Usually, when talking about the ancient Egyptian ingenuity of his mastery of embalming, which has preserved the bodies for thousands of years, there is another achievement that is no less important, which is “Egyptian Blue”, the oldest industrialist who has known man.
In a recent study published Patrolling The BPG Herteg Sains, a team from Washington State University, in cooperation with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Foundation, succeeded in re -manufacturing this spit for the first time using modern scientific tools and technologies.
Dr. Khaled Salah, Professor of inorganic Chemistry at the Institute of Advanced Medical Research at the National Research Center, told Al -Jazeera Net: “The Egyptian Blue had a great appreciation in ancient Egypt, but the secrets of its manufacture were lost with the passage of time.
Coborvite metal .. the heart of the secret
The secret lies in a rare mineral known as “coboriavite”, which is responsible for the turquoise blue color in the angry, and this mineral consists when a mixture of silica, copper oxides and calcium carbonate at temperatures up to a thousand degrees Celsius, which requires severe accuracy for the necessary crystals to form the color.
“This mineral is only formed in very accurate circumstances, which explains the difficulty of reproducing it through the ages, however, the researchers finally succeeded in achieving this, which revived a recipe that had been lost.”
The team produced 12 different recipes from the angry using precise formulas of silicon dioxide (pure sand), sodium carbonate (natrun), calcium carbonate, and copper oxides. Samples were heated in ovens at temperatures between 950 and 1050 ° C, for periods ranging from an hour to 11 hours, with immediate or gradual cooling to study the effect of each variable.
After cooling, samples were subjected to accurate analyzes using techniques such as X -rays and electronic microscopes, and the team found that the Coboroueete crystals were not regularly distributed in each sample, but sometimes only 50% of this mineral is sufficient to produce strong blue.
Various degrees of blue
The researchers noted that the resulting color can vary between deep blue and gray green, depending on manufacturing conditions. Dr. John McLei, the main author of the study and director of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Washington University in Statement The university issued: “Even minor changes in timing, cooling, or materials ratios give completely different results. The ancient Egyptian maker was accepting this contrast as long as this color is visually distinctive.”
“We discovered that the resulting color is affected by many factors, including components and speed of cooling, for example, slow cool gave a pure blue color, while rapid cooling produced green gray grades, even the use of different copper sources, such as the malacite, clearly affected the result.”
He also pointed out that the increase in the amount of sodium in the composition may lead to the production of a green color, but it can turn in favor of the coboriavite if it is cooled slowly.
The team also found that the separation of production sites from use, as it was common in ancient Egypt, led to a variation in the quality of the dye when transported, but it remained effective.
The work of the research team was not only limited to laboratory samples, but also extended to an accurate comparison with real archaeological samples taken from two ancient Egyptian statues preserved in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where one of the pieces returns to the era of King Akhenaten (the fourteenth century BC), while the other belongs to the Ptolemaic era.
The researchers used advanced analysis techniques, such as infrared spectrum analysis, electronic microscope, and 3D X -rays, to study the layers of color on the surface of these statues, and compare them to the laboratory -made samples.
The results showed a remarkable similarity in the distribution of the Coboroueite metal crystals, and even in line with the way in which the light interacts with the angry molecules, which provided strong material guide to the authenticity of the experimental models that the team reproduced.
“Our analytical tools are very accurate, and our results are scientifically reliable, but there are differences that must be alert when comparing the old impact with the modern sample, because the old Egyptian artist was often putting the blue anger in thin layers on non -white surfaces, which affects our awareness of the final color.”
Between science and history
This study began as a simple experiment to produce samples displayed in the museum, but it quickly turned into a multidisciplinary scientific project, in which scientists from the fields of minerals, chemistry and anthropology participated, along with an expert in Egyptology.
Dr. Salah explains: “This integration is what we lack in our Arab world, as every specialty often works in isolation, but this type of cooperation is the key to revealing the secrets of such buried in ancient Egyptian papyri.”
He adds that “one of the reasons that encouraged this integration is that the final product of the project will be an important breakthrough, as researchers were studying a fool not only belonging to the past, but it has light, magnetic and biological characteristics that open doors for modern applications.”
McLei notes this modern value, saying, “People are fascinated by the possibility of re -discovering the secrets of ancient engineering, but the real value lies in the visual characteristics of the coborphite metal, it exports a light within the infrared range, a feature that can be employed in areas such as fingerprint detection, security inks, and even in the manufacture of counterfeit materials, but there is medical research that suggests its use as an indicator Metal in medicines and biomedics. ”
He adds that “this ancient anger can be developed to be more effective in modern applications. We have already seen how reducing the size of its molecules to the nano scale enhances its properties, and that it is a silicate that makes it very stable, which is encouraging for any future industrial or medical application.”
Salah concludes with one of the most basic applications that McClevi did not refer to, which is that this ancient anger can enter into the production of luxurious woven, and says, “It is sufficient to market these textiles to say that it carries a color from ancient Egypt, lives hundreds of years without changing.”
The samples that the team are currently manufactured at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in the American city of Pittsburgh are displayed in a new hall dedicated to the Egyptian civilization, and the Egyptian Blue stands there as evidence that the flag is able to re -discover secrets that disappeared from a long time.