November 28, 1901] 



NA TURE 



83 



of King Gudea, which fixes its date somewhere about 

 4000 years before the Christian era. This led Berthelot 

 to speculate why these specimens were made of copper 

 instead of the harder bronze, which, so far as his ex- 

 perience had then gone, was used by all the ancients. 

 He applied to Maspero for some specimens of the oldest 

 copper of which the date could be identified. Maspero 

 recommended to him the so-called sceptre of Pepi I., an 

 Egyptian king of the sixth dynasty, 3500-4000 B.C. This 

 was in the British Museum, but, through the good offices 

 of M. Waddington, it was placed in the hands of M. 

 Berthelot with permission to analyse a small portion 

 from the interior. It proved to be of pure copper. It was 

 a natural supposition that tin was unknown in that remote 

 age ; and this was confirmed by the discovery in Chald;ea 

 of some little figures serving to support votive tablets, 

 associated with bricks that bore the naine of King Our- 

 mina, who is supposed to have reigned 4000 years B.C. 

 They were also of copper, without either tin or zinc. 



In the meantime Prof. Flinders Petrie had been 

 carrying on his excavations in Egypt and had asked me 

 to analyse some copper tools and utensils from early 

 tombs and other ruins. They proved to contain little or 

 no tin, though inany of them contained arsenic. Evi- 

 dence of the gradual transition from the use of pure 

 copper to that of copper alloyed with tin was accumulat- 

 ing from various quarters, but the most striking, perhaps, 

 was that furnished by Tell el Hesy, the Lachish of 

 scripture. It was explored by Mr. F. J. Bliss, and is 

 described in his book entitled " A Mound of Many 

 Cities." The lower portion of this mound represents the 

 Amorite city, dating about 1700 B.C. ; it contained large 

 weapons of war made of copper without admixture of 

 tin. Above this are the remains of the Israelitish city, 

 where the copper is replaced by bronze, till in the 

 upper layers of the mound the bronze is gradually 

 replaced by iron. Greece has also furnished its contri- 

 butions. The analyses of Roberts-Austen, Damour and 

 others had shown that the implements first used at 

 Tyryns, Mikenai and other towns were of copper with 

 little, if any, admixture of tin : and similar evidence is 

 coming forward from Cyprus, Crete and other quarters. 

 At Hissarlik, the reputed Troy, the analysis of the objects 

 found in the first and second cities showed that they were 

 made of copper with mere traces of tin, while in the third 

 and more recent cities the copper was mixed with varying 

 amounts of tin, from 4 to 8 per cent, or thereabouts. 



These researches were followed by an important paper 

 in the Aniuiles of 1S95, in which Berthelot discussed the 

 nature and origin of the metals employed by the ancient 

 Egyptians of various epochs, especially copper, tin, gold 

 and silver. The general result was that up to the sixth 

 dynasty the copper used was practically what they ob- 

 tained from the ores ; after this the copper was mixed 

 with small quantities of tin, rarely exceeding 6 per cent. 

 At about the twelfth dynasty 10 per cent, became the 

 usual proportion, forming a very serviceable bronze, but 

 occasionally as much as 16 per cent, was used. 



In the same paper he investigates the cause of the 

 " sickness " of copper objects in our museums. They often 

 fall to pieces through the formation of atacamite, a cupric 

 oxychloride. This is started by the presence of chloride 

 of sodium in the soil and the carbonic acid and oxygen 

 of the air, and is a curious and complicated case of 

 continuous chemical action. 



It became a matter of interest to explore the ancient 

 workings for copper, turquoise and h.ematite in Wady 

 Maghara in the Sinaitic peninsula, which is known to 

 have been a source of supply in the time of the third 

 Egyptian dynasty. M. de Morgan made a careful search, 

 at ^I. Berthelot's instigation, and found not only speci- 

 mens of the ores, but also remains of the tools that had 

 been used. The mines are believed to have been 

 abandoned about the time of the eighteenth dynasty, in 

 NO. 1674, VOL. 65] 



consequence of the poverty of the ores. The tools were 

 of copper, hardened sometimes by a little tin and at 

 other times by arsenic. 



More recently Berthelot has examined some copper 

 objects found at Tello, believed to be of very high 

 antiquity. One was a huge lance of very red metal, the 

 others were adzes and hatchets. They were almost pure 

 copper. It may be an open question whether any 

 attempt was made at this period to harden copper by the 

 introduction of other metals. 



From the palace of Sargon there were also obtained 

 objects of gold foil, which was not adulterated with copper 

 or lead, but contained a considerable amount of silver ; 

 this, however, may simply indicate that as native gold 

 commonly contains more or less silver, it had been used 

 in the state in which it was found without any intentional 

 admixture. Berthelot also tested some gold objects from 

 Egypt, the one dating from the sixth and the other from 

 the twelfth dynasty, and found the amount of silver varied 

 from 3-2 to 4'5 per cent., while the gold of the Persian 

 period was practically pure. 



But a more ancient chapter of Egyptian arch;eology 

 was opened by the recent researches of M. de Morgan, 

 late Director-General of Antiquities in Egypt. He ex- 

 plored an enormous tomb of a very ancient king, which 

 he supposes to be that of Menes, of the first dynasty, 

 approximately 4400 l'..C. Among the objects found here 

 were a long bead and two or three other morsels of 

 metal, which M. Berthelot certifies to be of gold, together 

 with some articles in copper. Further explorations at or 

 near Abydos, by M. Amiflineau, have shown the existence 

 of tombs of kings about the same period containing many 

 copper utensils, which M. Berthelot found to be of almost 

 pure metal, but sometimes containing a little arsenic. 



These tombs are now being very carefully explored by 

 Prof. Flinders Petrie, and the results are published by 

 the " Egyptian Exploration Fund " in three large volumes, 

 " Diospolis Parva," and " The Royal Tombs of the 

 Earliest Dynasties," parts i. and ii. It would appear 

 that in these prehistoric times the metals mostly used 

 were gold and copper : objects made of silver and lead 

 are found, but they are rare. 



As gold occurs native and is of a striking colour, we 

 need not wonder that it attracted the attention of men in 

 the very earliest periods. It is astonishing the large 

 amount of exquisite gold jewellery, inlaid with gems, that 

 has been found, not only m the tombs of Queen Ahhotpu 

 and of the four princesses buried at Dahshur about 

 2350 B.C., but in these far more ancient royal tombs. In 

 one of them Flinders Petrie found four gold bracelets 

 encircling the arm bone of a royal personage, presumably 

 the wife of King Zer. These are made of gold, set with 

 turquoises and amethysts, and so beautifully wrought 

 that the soldering cannot be detected by the eye. My 

 analysis of the gold foil found in three of these tombs 

 showed that it contained about 13 per cent, of silver, and 

 was evidently the pale gold commonly known in the 

 Levant. The gold worked in the Nubian mines appears 

 to have been of a purer quality. 



The last paper that has been communicated by 

 Berthelot contains a description of a very curious case, 

 or shrine, found at Thebes. It is of the time of Queen 

 Shapenapit, daughter of King Piankhi, who lived in the 

 latter part of the seventh century B.C. This inlaid case 

 is remarkable as containing, in addition to the ordinary 

 metals of the time, a small piece of crude platinum, 

 weighing between five and six milligrammes. It had 

 evidently been worked with the hammer, and had 

 probably been mistaken by the artificer for silver. 



Though not himself one of the explorers in the field, 

 Berthelot must ever be remembered for the important 

 part he has taken in drawing attention to, and inter- 

 preting the results of their wonderful discoveries. 



J. H. Gladstone. 



