THE AGE OF BRONZE IN EGYPT. 501 



At Thebes, in the midsfc of the waste from the carving of stones, 

 Wilkinson found a hirge bronze chisel which evidently had been for- 

 gotten by the citizens thousands of years ago.* Tliis chisel, 22 centi- 

 meters in length, presents at the upper extremity very clear marks of 

 blows from a hammer, but the edge is so intact that it appears new. 

 It would soon have been destroyed if workmen little accustomed to 

 such implements ha<l endeavored to cut with it a stone similar to that 

 which it shaped in other days. 



That the Egyptians, by means of their bronze implements, could 

 have been able to produce what tbey have made, undoubtedly does not 

 depend, as has been supposed, upon the fact that they were in pos- 

 session of the secret talent, hid for so long a time, of tempering bronze, 

 but ordy that they had the skill acquired by long practice of using 

 their utensils, a skill that we no longer possess, being accustomed to 

 other instruments. It can not be denied that the manner in which the 

 stones of Egyptian monuments are cut, presents a great analogy with 

 the fabrication of pre historic tools of stone and the sockets of their 

 handles. Even lately it was supposed that these tools and their sockets 

 could not have been fabricated without the aid of steel instruments. 

 This view was sustained until experiments had placed beyond all dis- 

 pute the fact that by using stone, bone, or wood solely, such tools 

 could be made and perforated, provided that the necessary skill and 

 time were bestowed on this work. 



Imposing edifices of hard stone, richly adorned with reliefs, may be 

 constructed without iron. Proof of this is furnished by Mexico and 

 Central America, which are rich in monuments of this kind anterior to 

 Columbus and to the introduction of iron into those countries by Euro- 

 peans. One cannot therefore rely upon the fact that the construction 

 and embellishment of the stately edifices of the ancient empire are 

 impossible without steel, to maintain that the age of iron commenced 

 in Egypt at that distant period. 



We must then fix the epoch of the introduction of the age of iron 

 into Egypt by the same method which has so well succeeded in other 

 countries. This i)roblem Jittracted too late the attention of the Egypt- 

 ologists. The greater portion of the discoveries that are pertinent to 

 this question were not therefore investigated as they should have been. 

 It will be seen presently however that the documents are numerous 

 and clear, and that the paintings especially instruct us with very great 

 exactitude. 



It is necessary to examine the facts by grouping them under four 

 heads: 



(I) What are the objects in iron discovered in Egypt which date from 

 the most remote era, and of what character are they? 



•Wilkinson : " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii," jip. 249, 

 252, and 253. 



