438 



REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



Only the first of these specimens can be described as of exceptionally high purity. 

 On the other hand, drillings received by the writer, taken from an axe found in the 

 lower deposits of Susa, and now in the Louvre, showed on analysis no more than a 

 faint trace of nickel, all other impurities being absent, so that the object may be 

 described as of very pure copper. A copper chisel of the early Dynastic period of 

 Egypt, analysed by Prof. C. 0. Bannister, gave the following figures : — 



Iron and tin, traces. 



The composition of this specimen, with the high proportion of silver and gold, suggests 

 that it is composed of native metal. 



The search for copper ores containing nickel, which might have been made use 

 of by the Sumerians, proved to be a long one. Ores from Persia, the neighbourhood 

 of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora, Cyprus, various parts of Egypt and Sinai, 

 were all found to be free from nickel, and it was only recently that an ore, found 

 accompanied by slag at Jabal al Ma'adan in Wadi AhLn, inland from Sohar, in the 

 State of Oman, proved to contain nickel. The ore was only in the form of thin veins, 

 much mixed with other minerals, so that the percentage of copper was small, but that 

 of nickel was, relatively to the copper, very high. 



Copper 

 Nickel 



Ore L.GM 595. 



per cent. 



10 

 . 019 



The two slags which accompanied it contained 1-50 and 4-30 per cent, of copper 

 respectively but no nickel, which is in accordance with the probable smelting practice. 



Three specimens from the first grave at Ur, dated about 3500 B.C., although of 

 such early date were found on analysis to consist of tin bronze, with nickel as a 

 characteristic impurity. In the analyses of metal which follow, the figures have been 

 recalculated to give the probable composition of the unoxidised metal, oxygen, carbon 

 dioxide, and such mechanically admixed impurities as sand or clay, being deducted, 

 so that a fair comparison may be made. 



Copper 



Tin 



Lead 



Nickel 



Iron 



A. 



per cent. 



84-18 



12-00 



1-62 



2-20 



B. 



per cent. 



8513 



11-78 



113 



0-25 



1-71 



C. 

 per cent. 



85-01 



14-52 



0-47 



trace 



Six specimens from the 1928 excavations at Kish also contained nickel, although 

 in smaller quantities : — 



•156693. *156835. ♦156688. *156796. *156700. Unnumbered. 

 1581. 2442. 2313. 



Owing to lack of time a complete analysis of these specimens has not been made. 

 Assuming that the purity is similar to that of the metals in the above table, the 

 proportions of tin and nickel would be approximately as follows : — 



