Analysis of bronze arrowheads of the Saite period from the Nile Delta region

Further experiments on a relatively large number of bronze artifacts, predominantly arrowheads, were performed in order to establish whether technological and cultural links existed between the Greek settlements of the Nile Delta region and those in North Sinai. In these comparative studies artifacts from site T.21 in North Sinai and from Daphnae, Naukratis, and Memphis in the Delta region were subjected to chemical and metallurgical investigation and the results obtained were analyzed. On the basis of these results alone it is difficult to prove the existence of cultural or technological links between these settlements, in spite of their common origin. The T.21 arrowheads showed the systematic presence of Mg, but no Mg was found in orther artifacts originating from the same site. Magnesium-bearing bronzes were not found in the Nile Delta artifacts. The systematic occurrence of Mg in the T.21 arrowheads seems to indicate that its presence was not accidental. Experimental results also tend to discredit the concept that the presence of Mg could be related to corrosion.