Egyptian bronze figurines shed light on ancient commerce
The study traced the copper in the bronze to today's Israel and Jordan.
Egyptian figurines (illustrative) (photo credit: REUTERS)
Newly discovered 3,000-year-old bronze figurines recently unearthed
in Tanis, Egypt, can answer questions about international commerce in
ancient Egypt, a research team has declared.
The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports,
was led by Dr. Shirly Ben-Dor Evian, Israel Museum curator of Egyptian
archaeology, and Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef from Tel Aviv University.
The
four figurines date back to a period after the collapse of major
civilizations, when the 21st dynasty of Egypt ruled in the Lower Egypt
city of Tanis – a fraction of the size of the empire of their ancestors.
This was a time of internal strife in Egypt, and there is no textual
account of the time, so when their tombs were discovered 80 years ago, researchers were confused about why they included so many imported items.
Tanis, Part I: A City In Ruins | Ancient Presence, Jan 24, 2021
The bronze figurines were important to the study because gold cannot be traced back to its source, but the copper in bronze can.
The
research team took minute samples from the figurines and discovered the
Egyptian pharaohs imported them from the southern regions of today’s
Israel and Jordan, showing that despite the internal strife, Egypt
continued to be significant in the region.
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