Intriguing metalworking in Egyptian artifacts

Mining and smelting

In ancient Egypt metals were mined in several areas, by open cast as well as by underground mining. Gold and copper were the first ones processed by the early Egyptian metalworkers. Later in the development of Egyptian metallurgy, electrum silver, iron, tin, bronze, lead and platinum were also worked. In addition, traces of nickel, zinc, arsenic, antimony and cobalt have been detected in small amounts in metal artifacts. Metals were also imported by trade or as a tribute from neighboring countries, especially gold and copper, of which great quantities were used.

Melting, casting and plate production

After the local or imported crude metal had been delivered to the storehouses of temples and palaces, it was weighed and registered by the Egyptian temple or palace administration. Before a quantity of metal was dispensed from the storehouses to the metalworkers for further processing, the metal had to be weighed again, to control the stock of metals and to prevent embezzlement.

Melting the metal

The first job which had to be done by the metalworkers in the temple or palace workshops was the melting of the crude metal. Egyptian pictorial and inscriptional sources depict the melting of copper, gold, silver, tin bronze or leaded tin bronze. In Old and Middle kingdom times, the melting of copper or arsenic copper for the production of vessels and tools for daily use was very common. In the course of the Middle Kingdom and in later period's tin bronze and leaded tin bronze were used. Silver and gold served throughout Egyptian history as the basic materials for objects of royal use or for the funerary and temple equipment.

The metal had to be melted because large ingots or other shapes of crude metal, which were customary in the trade , had to be refined or alloyed for casting or split up into smaller portions for further treatment by smiths.

The metal was melted in one or more crucibles using hearths depending on the amount required. The hearths were charcoal- fired. Charcoal was burnt extensively in the eastern desert and the Sinai. Temperatures of about 1000C (1800F)or even more could be achieved if the embers of the charcoal fire were aroused with suitable tools. In Earlier times fans of foliage might have been employed to provide a draught.

In the old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian metalworkers or melters used blowpipes consisting of reeds with clay tips . With blowpipes a strong blast of air could be directed precisely on to the glowing charcoal below the bottom of the crucible.

There is evidence that Middle Kingdom metalworkers used skin bellows, as mentioned in a text written on a coffin , although skin bellows, probably manufactured from the skin of a goat or a gazelle , have not been found in Egyptian depictions. Much more effective than fans, blowpipes or skin bellows were pot , drum or dish bellows . The dishes were of pottery, wood or stone fitted with skin or leather coverings.

Casting

A small limestone casting mould was found in situ beside one of the small hearths at the excavated site.. This mould was not used for producing objects by open –mould casting but to split the molten metal into smaller portions for further treatment by the smiths, who manufactured plates and sheet metal from the small portions. Moulds of this kind are shown on paintings and relieves in private tombs as early as the Old Kingdom where a metalworker is pouring the molten metal into the mould. To protect his hands, the worker used stones or blocks of wood to hold the very hot crucible. Sometimes, while the metal was being poured, another worker tried to hold back any contamination in the crucible.

Plate production

After being melted, refined and divided into portions, the cooled metal was passed to smiths or blacksmiths for plate or sheet production. Egyptian blacksmiths used very simple tools. The metal was beaten on an anvil made of stone (probably of basalt, diorite or granite) which was placed on a wooden block to absorb the hammering. The metalworkers beat the plates with simple hammer stones without a shaft .Two kinds of hammer stone were in use: one with a flat face and the other with a rounded one. A flat hammer stone was needed for smoothing the metal. While a rounded one was used for chasing. Smoothing and chasing hammer stones are depicted in private tombs from Old Kingdom times to the Ptolemaic period.

Egyptian metalworkers had mastered the technique for annealing as early as the predynastic Period. In the course of the chasing process the beaten piece of metal become hard and brittle and further treatment of the cold metal could cause it to crack. The piece had therefore to , to be heated or annealed, which caused a rearrangement of the crystalline structure of the metal and made it ductile again.

Gold leaf

The gold beaters used hammer stones to beat the foil, which became thinner in the course of the manufacturing process. Silver and electrum also worked to foil, or the thinnest leaf thickness. Objects of a less rare material were often gilded or silver plated. Gold, silver and electrum foils or leaves could be used to cover wooden furniture, statues, coffins and models of daily life manufactured for funerary equipment. Stone vessels, the walls and doors of temples and objects of base metal were covered with precious metal by wrapping the foil round the edge of the object or by inserting the edges of the foil into grooves cut in the surface of the underlying material.

