NMEC

Source (different materials used in jewelry fabrication)

Pharaonic contribution:

A wide range of materials was available to the ancient jeweler. In predynastic periods, Egyptians used Oysters and snails to create a simple jewelry, as well as beads, which were thread in linen yarn or animal hair. Gold was considered the "flesh of the gods". Most of the gold and minerals were obtained from the mountains region which lay between the Nile and the Red Sea. Silver was considered the “bone of the gods" where it symbolized the moon and louts blossom, a flower that defeats darkness and death as it opens under the warming rays of the morning. Other materials were used such as Cooper, Iron and Electrum (mixture of gold, silver and copper – imported from Punt).

Egyptian also used semi-precious stones like carnelian, amazonite, Obsidian, Amethyst and turquoise (from Sinai) while lapis lazuli was imported from abroad.

Each of these stones had its own symbolism. Ivory was valued for its rarity, symbolism and visual appeal. Probably the most common used material for jewelry was Faience – non-clay, glazed ceramic that could be modeled by hand or shaped in a mould.

Greco-Roman contribution:

Same as previous period.

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Tools

Pharaonic contribution:

Our knowledge about manufacturing jewelry comes from tomb scenes depicting craftsmen engaged in the processes of jewelry manufacturing and shaping beads,like the tomb of Mereruka at Saqqara, where a group of artisans making anouseh-collar with falcon ending can be seen.The most important jewelry making tools are: Open furnaces fired with charcoal and intensified by foot-operated bellows or by blow-pipe, were commonly employed in working gold, they also used balance to weigh the metal, pipes missed with perforated pottery parties, tweezers to hold the metal machining, round stones form for hammering metal, crucibles for melting metal, long metal rods to raise the crucibles, chisels itchy and cutting in addition to the moulds for formation. They also used sharp tools to make cloisonné with wire gold and drills, and post-weight gold smelting stage comes on fire.

Greco-Roman contribution:

Same as previous period.

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Techniques

Pharaonic contribution:

The minerals were extracted from mines. The rock was first broken up by the use of fire and hammers; it was then crushed in mortars into small pieces, and finally ground to powder. This powder was washed on a sloping surface, and the gold dust thus recovered was fused in crucibles into small nuggets. This was organized by mining expeditions run by military campaign officers supervising a large number of workers. The efficiency of the smelting and refining was limited if compared to the work of craftsmen in the industrial centers in cities. While Casting was a known metalworking technique in ancient Egypt, jewelry of precious metal were more likely to be fabricated from hammered sheet metal, which was cut, shaped and joined through crimping or soldering. Hand wrought wires were used for securing beads and amulets. The melting, casting, and working of gold are well, illustrated in a relief from the tomb of Mereruka dating from about 2300 B.C., at Saqqara. The upper register shows first the metal being weighed out and checked by a scribe, six men using blowpipes on a charcoal-fired melting furnace, the pouring of the molten metal into a flat mould and then the beating of the ingot into sheet, using stones held in the hand. The center, band shows some of the types of ornaments made, while the lower part of the relief shows two men finishing a collar and then dwarfs working on elaborate pieces of jewelry Manufacturing methods used in the Pharaonic era:

1. Filigree

2. Cloisonné

3. Granulation

Greco-Roman contribution:

The same ways were followed during the Roman period. Metal work wires were primarily accomplished through strip twisting. Hand wrought wires were used for securing beads and amulets

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Production Centers

Pharaonic contribution:

Memphis and nearby areas were the main centers of the god Ptah, patron of craftsmen and artisans, and also, first area for concentrate gold industry.

In Amarna area, remains of Aten Temple's workshops were found and some small others owned by individuals.

Ibwy, heads of the gold-makers in the reign of Akhenaten, has a wonderful tomb in Memphis. Scenes show Akhenaten designing his own jewelry.

Three graves of senior jewelers were found in western Thebes

Greco-Roman contribution:

Most valuable jewelries were discovered during excavations in Upper Egypt, Oases, Middle Egypt and Alexandria

Usage

Pharaonic contribution:

Three types of jewelry could be distinguished: everydaylife, religious, and funerary.

Jewelry was used by all social classes.Egyptians favored necklaces, bracelets, belts, amulets, pendants, hair beads, diadems, and many other jewelry types. Jewelry was decorated with scarab beetles, winged birds, jackals and antelopes.Jewelry manufactured from animal products was carved into hairpins, finger rings, ear rings, and amulets.A lot of types of jewelry were used during that era like wreaths, crowns and collars, as well as various types of elastic ornaments; such as small rosettes, gold hoops, and simple strips of ornaments. Different types of belts, rings, earrings, bracelets, anklets.Crowns: worn by gods and kings.

Greco-Roman contribution:

Same as in the previous period.

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Masterpieces

Pharaonic contribution:

The most famous jewelry in Pharaonic era date back to the Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Late Period

Greco-Roman contribution:

The Douche Treasure is one of the most important discoveries from Roman Egypt. It was discovered in Douche, (Khargah Oasis) in 1989 and dates back to 2nd Century AD. It was found compressed into a large case hidden in the wall of a Roman fort, not far from a temple dedicated to Serapis and Isis.

It consists of a gold Diadem, two bracelets and a necklace with 187 gold plates. The diadem is decorated with vine leaves and branches within a temple façade; his right hand is on the god Harpocrates. Busts of the goddess Isis are surmounting the two columns and coming out of the two rosettes ending the decoration on both sides. The same vine leaves and branches are seen around an agate stone "orange" on the bracelet, and a piece of glass paste "green" on the other side

Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled c. 1332–1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the new kingdom or sometimes the new empire period. He has since his discovery been colloquially referred to as King Tut. His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living image of aten", while Tutankhamun means "Living image of amun". In hieroglyphs, the name Tutankhamun was typically written amen-tut-ankh, because of a scribal custom that placed a divine name at the beginning of a phrase to show appropriate reverence. He is possibly also the Nibhurrereya of the Amarna letters, and likely the 18th dynasty King Rathotis who, according to Manetho, an ancient historian, had reigned for nine years—a figure that conforms with Flavius Josephus's version of Manetho's Epitome.