Scientists have studied the composition of copper alloys from which ancient Egyptian funerary objects (mainly ushabti statuettes) were made after the

The crisis era in ancient Egypt led to a change in the sources of copper - The Archaeology News Network

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2021-07-02 06:00:03

Scientists have studied the composition of copper alloys from which ancient Egyptian funerary objects (mainly ushabti statuettes) were made after the end of the New Kingdom period at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennia BC. Results of the analysis showed that at this time the number of sources of copper available in Egypt had significantly decreased. Not only does this indicate a weakened economy that lost access to many metal resources, but it also helps to reconstruct the pattern of trade and exchange in the Middle East during the Early Iron Age. The study is reported in an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports .

Internal turmoil also led to the fall of the international status of Egypt. It is vividly illustrated in the famous literary source of the 11th century BC- the papyrus 'Travels of Unu-Amon' - which describes the misadventures of a priest sent under Ramses XI to the Phoenician Byblos to procure cedar. Unu-Amon faced disdain from the rulers of several cities, even though the cultural influence that Egypt had over the Levant for centuries persisted during this time of crisis. In the archaeology of the Near East, it is defined as the early Iron Age, but the traditions of cultural continuity from the previous Bronze Age were still quite strong.

Meanwhile, among the artefacts that have come down from the era of the crisis (in Egyptology, it is called the Third Transitional Period), there are finds of bronze items. These include objects of funerary ritual. This means that the pharaohs still managed to get copper from some sources, although their numbers must have been noticeably reduced.

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