Egyptian faience and rose gold at Mochlos,Crete

Abstract

The Mycenaean necklace found in a tomb in the Limenaria cemetery at Mochlos, Crete, consists of a row of faience beads and a central gold bead, and it is dated to the LM IIIA period (about 1400–1300 BC). Studies on faience have shown that different production technologies were used in this period: efflorescence, cementation and direct application methods. The efflorescence method was used in Egypt. The manufacture of the faience from Mochlos indicates an Egyptian origin, but the shape and the style are Aegean. The gold bead shows a deliberately applied rose patination on one side and a normal golden colour on the other. The analyses showed that the composition of the pink film is very similar to that on Tutankhamun's sequins. The technique of colouring gold is known from objects found in royal tombs in Egypt. This piece of jewelry shows, like the faience, a strong Egyptian technological influence.

Keywords

Crete Mochlos Egypt Mycenae Aegean Faience Efflorescence Cementation Rose Pink Red Purple Gold Anubis XRF Microscopy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Soles

, Nicgorski

, Kopaka

, Carter

, Giumlia-Mair

, Reese

, Soles

: ‘Jewelry and other small finds’, in ‘Mochlos IIC, period IV. The Mycenaean settlement and cemetery. The human remains and other finds’, (ed. , Soles

J S

, Davaras

), Appendix B, 40, IIC.30; 42, IIC.49; 44–46, IIC.63; 47, IIC.82; 53, IIC.111; 2011, Philadelphia, PA, INSTAP Academic Press.

Giumlia-Mair

: ‘Necklace no. 1: evidence for Egyptian influence in Mycenaean Jewelry Production’, in ‘Mochlos IIC, period IV. The Mycenaean settlement and cemetery. The human remains and other finds’, (ed. , Soles

J S

, Davaras

), Appendix B, 167–172, plate 33; 2011, Philadelphia, PA, INSTAP Academic Press.

Soles

: ‘Mochlos IIA. Period IV. The Mycenaean settlement and cemetery. The sites’; 2008, Philadelphia, PA, INSTAP Academic Press.

Wiener

: ‘The absolute chronology of late Helladic IIIA2 revisited’, Annu. Br. Sch. Athens, 2003, 98, 239–250.

Giumlia-Mair

, Ferrence

, Betancourt

: ‘Metallurgy of the copper-based objects from Gournia, East Crete’, Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. on ‘Archaeometallurgy in Europe’, Bochum, Germany, June 2011, paper 38, Deutsches Bergbau Museum.

Soles

, Rethemiotakis

, Nicgorski

: ‘Burial containers: Sarcophagi, Pithoi, and jars’, in ‘Mochlos IIC. Period IV. The Mycenaean settlement and cemetery. The human remains and other finds’, (ed. , Soles

, Davaras

), 27–28; 2011, Philadelphia, PA, INSTAP Academic Press.

Lutz

, Pernicka

: ‘EDXRF analysis of ancient copper alloys’, Archaeometry, 1996, 38, (2), 313–323.

Giumlia-Mair

, Kassianidou

, Papasavvas

: in ‘Miniature ingots from Cyprus, metallurgy: understanding how, learning why, studies in honor of James d. Muhly’, (ed. , Betancourt

P P

, Ferrence

S C

), 11–20; 2011, Philadelphia, PA, INSTAP Academic Press.

Rehren

: ‘A review of factors affecting the composition of early Egyptian glasses and faience: alkali and alkali earth oxides’, J. Archaeol. Sci., 2008, 35, 1345–1354.

10.

Walton

, Shortland

, Kirk

, Degryse

: ‘Evidence for the trade of Mesopotamian and Egyptian glass to Mycenaean Greece’, J. Archaeol. Sci., 2009, 36, 1496–1503.

11.

Floreano

, Giumlia-Mair

: ‘A small LBA faience jug from Cyprus in the Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte, Trieste, Italy’, Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2008, 209–226 with further bibliography.

12.

Tite

, Shortland

: ‘Production Technology for copper and cobalt-blue vitreous materials from the New Kingdom Site of Amarna: a reappraisal’, Archaeometry, 2003, 45, 285–312.

13.

Jackson

, Nicholson

: ‘The provenance of some glass ingots from the Uluburun shipwreck’, J. Archaeol. Sci., 2010, 37, 295–301.

14.

Wood

: ‘The purple gold of Tutankhamun’, J. Egypt. Archaeol., 1934, 20, 62–65.

15.

Lucas

: ‘Ancient Egyptian materials and industries’; 2010/1926, London, Arnold E. & Co.

16.

Frantz

, Schorsch

: ‘Egyptian red gold’, Archaeomaterials, 1990, 4, 133–152.

17.

Ogden

: in ‘Metals, ancient Egyptian materials and technology’, (ed. , Nicholson

P T

, Shaw

), 148–176; 2000, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

18.

Gill

DWJ

: ‘Amenhotep III, Mycenae and the Laurion’, in ‘ERGASTERIA: works presented to John Ellis Jones on his 80th birthday’, (ed. , Sekunda

, ed); 2010, Gdansk, Akanthina.

19.

Strauss

: ‘The Trojan war – a new history’, 60; 2006, New York, Simon & Schuster.

20.

Padgham

: ‘The nature and scale of the Late Bronze Age economy in the eastern Mediterranean for the period 1400–1375 BC’, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Egyptology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK, 2009.