Gouda, V.K. Et Al. Survey Metal Production Ancient Egypt. 2007

8/7/2019 Gouda, V.K. Et Al. Survey Metal Production Ancient Egypt. 2007

1/10


2/10

1. INTRODUCTION

Precious metals used in ancient Egypt were gold, silver,electrum and their alloys. They were already known sincethe middle of the 4th millennium BC[1]. The ancient Egyp-tians did use them mainly in manufacturing of jewelry,

coffins, death masks, funerary sandals, head bands, statuesand as sheets to cover pieces of furniture (chairs, shrines,boxes, and even temple doors and jambs etc). Gold iscalled nbw[2] (nebw) in ancient Egyptian language.Gold was found in large amounts, coming from the localmines, especially from the eastern desert and Nubia sincethe Predaynastic time[3]. This type was called nebw-en-set.Gold was also obtained from river deposits of silt; its typewas known as Alluvial auriferous and was called nebw-en-mu. This type was found to be higher in gold purity[4]. Dur-ing the Dynastic time, gold was abundant so as to permit ex-ports, as was mentioned in the letters of Amarna[5] ( 1360 -1336 BC). By the age of the Middle Kingdom, gold becamethe most precious material. In the late Predynastic period,the town at Naqada, near the mouth of Wadi Hammamatwas known as Nubet (gold town), indicating that it grew richfrom the gold trade. During the New Kingdom, gold wasobtained also from Syria-Palestine by way of tribute, de-spite the fact that Egypt was already so rich in gold[6].

There was no Egyptian word for silver, but was re-ferred to as white gold (hedj)[2]. Silver objects havebeen found in Egypt from the Predynastic times but wererare until the 12th Dynasty when El-Tod Treasure wasfound; and then from the 18th Dynasty, silver began to bemore plentiful. In the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, it wasused for making many objects even in big masses such as

the sarcophagi of Psousennes I and Shashanq; presentlydisplayed in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

That local sources of silver in Egypt were not abun-dant, as is deduced by the fact that silver in ancient Egyptwas highly priced and was relatively a rare metal in con-trast with the more readily available gold. In addition silver

items were listed before those of gold in descriptions ofvaluables during the Old Kingdom. Aurian silver occurredin gold-quartz deposits in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.Records from the Eighteenth & Nineteenth dynastiesshowed that silver was imported from Asiatic countries,Syria, Palestine and Libya, Crete, Cyprus and Babylon[7].

The high value of the silver is also indicated by the thin-ness of the bracelets of Queen Hetepheres I -4th Dynasty,these bracelets are displayed in the Egyptian Museum ofCairo, which is in mark contrast to the extravagance of hergold work. Then the value of gold to silver changedthrough the time. By the Middle Kingdom, silver was re-garded as less valuable, due to its increased availability. Bythat time, it had acquired a value approximately half tothat of gold. During the New Kingdom, the ratio remainsconstant 2:1. After Persian times the ratio became 10:1. Inthe time of Ptolemy II, its value was fixed to 13:1[7].

Silver was regarded as the material from which thebones of the gods were shaped as well as the moon. How-ever, the flesh of the gods was considered to be madefrom gold, the god "Re", and other gods, a devin metalthat never be tarnished[8]. This connection with the godsmade gold an ideal metal in funerary contexts, as spectac-ularly witnessed by the mask coffins of Tutankhamun.The sarcophagus chamber in the royal tomb was knownas the house of gold, while at the ends of sarcophagi or

14

Survey of Precious Metal Production in Ancient Egypt

V.K. Gouda1, Z. M. El-Baradie2, M. Eldamaty31National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

2Central Metallurgical Research & Development Institute, Cairo, Egypt3Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Dokki, Cairo, Egypt, Zip Code: 12311Tel.: (02 3389151 3389152)

Fax: (02 3368308)e-mail: [email protected]

The aim of the present study was to conduct a detailed survey to gather all available information fromvarious sources about precious metal production in ancient Egypt. These sources are: archeologicalsites, papyrus records, museums, and literature. The survey showed a total number of 39 archeological

sites illustrating precious metal production in Giza, Abu Sir, Saqqara, Bani Hasan, Tuna el-Gabal,Deir el-Gabrawi, Meir, Aswan and Luxor. Turin & Leyden papyri have important information regard-ing gold and silver mines, costing, metal extraction, casting, finishing and fine metal works. The metal-lurgical processes can be depicted also from wall scenes or reliefs of these archeological sites.

