Nubian Gold

For centuries people knew that gold came from Nubia. When the Egyptians took over Nubia about 1450 BCE, they began searching to find where it came from. They discovered some gold near the Nile, but they found larger amounts in the desert far away from the Nile. The Egyptians sent many slaves to mine the gold. Many workers died because of the heat and lack of water.

The gold of Nubia made Egypt very rich. Egypt became so rich that the kings of other countries believed that gold was "as common as dust" there. Archaeologists think that most of the gold used in Tutankhmun's burial may have been mined in Nubia, since at that time most of the gold used in Egypt came from Nubia.

	Model coffin of Tutankhamun, probably made from Nubian gold. Found in his tomb at Thebes. Egypt, Dynasty 18, ca. 1348-1338 BCE.
	Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

	Ancient Egyptian map, drawn on papyrus, showing the desert roads and mountains on the way to the gold mines. Egypt, ca. 1400-1200 BCE.
	Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy.

	Ancient gold panning basin in the Nubian Desert, Sudan.
	Courtesy of A. & A. Castiglioni.