the gold found by the miners of Egypt was silver, which was considered much more valuable than gold due to its comparative rarity. Varying amounts of silver impurity is encountered in Egyptian gold. Gold that was diluted with a high enough impurity of silver was called electrum, and was highly prized for its durability and sheen. Refinement of gold for greater purity did not occur until sometime around the age of Persian hegemony over Egypt, though it was graded by purity by the twelfth dynasty. Gold was refined by the Egyptians using salt to extract the silver, which was lost during the process.
Iron production in Egypt lagged behind the rest of the Middle East, not being produced internally until around 1000 BCE. The 18th Dynasty saw a gradual increase of the amount of iron products and by the 26th Dynasty bronze was falling into disfavor as a metal for tools. By the time of the Ptolmaic Dynasty, iron had replaced bronze as the metal used in tools.
The Egyptian word for iron was biat or bia n pet, which literally means ore of the heavens. The small amounts of Egyptian iron artifacts found before the widespread use of the metal are either imported from other areas of the Middle East or, in the case of older ceremonial and decorative items, betray the tell-tale nickel impurity that is characteristic of meteorites. This lateness in the production of iron cannot be traced to a lack of materials. Iron-bearing minerals, such as hematite, ochre, sienna, and umbers were fairly common and used for decorative and cosmetic purposes from a very early time period. Iron's properties differed significantly from the metals that Egyptians were experienced in working. The temperatures needed to work it were high: 1100 degrees Celsius to reduce the metal from the ore, and the temperature needed to melt iron to a liquid state for casting, 1530 degrees Celsius, was beyond the means of anyone for hundreds of years. Iron must also be worked while hot, something not needed for the other metals that the Egyptians and other Bronze-Age cultures were familiar with.
The mining of iron, like a great deal of other Egypt's metal production, took place mostly in the eastern desert and the Sinai Peninsula, though deposits of hematite existed near Aswan and umbers, ochre, and sienna were extracted from a wide variety of locations, including oases in the western desert as well as the formerly mentioned sites.
Egypt's history as a metal-using culture extends deep into the past. Copper and gold tools and ornaments date back to the Pre-Dynastic period and its craftsmen have produced a myriad of beautiful treasures and practical tools during Egypt's time as a power and a living culture. Although Egypt was not the originator of metalworking, the exploitation of the mineral resources under its control assisted in its rise to power and craftsmanship.
Bibliography
Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. Lucas, A. and Harris, J. R. 1962. W. & K. Mackay & Co Ltd. Chatham, United Kingdom.
“Bir Umm Fawakhir: Insights into Ancient Egyptian Mining” Meyer, Carol. JOM, 49 (3) (1997) pp 64-68. http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9703/Meyer-9703.html#R2
“An Introduction to the History and Culture of Pharaonic Egypt” Dollinger, Andre. 2000. Reshafim. http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/index.html?sort=alpha&action=search
By Andrew Brown 2004
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