Keywords: gold, silver, production, ancient Egypt

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 1 4


3/10


coffins, Isis and Nephthys were often shown kneeling onthe hieroglyphic sign for gold (nebw). However, otherGods were relationed with the moon like Hathor andThot and thus, were made of silver[9].

Electrum was called (djaam). It was a natural or ar-tificial alloy composed of gold and silver. It came from Nu-bia, Punt, Emu and the mountains of the desert[10]. The di-vision between gold and electrum was entirely arbitrary andwhen the alloy contains less than 20% of silver it was herecalled gold, However, when it contained 20% or more of sil-ver and was of a light-yellow colour it was called electrum,which is in accord with Plinys definition of electrum[11].

There are several objects made of electrum on displayin the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

2. AIM OF STUDY

The aim of the present study was to conduct a detailedsurvey to gather all available information from varioussources about precious metal production in ancientEgypt. These sources are: archeological sites, papyrusrecords, museums, and literature.

3. SEARCH OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES

(TOMBS & TEMPLES)

The results of our survey found that there are 39 siteswith records of ancient metal production. These sites con-tain scenes (painting and/or reliefs) on the walls of tombsand temples throughout the ages the ages of the Pharaohstill the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period. The oldest

scenes are from the tombs of the Old Kingdom, while therecent one is from the tomb of Petosiris from the begin-ning of the Ptolemaic period that date to ca. 300 BC. Table1 gives the list of those archeological sites arranged inchronological order. The most important example fromthe Old Kingdom is the relief from the funerary chapelwall of the tomb of Kaemrehu at Saqqara; now it can befound in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, CG 1534 as seenin Figure 1. The scene representing craftsmen occupiedwith various activities: two dwarfs work gold into moulds.A blacksmith beats the metal, while two others are blow-ing. The metal is weighed under the observance of a scribe.

Another special example from Saqqara is the uniquescene representing a goldsmith relief as shown in the

causeway corridor at King Unas Temple (Table 1, siteNo.12), in Figure 2. .It records the daily life in a metal-lurgical workshop. Some hieroglyphic words are quoted

namely: "sharpe ning an axe" (dm mskhtiw),

"heating silver " (srft hdj), "fashioning and polish-

ing" (sint), " hammering electrum sheets"

(sqr djam).

4. METAL PRODUCTION IN ANCIENT EGYPT:

4.1 Gold mines

The famous Turin Mining Papyrus record[12] from the

reign of Ramesses IV shown in Figure 3 is presently dis-played in the Egyptian Museum of Turino, Italy, cata-logue no. 1879[10]. The map was drawn about 1150-1160BC by the well-known Scribe-of-the-Tomb Amennakhte,son of Ipuy. It was prepared for Ramesses ' IV quarryingexpedition to Wadi Hammamat in the Eastern Desert. Itis the oldest surviving information map that is of geologi-cal and topographical importance from the ancient world.It represents the regarded as the earliest known geo-graphic information system. The map shows a 15 kilome-ter stretch of Wadi Hammamat, describing in details goldmines, deposits and mining settlement.

According to the Turin map, the mines in AncientEgypt can be divided into three main groups[10] accord-ing to the access roads followed in order to reach them;1. In the hilly region parallel to the Red Sea; Gold of the

desert of Coptoswas mined at several sites near Wadi

Hammamat and Wadi Abbad, Wadi el-Fawakhir andWadi Sid:2. The middle one, Gold of Wawat, the most important,

was mined near Wadi Allaqi and Wadi Cabgaba, Wa-di el-Hudi and between Buhen and Semna.; and

3. The southern one, Gold of Kush was mined in thearea of Napata and Abu Hamed, which is along theNile Valley itself, and the mines are never very farfrom the river.

