copper

Copper in Ancient Egypt

Copper was the main metal to be worked in ancient Egypt, even before gold. There were copper mines in Sinai and in the Eastern Desert. In the Old Kingdom Egyptian metalsmiths were capable of producing many copper objects: weapons, statues, musical instruments, ornaments, fishhooks, farming and sewing tools, and vessels, some of them quite sophisticated, like ewers with bodies which were hammered and spouts which were cast and affixed to the bodies by riveting or by cold hammering, as soldering and similar techniques were still unknown.

Copper beads have been found in Predynastic graves. Wood was at times covered with thin copper plating held in place by copper nails, like the door of the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak, and copper objects were occasionally plated with silver or gold. Thutmose III received in his 31st year a tribute of "40 blocks of native copper and lead" and in his 38th year "276 blocks of crude copper." The Blessing of Ptah says "I have wrought thy bones of copper."

The ore of copper's most important use in ancient Egypt was to make malachite (//shesmet// or //wahdj//), a green eye make-up. Occasionally malachite was used as a pigment for mural painting, or to color glaze or glass. Green malachite was a symbol of joy, and the land of the blessed dead was described as the "field of malachite." The Egyptians believed that wearing malachite in bands around the head and arms protected the wearer from epidemics. Malachite was also used for inlays, amulets, small statues, scarabs, and plaques.

Egyptian Metals