SUMERIAN COPPER 309 



The compositions thus fall into two groups, indicating distinct sources 

 for the copper in the earlier and later periods. Objects from the earlier 

 levels, I— III, are of copper containing a relatively large proportion of arsenic 

 and some nickel, three only containing a little tin. Objects from the higher 

 levels, V— VII are mainly true bronzes, with little or no arsenic and no 

 nickel, but include one specimen of pure copper. 



Only a single object from Ur was received from the British Museum, this 

 being fragments of a bronze vessel labelled ' Kassite period.' The analysis 

 gave : 



Copper ..... 92-5 per cent. 



Tin 7-17 „ „ 



Arsenic . . . . 0-20 ,, ,, 



Nickel 013,,,, 



Mr. Mallowan sent a copper bead from Chagar Bazar in N. Syria, found 

 in association with Tell Halaf pottery, and stated to be the oldest piece of 

 copper yet found in Syria. It was completely corroded, but gave 63-31 

 per cent, of copper and 8-71 per cent, of sand with a little iron (possibly 

 derived from the soil) but without any trace of arsenic, tin, nickel or sulphur. 

 It is thus an exceptionally pure specimen of ancient copper, the deficiency 

 from 100 per cent, representing oxygen and carbon dioxide only. 



Specimens from Tell Ajjul in Palestine were received from Sir Flinders 

 Petrie. The copper objects gave the following results : 



Copper Tin Arsenic Nickel Iron 



Adze, unnumbered 93-80 — 2-17 0-03 i'5i 



75o • • 97 - 57 — o-86 0-03 0-19 



Pin . . . 92-23 — 168 0-03 — 



Coil of Wire . 91-20 — o-88 0-19 0-27 



A lead rod, numbered 954, gave 



Lead Copper Iron 

 97-63 0-26 trace 



and a bar of solder was found to contain 



Lead Antimony Tin Copper Bismuth Iron 

 38-87 3" 05 57 -74 0-23 trace trace 



One more dagger was examined from Mr. Starkey's finds at Tell Duweir, 

 supplementing the analyses given in the last report. The analysis showed 

 98-5 per cent, of copper and 1 -2 per cent, of iron with a trace of sulphur, 

 but no tin, arsenic or nickel. 



Mr. A. Lucas sent three miniature tools from the tomb of Tutankhamen, 

 and a copper ribbon of the XII Dynasty. All these specimens were quite 

 free from corrosion. 



Mr. Lucas also submitted several samples of gold. It had been stated, 

 from an old analysis by Gladstone, that gold from the II Dynasty of Egypt 

 contained tellurium, and might therefore have come from the Carpathian 

 region. The specimens now received were fragments of gold foil covering 

 a coffin of 6-ply wood from the step-pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara, and of 



