ABSTRACT
The metal objects found at Kahun were everyday items such as knives, chisels and needles together with mirrors, bowls and, most unexpectedly for an Egyptian site at this time, a neck ornament called a torque. In later times many of these items, particularly the tools, would have been made of iron, but at the time of Kahun iron was unknown and the objects are made of copper alloys. Although Kahun is classed an Early Bronze Age town, not all of the metallic objects were actually made of bronze. This period was one of transition from the copper age, which originated in Predynastic times when naturally occurring ‘native’ copper was found to be a satisfactory alternative to flint for making tools, to the Bronze Age proper when the superiority of copper alloyed with tin was recognised.
