A new analysis has discovered that the silver used in making the bracelets of an ancient Egyptian queen actually originated in Greece. This sheds light on the prehistoric trade networks of the Old Kingdom.
Bracelets of Ancient Egyptian Queen
Bracelets were found inside ancient Egyptian queen Hetepheres I's tomb. She was the mother of the pharaoh who commissioned the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza, as Live Science reports.
Her tomb dates back to B.C.E. 2,600. It is the biggest and most famous silver artifact collection from ancient Egypt, Cosmos Magazine notes. Her bracelets were among the collections found within the tomb during its first discovery in 1925.
An international archaeologist team then analyzed some samples that were taken from the discovered jewelry. They found that the bracelets consisted of silver, lead, gold, and copper. Some semi-precious gemstone inlays, including carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli, were also found. These were common features in prehistoric jewelry in ancient Egypt.
Ancient Trade Networks
Though researchers have been familiar with how ancient Egyptians shared trade with other civilizations, such findings are the first evidence that silver was sourced from the Greek Aegean Islands. The study can be found in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
The Greek Reporter notes that Karin Sowada, the lead author of the study and the director of Macquarie University's Australian Centre for Egyptology, explains that the ancient trade network sheds light on the start of a globalized world.
Interestingly, though Egypt is known to have rich gold resources, there are no local silver sources within it. Cosmos Magazine reports that the measurements of lead isotopes in the metal were seen to be consistent with the ores of silver that were taken from the Cyclades mines, which are now part of the Greek Aegean islands.
Dr. Sowada explains that this early Egyptian period is quite terra incognita when it comes to silver. The bracelets essentially represented the only large-scale silver that existed in the period of B.C. 3000. Dr. Sowada adds that it was only in the early 2000 B.C. that huge silver quantities were preserved.
Until this point, silver origins in 3000 B.C. have remained a mystery, Dr. Sowada notes. Now, it is likely that silver came via a Byblis port, in what is present-day Lebanon. The researchers noted that tombs in Byblos from late 4000 B.C. contained several silver items and that there was activity between Egypt and this port during that period. They add that the silver found in the bracelets serves as the earliest evidence of the long-distance trade networks shared by Greece and ancient Egypt.
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