Egyptian copper’s origin revealed – Mining.com

Mining.com reports that two new studies published in theJournal of Archaeological Scienceunveil where ancient Egyptians got the red metal from.According to one of thestudies, led by Frederik Rademakers of KU Leuven in Belgium, there was predominant reliance on relatively local ore from the Eastern Desert and the Sinai Peninsula.Based on isotope and chemical analyses of 40 metal samples from funerary objects and seven ore samples dating from the Predynastic, Protodynastic and Old Kingdom Periods, the research suggests signi?cant developments in smelting technology that may have been adapted to di?erent ore types.

Feathured image fromFrederik W.Rademakers’ research paper.

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