Beads and gold foils from 1st Dynasty tombs at Abydos

Metalla, 2017

During excavation of a tomb at Bat, Oman, an unusual gold bead entirely composed of 96 granules was discovered. The bead comes from an unstratified context in the bottom of the fill of the tomb, which means that it could date anywhere during the use-life of the tomb between the 3rd and 1st Millennium BC. The technical problems surrounding the manufacture of this bead are discussed and an experimental approach is used to explore a possible method of fabrication. The results of the experiments show that a combination of autogenous welding and brazing with copper salts to construct and join the individual units of the bead was successful to produce a visual replica of the bead. The method of bead construction based on the serial production of units and sub-units also has implications on the practice and organization of goldsmithing during this era.

2015

Gold has great power and for centuries it has been seen as a very special status marker for many societies around the world. Quite naturally, the first objects made of it belonged to personal adornments, and most commonly they were shaped as beads. In Egypt, one of the earliest examples of gold items comes from the context of the Lower Egyptian culture. Beads discovered at Tell el-Farkha were analyzed in order to identify their chemical composition, details of workmanship and typical shapes, together with other known examples from a similar time and place of discovery (Kom el-Khilgan, Minshat Abu Omar and Gerzeh). Interestingly, regardless of their cultural connections, all the golden beads discussed show many similarities, mostly in terms of the goldsmithing techniques. Observation and uniqueness of the finds lead to the conclusion that all of them could have had common origin and were found distributed over such a vast area thanks to trade exchange.

Objects Specialty Group Postprints Volume Twenty-Five, 2018, 2021

This article presents recent research on gold artifacts from the site of Ur, ca. 2450–2100 BCE and proposes some possible methods for their manufacture. Sir Leonard Woolley excavated these artifacts at the site of Tell al-Muqayyar (ancient Ur) in southern Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s as part of a project sponsored by the Penn Museum and the British Museum. The material finds were divided: half went to the Iraq Museum, a quarter to the Penn Museum, and a quarter to the British Museum. This project grew out of the Ur Digitization Project and continued as part of the Penn Museum’s preparations for the reinstallation of its Middle East galleries. The objects examined include gold vessels, jewelry, and other objects of personal adornment such as diadems or fillets, hair ribbons, earrings, bracelets, and pins. The objects were examined using visual examination, microscopic examination, and x-radiography in an attempt to determine each object’s method of manufacture. Specifically, the authors were looking for evidence of the type of gold production used through the presence of platinum group element inclusions suggesting that the gold used to make the objects was from an alluvial gold source. In addition, the authors checked for evidence of seams, mechanical attachment, soldering, casting, and working. Archival research was also integral in interpreting these results, and the discovery of previously undocumented restoration demonstrates the challenges in studying manufacture of objects that were excavated and collected in a time when treatment was not as well documented as it is today. The results of this study show that a variety of different techniques were used to shape the gold objects, and unlike previous research, the gold smiths at Ur did not appear to favor mechanical attachment methods over soldering and often employed both methods on a single object. Furthermore, both casting and working methods were used at the site. The flat sheet gold objects appear to have been worked, and there is also a variety of shaping methods that were used, including hammers and possibly a rolling or rocking method. The latter is suggested based on the presence of elongated marks visible in the x-ray radiographs and found on most of the diadems/fillets from the site.

Archéosciences, 2009

This paper presents a technological study of items of Egyptian jewellery from the collections of the National Museums Scotland: a pendant from the 19th century BC; objects from the 16th century BC royal burial unearthed at Qurneh; two gold finger-rings dated to the 14th century BC; and a group of pendants from the 13th century BC. The objects were examined using optical microscopy, X-radiography and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In addition, the elementary compositions of alloys and solder joints were investigated using air-path X-ray fluorescence (XRF), proton-induced X-ray analysis (micro-PIXE), and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS). This preliminary study provides information about the evolution of alloy composition and the use of alluvial gold, and illustrates the Ancient Egyptian goldsmiths’ skills in working with wires, granulation and joining techniques.

Archaeometry, 2018

This study, the first of this kind, reconstructs the technical chaîne operatoire of thin-walled jointless gold bead production in the Maykop culture on the basis of trace-wear analysis, experimental research and comparative analysis, using gold beads from the Early Bronze Age dolmen (c. 3200-2900 BC) in kurgan 2 at Tsarskaya (discovered in 1898). The results of the study demonstrate that such beads were produced from a perforated disc-shaped blank by pressure (with intermittent annealing) within a hemispherical depression in a shaping block (presumably made from stone or bone) and subsequent abrasive treatment of the surface. Most probably, this technique was a regional expression of Near Eastern jewellery traditions that emerged within the urbanized centres of Upper Mesopotamia in the early fourth millennium BC and spread out, through the Caucasus, into the southern boundaries of the Eurasian steppe.

Chapter 3 - Jewellery in Egyptian burials, in , 2003

Ancient Egyptian gold: Archaeology and science in jewellery (3500–1000 BC) Edited by Maria F. Guerra, Marcos Martinón-Torres & Stephen Quirke https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/collections/3f392197-3e0f-48db-a1b6-1788668f463c?fbclid=IwAR2oyL-X5cN-J0iXH-_QEQwdjZX5S1JR4ni1cLEByqoUERDBPUH4AaVj22A

2016

This study focuses on the understanding of the elaborate construction of a cloisonné gold belt buckle, found in a princely grave from Apahida, dated to the 5th century AD. Starting from the careful analysis of the object’s proportions and dimensions, a geometrical pattern of the belt plate construction and decoration design is proposed. The intricate composition of this complicated cloisonné adorned object is also illustrated with the exploded view of its structure. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses of the composition, performed on different elements forming the buckle, led to conclusions regarding the relations between the variation of gold purity and the role played by different elements in the structure of the object. Some sequences of actions from the entire chaîne opératoire are also emphasized. Most likely, there was a certain degree of standardization in the workshops producing these cloisonné objects, and probably the craftsmen had at their disposal large batches of individu...

ArchéoSciences, 2009

In 1908, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a rich intact burial of an adult and child at Qurneh, near Luxor. Stylistically, the burial has been dated to the late 17 th Dynasty, in the 16 th century BC. he complete burial group came to Edinburgh in 1909. A recent examination of the rings of the necklace found with the adult burial is presented as part of a wider study of the mummy collections of the National Museums Scotland (NMS). he necklace shows sophisticated workmanship, with 1,699 rings threaded onto four strands, the rings having uniform diameter and thickness, and very few of them showing any visible joints. he necklace rings have been examined by Optical Microscopy, X-radiography, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS), air-path X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and proton induced X-ray analysis (micro-PIXE). We summarise these indings and propose the method of manufacture. We also describe an experimental attempt to make joint-less rings in order to compare them with the originals.