In New Kingdom times or even earlier, Egyptian metallurgist mastered advanced techniques of gold refining in order to produce very pure gold, free of impurities which would be beaten out of the thinnest gold leaf.

The thinner gold leaf could be stuck to surfaces with an adhesive. For the decoration of wooden or stone objects with gold leaf a ground of gypsum plaster or a similar material was often applied first to the material before the gold leaf was stuck to it. It seems probable that metalworkers only produced the gold leaf while the gilding was done by the workers in wood, stone or wax who manufactured the objects to be gilded.

As described in an Egyptian papyrus of the Roman Period, metal gilders of that time knew the chemical process of fire-gilding with gold amalgam. Gold amalgam was applied to the base - metal object to be gilded. In the course of the fire –gilding process, the mercury content of the gold amalgam vaporized and the gold remained on the surface of the metal objects. As mercury fumes are extremely toxic, fire gilders or those living in the neighborhood of a gilding workshop were always in danger of mercury poisoning.

Reference: Egyptian metalworking and tools by Bernd Scheel

Variety and vitality of boats in ancient Egypt

Types of boats of Ancient Egypt

The various types of boats of ancient Egypt are known from the relief depicted on the walls of the tombs and temples, as well as from the remains of true vessels and models which have been discovered. They fall into two overall categories.

Boats of everyday use

These were used for Nile transport, for example, of huge blocks of stone from the granite quarries of Aswan to their place of setting up as monuments throughout the river valley. The drawings of Hatshepsut's temple at "Deir el- Bahri" at "Luxor" show two huge granite obelisks, each hewn from a simple piece of stone, being carried down river. But boats were also used on seas, for instance the transfer of goods imported from other seas. Vessels formed of bound papyrus stems were preferred for fishing in the marshes of the Delta, as in invariably shown on tomb walls, but wooden boats were used for funerary purposes, to carry the pharaoh's body in his pilgrimage to the holy places and from the worldly abode to his place of burial.

Divine Boats:

These were symbolic vessels used as either a divine bark and placed in the holy of holies of the temple for the statue of god and carried on priests' shoulder on visits to other temples or solar boats figuratively used by the deceased accompanying the solar god and other gods in their trip to the other world. This type of boat is found painted on the walls of the temples and particularly of the royal tombs, but is also represented among the tomb's funerary furniture, to help the deceased in his journey to the after- life.

Cheops boat and its wonderful museum

Cheops Boat

The discovery of the Cheops Boat stands as one of the most important archeological finds in Egypt – and in the world- in modern times, since the discovery of the tomb of "Tutankhamun". Its inherent importance lies in the face that this is most ancient vessel found in perfect condition anywhere in the world and in an astonishing state of preservation after more than 45 centuries hidden under the sands of the "Giza" plateau.

There are two diverging concepts among archaeologist about the function and nature of the Cheops Boat. Some believe that it was a " Solar boat intended for use by the deceased pharaoh in his eternal life when, united with the solar god Re, he made his eternal journey across the sky from east to west by day and from west to east at night, illuminating the worlds of both living and dead. According to the story , the pharaoh needed two boats for his journey , one for day, the other for night. The other theory is that this was a funerary boat, actually used to carry the body of the late pharaoh in his pilgrimage to "Abydos" and the Cenotaph of the god "Osiris" before burial in the pyramid. Two boats would also be needed on this Journey, one to sail south, to Abydos , and another to return to the north for burial at Gizeh. In this case the boats would differ, one needing oars, the other sails.

Cheops Boat Museum

After the discovery of the boat, it was necessary to build a museum over the pit in which it had been found, it is designed to complement the vessel in both size and shape, and to take advantage of all of the latest advances in modern display methods, in order that the visitor can view it from all sides. The project wad designed with an outer shell of steel – reinforced concrete and the façade of transparent glass to make it complement its stern surroundings as well as to conceal its vast size and unusual shape. The use of glass also served the purpose of allowing the visitor a visual link with the nearby pyramid, removing any scene of isolation from the archeological site. The glass is double – glazed in massive style – each pane is 8 cm thick and the air - space a further 8 cm, giving a total thickness of 24 cm to insulate the interior from both heat and noise outside. The museum is also air conditioned, with temperature and humidity both controlled to maintain the unique vessel in perfect condition.