Other sources of gold mines are mentioned in MadinetHabu and namely; Gold of Ombos, Gold of Edfu andGold of the water[13].

4.2 Mining operation

Remnants of the gold mines operations and tools werefound in the eastern desert from Ancient times. It is de-scribed in detail by Diodorus Siculuss and Agatharchidesof Cnidus [14]. The operation in the Predynastic time in-volved crushing of the gold-bearing quartz vein systems,after burning it with a hot fire, using huge calabash-shapedstone hammers. In Old Kingdom time, two new basictypes of stone hammer were introduced: an oval stone axewith a chiseled notch for a forked wooden stick and amore or less cylindrical one-handed stone hammer with achiseled ergonomically formed handle. During the MiddleKingdom additional stone mortars were introduced.

Highest production was realized during the New

Kingdom. In addition to the greatly expanded mining ac-tivities, a radically new milling technique had a strong im-pact on gold production at the onset of the New King-dom: mill stones up to 80 cm long and 3050 cm wide,with a flat and oval-shaped grinding plane, and differentlysized sets of mill stones with one or both hands were in-troduced. Then bronze chisels were introduced, which al-lowed a much more selective separation of the gold-bear-ing quartz generations of a multiphase quartz vein fromthe barren parts of the host rocks. The miners followedselectively the most promising ore shoots, which resultedlocally in a somewhat chaotic pattern of the undergroundoperations[15].

15

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 1 5


4/10

V.K. Gouda et al.

4.3 Smelting process

As described by Diodorus[14]; the cut blocks werethrown on the ground behind the miners and taken outinto the open. Outside the entrance, the worker crushed

the gold bearing blocks in mortars into small pieces thesize of a pea. After that, they ground it to powder withgrinding mills. Then, the pulverized quartz was washedby washing as attested by preserved tailing dumps wherethe heavy gold dust remained while the other matter, thegangue, was washed away. At quite a few of the NewKingdom gold production sites, inclined gold washing ta-bles constructed of stone fragments, consolidated byprimitive clay/sand mortar with a surface covered by alayer of the same material was recorded.

The weighing of metals using balances or scales canbeen seen on the walls of many Tombs listed in Table 1,

such as: Tomb of Mastaba of Merreruka "Site No. 18",Tomb of Rekhmire "Site No.28", Tomb of Neferrenpet"Site No.37", Tomb of Benia "Site No.25", and Tomb of

Pahery "Site No.30". The balances are crowned by thehead of the goddess Maat, bearing an ostrich feather.Maat, the daughter of the sun god RE, was, among otherthings, a symbol of truth and justice; she ensured a correctand exact result in weighing.

16

Figure 1 - Relief from the tomb of Kaemrehu showing metal workers

Figure 2 - Relief from the causeway of king Unasshowing weighing, blowing, melting, hammering of electrum sheet

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 1 6


5/10


17

Table 1 - Archeological sites illustrating metal production (arranged in chronological order)

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 1 7


6/10

V.K. Gouda et al.

Figure 3 - Simplified map of the Turin Papyrus[12]

18

Ok: Old Kingdom Mk.: Middle Kingdom N.K.: New Kingdom L.P: Late Period

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 1 8


7/10


4.4 Melting & casting

Melting and casting including alloying additions arealso, depicted in many wall paintings or reliefs showingmetal-workings, so technological innovations from the

old kingdom to the Ptolemaic period can be traced bystudying metalworking scenes and inscriptions in Egypt-ian tombs. The metal was melted in one or more cru-cibles, depending on the amount required, as shown intombs of the vizier Merreruka at Saqqara, Figure 4,"SiteNo.18", and in the tomb of the Vizier Pepiankh at Meir,"Site No.20".

A small limestone casting mould was found in situ be-side one of the small hearths at the excavated site[16].Moulds of this kind are shown on wall paintings and re-liefs in private tombs as early as old kingdom, as illustrat-ed by a scene in the tomb of the vizier Pepiankh at Mier,"Site No.20". In Early Dynastic times, simple open mouldwas used.

