ENERGY RESOURCES AND USES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

ANCIENT EGYPT AS A CASE STUDY

Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer

Oriental Institute – University of Chicago

June 23rd, 2014 – Summer Teacher Institute

Hunting and Rearing Birds

Main Sources of Energy in the Ancient World

• Sun • Water

– Plant growth: CEREAL and WOOD

• Man power • Animal power • Wind

Energy in ancient Egypt needed…

• To sustain human beings and animals

• To provide heat

– To cook

– To stay warm

• To provide light

• For building projects

• For industrial practices

• For transportation

The Nile river and its annual flood

Nile Valley Flood Plain

Water could also be lifted from the Nile to fill irrigation canals, using a SHADUF (New Kingdom) or a SAQIYA (Ptolemaic Period)

Agricultural Production

Wheat and Barley

TT 69 - Menna

TT 52 - Nakht

Nile River as major transport artery

Use of the current to go north

Use of the northerly and northwesterly winds to go south

Transport of people and goods

Temple of Deir el-Bahri

Tomb of Ibi, Deir el-Gebrawi

People and animals as source of muscle power

• Traction animals

– First, cattle and donkeys used in agriculture and to carry loads Tomb of Akhethetep,

Saqqara

People and animals as source of muscle power

• Traction animals

– First, cattle and donkeys used in agriculture and to carry loads

– Later, horses and chariots

Tomb of Nebamun, British Museum

People and animals as source of muscle power

• Workforce in ancient Egypt – Most of the populations are farmers involved in

food production

– They can be conscripted for corvée labor in service of the state • For monument building projects

• For the maintenance of the local irrigation systems, roads, canals, etc.

• For mining expeditions and also military campaigns

Monumental Projects

Tomb of Djehuty-hotep, El Bersheh

The workers’ settlement at the Giza plateau

Sleeping quarters

Mining Expeditions

• Eastern desert as a source of stones and minerals, which were quarried and mined. – Metals in particular:

• Gold

• Copper

• Silver

• Iron

Map of the gold mines in the Wadi Hammamat Reign of Ramesses IV. Museo Egizio, Turin

Psusennes

Treasure of Dahshur

Main sources of FUEL in ancient Egypt

• Wood and charcoal

Representations of woodcutters TT 52 - Nakht

Tomb of Khnumhotep II – Beni Hassan

Use of Wood Charcoal

• Partially oxidized wood obtained by slow pyrolysis

• Double the calorific value of air-dried wood – Suitable fuel for copper and

iron-smelting, since it maintains high temperatures (1100oC and more)

• Most common wood used: Acacia sp. Was charcoal produced in the Nile Valley and later delivered to industrial sites?

Case Study: Feeding the Pyramid workers Bread and beer as principal rations

Representation of bread making (tomb of Ti, Saqqara) and Experimental archaeology – Recreating an ancient Egyptian bakery

• Fuel used in the kitchen and bakeries of the temple.

– Analysis of 850 fragments of charcoal led to the identification of 9 types of trees

Aerial view of the Ramesseum, West bank of Thebes

Case Study: the Ramesseum

• Fuel used in the kitchen and bakeries of the temple.

– Mostly local trees, in particular those growing in the Nile Valley and along the canals.

Case Study: the Ramesseum

Acacia nilotica

Tamarix sp.

Metallurgy as main consumer of fuel

Remains of furnaces discovered in the region near Serabit el-Khadim

But also fuel needed for the production of pottery and glass

Le Louvre

V&A Museum

MMA

After the Pharaohs, Popularity of Roman bath houses

• Bath houses for the military garrisons stationed in Egypt.

– Use of straw as fuel, as indicated in textual material from the Theban region (2nd and 3rd cent. CE)

Roman frescos in the Luxor temple

What about using steam? Egypt and the Hellenistic world

• Ktesibios

– 3rd cent. BCE, Alexandria

• Science of compressed air and its application in pumps

• Hero of Alexandria:

– 2nd half of the 1st cent. CE

• Pneumatika: theory on the properties of air, vacuum, and the impact of gravity on liquids. In particular, reference to a steam engine

Conclusion

• Egyptians significantly modified the landscape of the Nile Valley as soon as they settled and went from being hunter-gatherers to being agricultural settlers.

– Fully reliant on the waters and nutrients of the river.

– For the most part a self-sufficient state, except for wood and timber, which they exported.

• Can we say that the ancient Egyptians had a special respect for their environment? After all, the sun, the waters of the Nile, even trees were deified as the gods Re, Hapi, and Hathor, the Lady Sycamore.