4.40 



REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



Arsenic. 



the high percentage of nickel being remarkable. 



Some fragments received from the Ashmolean Museum were too small for an 

 analysis, and it was only possible to test them spectroscopioally for the presence of 

 unusual metals, and in some instances to estimate the tin content. None of these 

 contained either gold or nickel. 



Tanged pike-point or spear-point. 1914/206. Tell Kara Hassan. Pure copper. 



Flat celt. 1914/525. Serrin. No tin, traces of iron and arsenic. 



Bracelet. 1914. Kara Kuzak. Tin 5-25 per cent. Traces of iron and arsenic. 



Knife. 1914/175. Hamman. A little tin, traces of iron and arsenic. 



Head of pin. 1914/177H. Tin 2-76 per cent., otherwise spectroscopioally pure copper. 



The specimens from Mohenjo-Daro have not been completed in time for this 

 report, but an analysis of one Indian specimen may be given, having been obtained 

 by Col. P. J. Richards from Odugattur in North Arcot. 



Copper. Tin. Nickel. Iron. 

 84-10 trace 0-25 15-75 Other metals absent. 



Von Bibra records the presence of nickel in three objects found by Layard in the 

 N.W. Palace of Nineveh, the percentages being 0-18, 0-30 and 0-20 respectively, or 

 of the same order as those found in the present work. J. Sibelien (Ancient Egypt, 

 March 1924) found 0-28 per cent, of nickel in a Sumerian statuette, supposed to be of 

 date 3000 B.C., and 0-43 per cent, of nickel in a copper adze of the First Egyptian 

 Dynasty. Ancient bronze from the Transvaal has been found to contain as much 

 as 3 per cent, of nickel. In this instance the copper ore is malachite in a quartz 

 gangue, and it is accompanied by a green nickel arsenate, anabergite, which might 

 easily be mistaken for malachite, thus offering a possible explanation for the presence 

 of nickel. 



In the course of the examination of copper and bronze objects a few other metallic 

 specimens have also been analysed, the results being collected in the following 

 table : — 



The silver was in all probabihty native metal, whilst the lead had been smelted 

 from a simple ore. 



Iron. Special interest attaches to the examination of iron objects found in early 

 deposits, on account of the different opinions which have been expressed as to the 

 date at which the smelting of iron began. It is likely that such objects of iron as 

 are found in the most ancient deposits have not been smelted from an ore, but have 

 been made from meteorites, either by chipping and hammering while cold, or by 

 heating to a forging temperature and then hammering to shape. As most meteorites 

 contain nickel, a chemical analysis will usually serve to determine this point, even 

 when the specimen is too much rusted to allow of microscopical exammation. 



A single iron object was found by Mr. Woolley in the first grave at Ur. An 

 analysis of the oxidised material, assuming no other metals to be present, gave the 

 composition iron 89-1 per cent., nickel 10-9 per cent., in perfect accordance with 

 a meteoritic origin. For comparison Sir Flinders Petrie was able to procure one 

 of the beads from Gerzeh in Egypt, which have often been cited as evidence of an 



