Over time, gold remains in front of two images. The first is that it is the master of all metals in a mysterious way, and the second derives its strong presence from its scarcity. Gold, according to the ancient Egyptians, is a beautiful story that invites contemplation of this precious metal.
Ahmed Selim Awad, a researcher in archaeological history, revealed the details of gold in the Old Kingdom, through the following lines:
1- Gold remains associated with wealth, but in ancient Egypt, it was also associated with power and remained synonymous with its meaning, as it was associated with a spiritual moment in which bodies crossed into the spirit world, where the ancient Egyptians believed that the bodies of the righteous dead who became bright souls turn after their death into bodies of gold.
2- The ancient Egyptians left about 120 gold mines in the eastern desert extending to Sudan, and it was used for personal adornment only and not as a currency.
3- The ancient Egyptians are the first peoples of the earth to use gold, as they have come up with the methods for the search, extraction, and extraction operations, as they put their hands on all of Egypt’s gold reserves, and the process of extracting gold was supervised by wise men and priests.
4- The oldest known map of a gold mine was drawn in the Nineteenth Dynasty in ancient Egypt, around (1189 BC).
5- The first written reference to gold was recorded in the Twelfth Dynasty, around 1900 BC, and it was written in 2600 BC a description of gold in ancient Egypt, as claimed by King Tushratta of Mitanni, who ruled in 1382-1342 BC, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III. During the reign of Akhenaten, around the end of the fourteenth century BC, gold in Egypt was “more abundant than dirt.”
6- Egypt, especially Nubia, possessed the necessary resources to make it a major gold-producing area for a long period during ancient Egyptian history.
7- Ancient Egyptian jewelry was worn by both men and women, young and old, royal and ordinary. The great thing is that because they were buried in tombs, we still have countless pieces in beautiful condition. You can then take a look at the exceptional craftsmanship of the pieces. , and also marvel at how abundant gold was in those times. golden mask
The golden mask of King Tutankhamun is the most expensive and famous artifact in the world. The mask is a block weighing 24 pounds (11 kilograms) of polished hammered gold, beautifully and amazingly made more than 3,300 years ago, with eyeliner of lapis lazuli and eyes of quartz, and it has Other precious stones are rare, including those that do not exist on earth.
The mask represents a royal headdress with a false beard, a necklace of three branches, and a necklace on the chest. A female vulture and a cobra snake rise above his forehead for protection. There are two holes in the ears to install earrings in them. “The mask is well-made.”
Valley of the Golden Mummies:
In March 1996, 6 kilometers from the city of Bawiti – the capital of the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt – the Valley of the Golden Mummies was discovered. During the first season of excavations, the sand was removed from more than a hundred complete mummies. Where never before has such a large number of mummies been discovered and in a good state of preservationThe mummies date back to the Greco-Roman era. Which showed different models and styles of art and a representation of all the social classes that lived in this era, and some mummies were covered with a layer of gold from the head to the chest area; Which reflects the wealth of their owners, and the discovery of golden mummies reminds us of the discovery of the tomb of the golden king Tutankhamun.
Zahi Hawass, the discoverer of these mummies, mentions that they give a sense of awe when seeing them, perhaps because they relate to and relate to the other world. That distant and mysterious world of the living Egypt of gold:
1- The ancient Egyptian woman derived her strength from the strength of gold and her authority from the hardness of the metal and the length of its stay bright and distinguished and difficult to break, just as the two queens Nefertiti and Hatshepsut and other famous people of the ancient Egyptian civilization were. And gold inlaid with precious stones such as turquoise, emeralds, and sapphires.
2- In the Old Kingdom, jewelry was made of beads, and the use of jewelry was not limited to kings, but was used by the general public, with the replacement of gold by metal such as copper or bronze.
3- In the Old Middle Kingdom, the situation changed if the ornaments were made of beads and faience, dominated by blue and green colors, and formed in the form of hawks, shells, beads, or other forms of parts of the human body.
4- The use of gold was expanded in the modern state when adornment became a general characteristic, as men used to wear rings, earrings, and necklaces, and then their use of gold increased in abundance, and starting from the 19th dynasty, silver was used in jewelry.