The main design of the museum

Designed in the shape of a huge boat itself to suit the nature of the artifact it contains, the museum has the Cheops Boat centrally located in its internal space, both horizontally and vertically, as well as housing the pit in which the vessel was found. This is one of the main elements of the display allowing the visitor a comprehensive impression of how the boat was preserved down the years. Also in the designer's mind was the fact that the museum should be capable of being extended to incorporate the second boat, when it is eventually revealed. The boat is surrounded by terraces on different levels, to allow the visitor to examine all its various details from below, above and all sides, including directly underneath. The terraces are so placed that an overall view of all aspects might be gained from a single continuing walk around the exhibit. The lower parts of the museum's exterior walls are covered with mud –brick, as an added insulation against the sun's heat, and on the interior the lower walls are faced with concrete slabs to increase the efficacy of the air conditioning and a fire – extinguishing system, and all the electrical circuits laid on when it was originally built have recently been isolated from the mains supply as an additional safety factor.

Lighting of the museum

It is generally accepted that for best results museums should have their objects displayed on the walls, with natural lighting from above. But this museum has a special and even unique nature, as the only one in the world intended to display a single object alone – an ancient boat 43.4 m in length and 7 m high – with the result that in both appearance and construction it differs from all others, breaking all the usual design rules.

Long experience has proved that artificial light, even if all possible precautions are taken, will have some effect on museum objects, and since the wood of the boat is so very ancient it has been decided to depend completely on natural lighting. All artificial lighting has been removed, and all electrical circuits throughout the display rooms cut off as an additional safeguard.

Reference: From the book, Museum of Cheops boat

Discovery of a tunnel inside the tomb of king "Seti I"

Great success in the complete excavation of a 174 m long tunnel in the tomb of king" Seti I" after several seasons of work that began in November 2007, was achieved by dr. Hawass, Secretary general of the supreme council of antiquities and his mission. They've been searching for this tunnel for over twenty years in the west bank necropolis. The tunnel was cut into the bedrock near the end of the beautifully decorated tomb of "Seti I". In addition to excavating the tunnel, the team braced the walls and ceiling with metal supports. They also built a wooden walkway over the original stone staircase of the tunnel to preserve it and installed a mining car system to remove rubble from the team’s excavations. During their work, the mission uncovered many shabtis and pottery fragments that dated to the eighteenth dynasty (1569-1315 BC). Several limestone fragments, as well as a small boat model made of faience were also found. During their excavation of the staircase, the team found that three of the steps were decorated with red graffiti.

Another unique excavation of the tunnel took place in 1960 under the direction of "Sheikh Ali Abdel Rassoul". His team was able to reach a depth of 136m but they had to stop their excavation because it was too hard to breath. Upon reaching the end of the 136m section , which had been partially excavated by Abdel-Rasoul's workmen , dr.Hawass’s team was shocked to uncover a descending passage which measures 25.60m in length and 2.6m wide. The mission eventually uncovered a fifty-four step, descending staircase. After the first descending passage, a second staircase measuring 6 meters long was cut into the rock. At the beginning of this passage the team found a false door decorated with hieratic text that reads: “Move the door jamb up and make the passage wider." These written instructions must have been left from the architect to the workmen who were carving out the tunnel.

On entering inside the tunnel of King Seti I for the first time, It was noticed that the walls were not well finished and there were remains of preliminary sketches of decoration that would be placed on the walls.. A second staircase was found inside the tunnel. It appears that the last step was never finished and the tunnel ends abruptly after the second staircase. The conclusion of dr. Hawas was that the workmen and artists first finished the original tomb of "Seti I" during his twelve-year reign and then began to construct the tunnel. It appears that "Seti I" was trying to construct a secret tomb inside a tomb. It is likely that when "Seti I died", his son, Ramesses II (1304-1237BC), had to stop the work and bury his father. dr. Hawass believes that Ramesses II continued where his father had left off and constructed his own tunnel within his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The Egyptian mission is currently working in the tomb of Ramesses II to preserve the wall paintings and to look for a similar tunnel to the one in the tomb of Seti I.