Figure 5 - Wall painting from the tomb of Niankhkhnum& Khnumhotep showing jewelry making

A much more sophisticated form of casting was devel-oped in the course of the old kingdom: the use of two-part

moulds. Unlike the primitive open moulds, two-partmoulds of clay or stone like steatite or serpentine allowedboth faces of the object to be fashioned.

Figure 6 - Wall painting from the Tombof Rekhmire showing melting and casting of precious metal

In ancient Egypt there is evidence for lost-wax castingin the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom times [17].Lost-wax casting was well developed, as is evidence byitems of jewelry, practical objects and statuettes designedfor religious purposes that are displayed in the Egyptianmuseum of Cairo. The technique of lost-wax casting re-quired skilled artists, potters and gold-workers. First, an

19

Figure 4 - Wall painting from the Tomb of Mererukashowing jeweler making (Dwarf)

The hearths were charcoal-fired; charcoal (acaciawood) was burnt extensively in the eastern desert andSinai. The temperature increased by using blowing tech-

nique, which is illustrated in Tomb of Niankhkhnum andkhnumhotepat, Mastaba at Saqqara, Figure.5 "Site No.6",and Tomb of khety in Bani Hasan,, "Site No.17", Tomb ofRekhmire, Figure 6, "Site No.28". Fans of foliage are em-ployed in earlier times. While in the Old Kingdom a sim-ple mouth blow piece made of reed and tipped with claywas used.

During Middle Kingdom, skin bellows were used, asmentioned in a text written on a coffin, probably manufac-tured from the skin of a goat or a gazelle [8]. In the NewKingdom, the blowing tools were developed to becomemuch more effective like pot, drum or dish bellows. Theearliest known depiction of dish bellows is in melting scene

on a relief inside the eighteenth dynasty tomb of the priestPuymre, the second prophet of the god Amun in Thebes,"Site No.26". The furnace was a pottery bowl upon a standfilled with glowing charcoal. By the time of the New King-dom, however, a blast furnace had been introduced,worked by leather bellows actuated by the feet and cords,as shown in the scene of the tomb of two Sculptors atThebes during the region of Amenophis III, "Site No.31".

The ancient Egyptian foundry furnaces were detectedat the funerary temple of King Seti I "Site No. 37" in theTheban Necropolis. Many crucible sherds, broken tuy-eres and the nozzles of dish bellows were also found atthis site.

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 1 9


8/10

V.K. Gouda et al.

artist, perhaps a sculptor, produces in beeswax a model ofthe object to be cast. In early times beeswax was availablefrom wild bees, but by the Old Kingdom apiculture waspracticed in Egypt.

The beeswax model was then coated with clay, proba-bly by a potter. The composite structure was heated in acharcoal fireplace to harden the clay and to melt the wax,so that clay mould remained retaining every detail of theformer wax model. During casting, the founder pouredthe molten metal into the clay mould. After cooling, theclay mould was broken and cast object could be cleanedand polished.

In the New Kingdom, the Ancient Egyptians could al-so cast larger objects. Core casting was very common inthe manufacturing of larger objects during the New King-dom, and reached its peak in the late period. With thismethod, casting a core of clay or sand was covered by a

layer that was coated with clay. In order to secure it in po-sition throughout the later casting process, the core hadto be stabilized by pins or wire fixed to the outer cover ofclay. The wax was melted away leaving in the kiln thehardened clay mould with the fixed core. For casting thepiece, only the gap between the outer clay mould and theinner core had to be filled with molten metal, and aftercooling the mould was broken and as far as possible thecore was removed from the cast object [18].

4.5 Refining, polishing, colouring, quality testing, plat-

ing, coating, soldering

These processes are described in detail in Leyden Pa-pyrus [19]; that was discovered at Thebes, but now is dis-

played in Leyden University in the Netherlands.The Leyden papyrus contains about seventy-five

recipes pertaining to metal production, finishing, makingof alloys, soldering metals, coloring the surfaces of met-als, testing the quality or purity of metals, or techniquesfor imitating precious metals.

