Small stone vessels that had been sealed with hammered sheets of gold textured to resemble animal hide and tied down with gold wire “string” were also found in the royal tomb. It was made from a broad band of hammered gold sheet. Overall, relatively few gold pieces survive from the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, which are represented in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection by a small bangle bracelet from the tomb of Khasekhemwy, the last ruler of Dynasty 2 ( 01.4.2). The survival of gold artifacts is skewed by accidents of history and excavation Egyptian sites have been looted since ancient times, and much precious metal was melted down long ago. A ring dated to the Amarna Period depicting Shu and Tefnut illustrates a rare occasion when an Egyptian goldsmith added a significant amount of copper to a natural gold-silver alloy to attain a reddish hue ( 26.7.767). In fact, the pendant contains gold and silver in nearly equal amounts and is therefore electrum, a natural alloy of gold containing more than 20 percent silver, as defined by the ancient Roman author, naturalist, philosopher, and historian Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis historia. The color of a metal is affected by its composition: gradations in hue that range between the bright yellow of a central boss that once embellished a vessel dating to the Third Intermediate Period ( 30.8.371) and the paler grayish yellow of a Middle Kingdom uraeus pendant ( 26.8.81) are due to the natural presence of lesser or greater amounts of silver. The gold used by the Egyptians generally contains silver, often in substantial amounts, and it appears that for most of Egypt’s history gold was not refined to increase its purity. Gold jewelry intended for daily life or use in temple or funerary ritual continued to be produced throughout Egypt’s long history. these are mostly beads and other modest items used for personal adornment. The hieroglyph for gold-a broad collar-appears with the beginning of writing in Dynasty 1, but the earliest surviving gold artifacts date to the preliterate days of the fourth millennium B.C. In addition to the resources of the Eastern Desert, Egypt had access to the riches of Nubia, which is reflected in its ancient name, nbw (the Egyptian word for gold).

Egypt is a land rich in gold, and ancient miners employing traditional methods were thorough in their exploitation of economically feasible sources.

Gold egyptian chest the mummy returns