USE OF METALS BY ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 695 



those great waves of prosperity which marked the nation's history. 

 These and other mines were worked with great energy, and the national 

 coffers were filled. The goldsmiths and bronze workers of this time 

 have left behind them some of the most elaborate and beautiful speci- 

 mens of their art. From the twelfth until the twentieth dynasty there 

 were periods of great mining activity separated by others in which but 

 little was done. The eighteenth dynasty (1530 to 1320) was a period 

 of great mineral production, but during the twentieth (1180-1050 B.C., 

 Erman, or 1280-1100 B.C., Eawlinson) most of the mines were almost 

 exhausted. Major Macdonald, a Scotchman, built a house just below 

 the village and worked one of the mines for turquoise some time within 

 the nineteenth century. Monuments still stand at the Sarbut mines, 

 recording the names of a long list of mine managers appointed by the 

 various Pharaohs. When large quantities of copper or turquoise were 

 wanted, the king would send out 1,000 or 2,000 additional miners, 

 metallurgists and laborers to expedite matters. 



The inscriptions show that the strike is not a new institution. A 

 company of Egyptian prospectors used this means of bringing the 

 managers to terms. The method employed by the manager to get his 

 men to continue work is one which has not been tried in America. The 

 men were called together to discuss matters, and they agreed to work 

 if the manager would insure them the favor and protection of Hathor, 

 the goddess of the region. The terms were complied with, and the men 

 went to work. 



The ruins of ancient refining works are found near the west Sinai 

 mines, but from the very meager description found it is impossible to 

 get any idea of the method of treating the ores. The fuel used was 

 charcoal and wood. The ores mentioned in connection with these 

 mines include malachite, the oxides of copper, native copper and a blue 

 precious stone, which may refer to turquoise or to azurite. As the 

 malachite was considered a precious stone, only the inferior part of 

 this mineral would be used as ore. Whichever one of these ores pre- 

 dominated, the metallurgical process would be a rather simple one, but 

 the copper produced was of a high degree of purity. The following 

 quotation from Brugsch-Bey makes it clear that the ore of 'At'eka 

 was smelted at the mines : " The metal shining like gold and in the 

 form of bricks, was brought from the smelting-houses in those parts 

 and laden on ships." 



At certain periods in Egyptian history, as, for example, early in the 

 new Empire (2130 B.C.), copper seems to have been recognized as the 

 standard of value, and accounts were reckoned in uten of copper. 

 These coins, if such they may be called, were made of very exact weight 

 (about 91 grams), and were in the form of a spiral. Some of the blue 

 and green pigments used by the artists and painters contain copper 

 salts. 