There are fifteen recipes for writing in gold or silveror in imitation of gold and silver writing.4.5.1 Refining

Refining technique is dated to the New Kingdomaround 1360 BC, and is explained in Leyden Papyrus asmainly the cupellation process. In this process, the im-pure metals were heated by a blast of hot air in shallow

porous cups of bone ash called cupels. The impure met-als, such as copper, tin and lead were oxidized by the hotgas, and the oxides were absorbed by the porous cuples.The unoxidizeble noble metals; silver or gold were left be-hind in the bottom of the cupel, like drops of water on anoily surface. A deposit mostly of silver objects and ingotscontained in four boxes bearing the names of AmenemesII were found in the Treasure of Tod [18].4.5.2 Polishing

The process of polishing is depicted in the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire, Site No.28", Tomb Nebamun "SiteNo.31", and Tomb of Neferrenpet, "Site No.37"; is predat-ed by a hieroglyphic inscription on a relief in the cause-

way leading to the fifth dynasty pyramid of king Unas atSaqqara " Site No.12".

For polishing, the metalworkers used special stones tosmooth uneven patches on metal objects. Agate, whichwas probably used for polishing stones, can be found atseveral places in Egypt. Metal surfaces may also havebeen finished using abrasives like emery or sand. Thegleaming surfaces on the pieces were obtained by a finalburnishing with small balls made of leather, felt or othertextile[8].4.5.3 Alloying

By the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the Egyptianshad certainly learnt how to make alloys of copper andgold, which do not appear in nature. Ancient gold workhas acquired a grey, reddish brown or plum-purple patinadue to the tarnishing of the copper, iron and silver com-ponents [19]. It is evident, for instance, that in some of

the jewels of Tut-ankh-amun gold was selected which hasradically changed its colour over the centuries, very prob-ably as the result of the deliberate introduction of othermetals to alloy with it [17].4.5.4 Coating or gilding

There were two techniques for coating; either by ham-mering gold leaves on the surface or by sticking the leavesto surface with an adhesive described in Leyden Papyrus.4.5.5 Plate Production

The plate production was depicted in many tombsfrom Old Kingdom times to the Ptolemaic period, such assites numbers "6, 12, 14, and 23".

Gold was poured after melting onto a flat surface.The metal was then, beaten on an anvil made of stone

(probably of basalt, diorite or granite), which was placedon a wooden block to absorb the hammering [8]. Twokinds of hammer stones were in use: one with a flat facefor smoothing and the other with a rounded one for chas-ing. The beaten gold would have to be reheated fromtime to time in order to anneal it to become ductile again.In the process of annealing, the piece was held with tongsin the glowing charcoal of the brazier[17] "Site No.28".

Bowls, basins, and the bodies of ewers and vases werehammered on special anvils, probably made of wood[8]. Inthe New Kingdom, another kind of anvil for vessel pro-duction is depicted consisting of a stout pole supported di-agonally by a kind of wooden trestle, as shown in the tomb

of the Vizier Rekhmire Site No.28". The wall-painting inthe Rekhmires tomb depicts, beside the brazier, toolsused for the production of gold leaf such as hammerstones. On a stone block layers of the gold plates and goldbeaters skins are ready for the beating of gold leaf.

Holes were usually made by pressing an awl into goldor silver sheet. A bow-drill was also used for drillingstones as well as gold or silver. A drawing of a painted re-lief in the tomb from the Old Kingdom, 6th Dynasty atDeir el-Gebrawi, "Site No. 21", shows gold beads beingbored uniquely by hand-held drills.4.5.6 Soldering

The Egyptians knew how to join metal with hard sol-

20

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 2 0


9/10


der by the Fourth Dynasty as is clear from the bed canopywhich belonged to Queen Hetep-her-es, and is displayedin the Egyptian museum of Cairo. In Leyden Papyrus themanufacture of Chrysocolla solder and other solders are

described in detail[19].

