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Telegraphic address: "GEOSURVEY, CAIRO"

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PLEASE ADDRESS COMMUNICATIONS
TO THE DIRECTOR
NOT TO INDIVIDUALS,
AND QUOTE THIS No.

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Probably the part that interests you most is the "Nature of the Gold employed in Ancient Egypt". I have re-arranged and re-studied the valuable list of analyses given by Lucas in his "Silver in Egypt" paper. As a result, I draw the following general conclusion:

"If we admit that the low ratio silver containing gold is really the native product, we find a tendency for the ratio of silver to gold to increase as we pass from the older to the newer periods. The variation is as follows:

SILVER GOLD
Average for First Dynasty 1 to 6.2
'' Sixth '' 1 to 4.7
'' Twelfth '' 1 to 4.4
'' Eighteenth '' 1 to 4.4

if a 1 to 8 ratio is counted in, or 1 to 3.7
if the 1 to 8 ratio be excluded.

Greaves and I have worked through the records in the Department of Mines, the result being a rather long section on "Gold Mining in Egypt in Recent Times".

An interesting point is the relation of silver to gold in the product from some of the most important mines.

Thus in a southern group of mines, which includes the famous ones of the Garairat and Um Tuir; the proportion varied from 1 : 6.08 to 9.7.

Further north Baramia, 1:4.6; Sukari 1:4.6; Um Rus 1:5.5 form a group yielding gold richer in silver, and finally in Atalla, north of the Qena-Qoseir road, the proportion rises to 1 to 3.57.

Back to Gold (TAA i.3.14).