EGYPTOLOGY: Science in Ancient Egypt, Part# 2

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In my previous article about science in Ancient Egypt, I told you some interesting facts about Astronomy and Mathematics in antiquities times. As I promised you, I will now share with you the latest research on other "scientific" areas belonging to the natural sciences. The quotes on "scientific" are intentionally set because I wanna remind you, that the Ancient Egyptians did not do "research" in our modern understanding. They were thinking and acting innovatively in order to solve problems – far more than just for "gaining knowledge". And they did not fix their expertise on papyri and tomb walls to preserve it for following generations. They believed in an afterlife in eternity. That's why they were so keen on writing down in detail what they did - may it be the simple daily life or even complex activities.

We are now the ones that benefit from this and so in this article we'll dig a bit deeper into:

• Geography
• Geology and
• Biology

Geography in Ancient Egypt

What do you think of when you hear "Geography"? Maybe, that modern Geographers of today use GPS tools or other fancy stuff to scale the landscape? Did you know that the institutional Geography was founded quite late in the 19th century by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and Carl Ritter (1779–1859)? This might be confusing when I am telling you now that the Ancient Egyptian used "Geography" already to fight common challenges in everyday life. The word's origin is from the Greek γεωγραφία and simply means "to describe the earth". But before describing there is observing needed.

And the Egyptians did observe patiently their environment in the tiniest details. For example, they wanted to know everything about the river Nile. Its ebb and flow was a curse and a blessing at the same time. Knowledge of the cycles of the (annual) flooding could decide over life and death. They could protect their harvest, their houses and personal property or even their lives when they knew the timeframes of this strong natural force.

Interestingly we do not have many ancient sources of navigation tools. Topographical maps on papyrus are very rare. However, one of them that could be preserved is now in the Egizio Museum of Turin in Italy and it shows a detailed description of the landscape including "gold mountains" and even trees. It's dating back to 1150 BCE and was written by the Royal Scribe Amenakhte for the mining expedition the Wadi Hammamat (a dry valley between the Nile and the Red Sea) by Ramses IV (20th dynasty).

_{The map is not only showing places where gold could be found but also, for example, the colours may have shown pink granite deposits. Source.}

Mining was not the only purpose of expeditions by the Pharaohs like this. Also, military reasons can be the cause for these extended journeys through the Wadis and desert areas. They also explored the geopolitical destinations as well as retreat places to protect themselves.

Geology in Ancient Egypt

Geology also played a big role in Ancient Egypt. In some time periods, the Ancient Egyptians buried their ancestors in rock tombs, like in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. So they needed to have a profound knowledge of the limestone material. However, it is known that there were some accidents happen by broken tomb ceilings or similar catastrophes caused by a lack of knowledge about statics and stability of the geological environment.

Beside this, we all know the artistically handcrafted vessels made from an extremely hard stone material that make us today still stunned by the precision of execution. This material was collected by Ancient Egyptians in the desert (for example "desert glass") but was also mined systematically. They searched for new deposits of gold and other precious metals like electrum, a natural conglomerate of silver and gold.

Turquoise, for example, the beautiful green-blue gemstone was seen as the gem of the Goddess Hathor. It was used for jewellery since the predynastic times (around 5500 BCE). Natural turquoise was found especially in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula. One of the most important ancient mines was Serabit Al-Khadim which had also a temple dedicated to the Goddess Hathor in order to protect the mining activities in this place.

Later the gemstone Turquoise was imitated by a special ceramic made by the Ancient Egyptians: Fayence. This material was made mainly from quartz sand, powdered silica and limestone. The glaze was shining sky-blue and turquoise because of the containing iron oxide and was used to decorate pottery as well as statues and jewellery.

_{A little hippo made of Fayence, the typical turquoise colored ceramic. Source.}

Other commonly used gemstones were the blue lapis lazuli, the purple amethyst and the reddish-yellow carnelian. The Ancient Egyptians loved the colour blue. It was reserved only for the members of the royal family. Today the colour is known as Egyptian Blue which is a natural mineral but is so rare that it was (and still is) made artificially. The Ancient Egyptians were famous for mixing this colour out of several pigments. It is also called today calcium copper silicate.

Biology in Ancient Egypt

When it comes to the scientific subject "Biology" we cannot find a direct source of a scientific approach in Ancient Egypt to gain knowledge about "men and nature". We don't know about "experiments" or theoretical mind games. But there is, of course, evidence of a profound knowledge about the natural environment the Ancient Egyptians were living in. These people didn't know about genetically modified crops or anything like that but they knew how to grow grains and other agricultural products in order to gain the best and most effective profit. They knew exactly where to plant and when to plant. So they developed a complex calendar for sowing and harvesting in connection with the annual Nile flood.

But also the knowledge about the human body led to advanced abilities regarding mummification and embalming techniques. They did not open the human body for just "looking what's inside". Anatomy and physical processes were not studied for its own sake. But their aim was always to learn more about the "becoming and passing away" to keep the human body preserved for the afterlife in the very best way. Only a perfect body in this world made sure that the deceased could have the same at his/her disposal in the other world - in eternity. So the Ancient Egyptians learned over hundreds of generations how to keep a biological organism "in shape" for such a long time by simply "trial and error". In the beginning, deceased people were mummified naturally when the Ancient Egyptians buried their beloved ones in the desert sand. The hot air caused a fast drying out of the body. But the first intentional mummifications went wrong – right until they found out that they had to remove the innards. They realized: only an empty body could last forever. Nevertheless – the religious belief of the Ancient Egyptians did not allow them to just throw away the removed organs. They were also carefully preserved in special vessels, called canopic jars, and placed in a box or a niche in the vicinity to the coffin directly in the tomb. Except for the brain. This organ seemed to be "useless" for the Ancient Egyptians in the afterworld.

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Do you have an idea, why? Was their biological knowledge to small to see the importance of the brain? Or do we misunderstand the Ancient Egyptians in their imagination of a functioning body in the afterlife? Let me know what you think. ;)

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More Science in Ancient Egypt

Some of you might think now - where is Physics and Chemistry? Well these subjects will get a special attention in one of the following articles where I will put the emphasis on technology and innovation in Ancient Egypt as the people of this culture were more focused on the practial outcome of their discoveries. I will give you surprising examples of knowledge in this areas of which you probably never thought of.

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_{Sources and further reading:
• Liszka, Kate, Wadi el-Hudi Site 4: a lost amethyst mining settlement, in: Egyptian Archaeology 51, Autumn 2017, 38–39.
• Harrell, J.A. and V.M. Brown, 1992b, The oldest surviving topographical map from ancient Egypt (Turin Papyri 1879, 1899 and 1969), Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 29 (1992), 81–105.
• Nicholson, Paul T., Egyptian Faience and Glass (= Shire Egyptology. Band 18), Oxford (UK) 1993.
• Giveon, R., The Stones of Sinai speak, Tokyo 1978.
• Rossi, Corinna, Science and Technology: Pharaonic, in: Lloyd, Allan B. (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume I, Chicester, West Sussex, UK 2010.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise
• https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/collection-insights/2018/egyptian-turquoise-third-intermediate-period}

_{Image used in the editorial picture by Metmuseum. All other images used are CC BY-SA 3.0. Sources are provided directly below the images.}

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