4.6 Wire making and jewellery decoration

The wires were produced by using hand-made wire;by new kingdom block-twisting method and rolling wereintroduced Another method of making wires was knownfrom the nineteenth dynasty by means of soldering gran-ules. Filigree, cloisonn, reposse, chasing and engravingwere delicate ornamental wirework in which ornamentswere formed by bending all kinds of wire to form a deli-cate tracery. The engraver worked out the outline draw-ing using a hammer stone and chisels of different sizes asshown in tomb of the head sculptor of the king Nebamunand his fellow sculptor Ipuky "Site No.31", "Fig.7", or inthe tomb of Rekhmire "Site No.28".

5. CONCLUSION

Metal production techniques were highly developedin ancient Egypt. Precious metals were melted some 5000

years ago, and alloying of metals were also preparedthrough mixing of different metals or metallic ores.

The ancient Egyptians have also used moulding tech-niques such as lost wax and master form which are still ap-plied in the modern foundries of today. The excellent re-production of details and decorations in the AncientEgyptian castings is due to the selection of moulding ma-terials which were smooth and non-lumpy nature such asplaster of paris with a suitable admixture of fine sand orground brick. A great skill was also demonstrated in theselection of materials for cores, and in designing themoulds so that the molten metal would run to the finestparts. Moreover, they excelled in the art of thin castingand they had already recognized the need for having sev-eral runners, even in small pieces.

21

REFERENCES

[1] Adams, W.Y, "Nubia Corridor to Africa", Princeton,New Jersy Princeton Univ. press, p. 797 (1977).

[2] R. Hannig, Groes Handwrterbuch gyptisch-

Deutsch, p. 403 (1997).[3] Gundlach R., Goldminen, in Lexikon der gytology

II, p 740 ( 1977 ).[4] Hume, W.F.,"Geology of Egypt", Geol. Surv. Egypt,

Vol. II, part III., (1937).[5] Sayce, A.H., Records of the past, series 2, Vol. 3,

(1890).[6] Locus A., "Ancient Egyptian Materials and Indus-

tries", ed. Harris J.R, P.195 (1962).[7] Gale N.H., Stos-Gale Z.A., "Ancient Egyptian Silver",

"The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology", Vol. 67,pp.103, (1981).

[8] Barbara Adams, Editor, "Egyptian metalworking andtools", Shire Publications LTD, copyright BrendSchool, First Published (1989).

[9] Forbes. J., "Studies in Ancient Technology" VIII, Lei-den 1964, pp. 202.

[10] Vercoutter, J. Editor, Kush; J. The Sudan Antiquities

Service; The Gold of Kush III,(1959), p 125.[11] Lucas A., "Silver in Ancient times", "The Journal of

Egyptian Archaeology", Vol. XIV, p 313, (1928).[12] Harrell, J.A. and Brown V.M.; "The world's oldest

surviving geological map - the 1150 BC Turin papyrusfrom Egypt", "Journal of Geology 100", p 3, (1992)a.

[13] J.H. Breasted; "Ancient Records of Egypt, part 430(1907).

[14] Diodorus Siculus "Greek historian of Agyrium in Sici-ly, Library of history", Vol. IV, translated by C.H.Old-father, Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press,(1967).

Figure 7 - Wall painting from the tomb of Nebamun and Ipuky, depicting weighing of gold, polishing, wire twisting

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 2 1


10/10

V.K. Gouda et al.

[15] Klemm, R., Klemm D. and Abu Baker el Hawari, M.;"1st Int. conf. Ancient Egyptian Mining & Metallurgi-cal and Conservation of Metallic Artifacts, Egypt,p.341 (1995).

[16] Kayser H., Giesserei 45 no. 19, p.582 587,(1958).[17] Aldred, C.; "Jewels of the Pharaohs, Egyptian Jewelry

of the Dynastic Period", p 15(1978).

[18] Andrews C.; "The Craftsmen and their techniques","Ancient Egyptian Jewelry", published by British Mu-seum Publications, p 68 (1985).

[19] Caley E.R., "The Leyden Papyrus X, "Chemical Edu-

cation III:10", p 1149-1166 (1926).

22

A P Y P O O Y O Y T E L O S 3 0 - 0 1 - 0 8 1 1 : 0 0 2 2

Documents

Gouda, V.K. Et Al. Survey Metal Production Ancient Egypt. 2007