Iron from the sky: The Science and Culture of Iron in Ancient Egypt

There is limited evidence of iron in ancient Egypt in early times as most of this iron appears to have fallen from the sky as meteorites, so we have little understanding of the role iron played in ancient Egyptian civilization. What the ancient Egyptians thought of it is not understood. However they were fashioning meteorite iron fragments into jewelry from as early as pre-historic times around 5500 years ago. These were discovered in the graves of 2 important people and some later examples are known of iron objects from Royal tombs including that of king Tutankhamen, which indicates the importance of iron. If they did know it originated from the sky which was the place of the gods they would have valued it greatly. Our project will explore how iron was used across Egypt at different times by examining museum collections to see the different types of objects Egyptians used iron to produce. Evidence of what they thought iron to be will be derived from many sources including museum artefacts and ancient texts.
The earliest references to iron in Egyptian texts are frequently as iron bones of gods, we are yet to fully understand what these mean. We know that dark dense heavy mammal fossils which have a very similar visual appearance to weathered iron were sometimes placed within burial shafts and tombs some even being wrapped in their own linen shrouds. As the ancient Egyptians frequently considered animals to represent gods these type of fossils may be the inspiration for the early ideas of iron bones, this in turn could have had a significant influence on the early use of iron and the ancient Egyptian attitude to it. Our study will scientifically explore the origins of these fossils, identifying which mammals are present considering their cultural role and association with representations of gods in ancient Egypt.

Our investigation of ancient Egyptian iron is likely to have impact within the following communities:

(1). Museums and museum professionals, we will work with a number of museums including Manchester Museum and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian archaeology, Bolton Museum and the Natural History Museum, London. Our research will enhance the knowledge of their collections and build into development of museum activities such as temporary exhibitions. This will benefit the museums by increasing both the academic and financial value of collection, also increasing museum visitor numbers which brings broader economic value.

(2). Archaeology and geologists/planetary scientists, we will interact with these academic communities by conference presentations and attendance at specialist meetings.

(3). The general public, we plan to utilise the Open Universities numerous outreach mechanisms including possible contributions to its OU sponsored BBC TV materials and free to access on-line education resource. This in addition to face-to-face events such as free public lectures.

(4) Teaching materials will be developed for undergraduate-level courses