A tiny copper alloy object, overlooked for nearly a century in a museum collection, has rewritten the understanding of ancient Egyptian engineering. Researchers have identified the artifact as the oldest known metal bow drill, suggesting a level of technological sophistication in Egypt two millennia earlier than previously believed. The discovery challenges existing historical and archaeological paradigms about the development of complex tools in early civilizations.
The artifact, cataloged as 1924.948 A, was excavated a century ago from a cemetery in Badari, in Upper Egypt, specifically from tomb 3932, the burial site of an adult male. Initially documented in the 1920s by archaeologist Guy Brunton, it was simply described as “a minor copper punch, with a leather thong wrapped around it,” a concise classification that proved misleading. Its small size – just 63 millimeters long and weighing 1.5 grams – contributed to it remaining unrecognized for decades.
A recent reevaluation by a team from the University of Newcastle, in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, revealed its true nature and significance. Dr. Martin Odler, a visiting researcher at the University of Newcastle’s Faculty of History, Classics and Archaeology and lead author of the study published in the Egypt and the Levant journal, emphasized the importance of the identify. “The ancient Egyptians are famed for their stone temples, painted tombs, and dazzling jewelry, but behind those achievements lay practical, everyday technologies that rarely survive in the archaeological record. One of the most important tools was the drill – used for boring into wood and stone, enabling everything from furniture making to ornament production,” he stated.
Microscopic analysis revealed wear patterns inconsistent with manual scraping or drilling. Instead, researchers observed fine striations, rounded edges, and a slight curvature at the working end – characteristics indicative of sustained rotational movement. Crucially, six fragile spirals of a leather thong still wrapped around the shaft provided further evidence. Researchers argue this was a remnant of a bowstring, used to power a bow drill, the ancient equivalent of a hand-held drill. This ingenious mechanism involved looping a cord around the drill’s shaft and moving a bow back and forth, rapidly rotating the tool to cut through material with precision.
“This reanalysis provides strong evidence that this object was used as a bow drill, which would have produced a faster and more controlled drilling action than simply pushing or rotating a punch-like tool by hand,” explained Dr. Odler. “This suggests that Egyptian craftspeople mastered reliable rotary drilling more than two millennia before some of the best-preserved drill sets.”
Dating the Badari drill places it in the Predynastic Period, specifically the Naqada IID phase (around 3300 to 3200 B.C.E.), over 5,300 years ago. This period was pivotal in the development of monarchy, writing, and organized religion in Egypt, even before the country’s unification under the first pharaohs. This dramatically contrasts with previous beliefs that bow drills only appeared in the Egyptian archaeological record in later periods, such as the New Kingdom (1550 to 1070 B.C.E.). The Badari drill pushes back this timeline by nearly two millennia, effectively rewriting the history of Egyptian engineering.
Beyond its function, the material composition of the drill offers valuable insights into the technological capabilities of the time. Chemical analysis, conducted using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), revealed the tool was made from an unusual copper alloy. Co-author Jiří Kmošek noted that “the drill contains arsenic and nickel, with notable amounts of lead and silver. Such a recipe would have produced a harder and visually distinct metal compared to standard copper.” Kmošek added that the presence of silver and lead “could indicate deliberate alloying choices and potentially wider networks of materials or knowledge linking Egypt with the broader Eastern Mediterranean in the fourth millennium B.C.E.,” suggesting advanced trade or knowledge exchange between civilizations.
This study, linked to the UKRI-funded (Horizon Europe Guarantee) project EgypToolWear, underscores the importance of museum collections and their potential to yield groundbreaking discoveries. An object excavated long ago and described in a single line has proven to be a window not only into early metallurgy but also a rare trace of organic material offering direct evidence of how the tool was used in its time, revealing the ingenuity of an ancient civilization. The finding highlights the potential for re-examining existing archaeological finds with modern techniques to unlock new understandings of the past.
