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Two sets of iron ankle shackles found at an archaeological site in Egypt are revealing the "significant human cost" of gold mining undertaken to fund Ptolemy I's military campaigns, according to new research.
"The shackles complement an ancient text that describes the living conditions of miners in Egypt and mentions the presence of prisoners of war and common criminals in the mines," study author Bérangère Redon, an archaeologist at the History and Sources of the Ancient Worlds (HiSoMA) Laboratory in France, told Live Science in an email.
After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, dozens of mines were opened under the Ptolemaic dynasty (305 to 30 B.C.). Many of these mines included housing for the workers, but the living accommodations tended to be highly controlled and guarded. Historical and archaeological information suggests that a range of people worked as miners, including both paid laborers and people who were enslaved.
In a study published March 13 in the journal Antiquity, Redon detailed the rare discovery of shackles at Ghozza, the northernmost Ptolemaic gold mine, which was in use from around 250 to 200 B.C. The shackles are among the oldest ever found in the Mediterranean region.
The Ghozza mine complex included a village with residential areas, streets and baths. Hundreds of ostraca — pottery fragments used as "scrap paper" — that were found at the site provided clues to the daily activities of the miners. Some received wages for their work, which involved processing natural ore with handheld grinding stones.
"We thought that the work of the miners must have included free people, as we found no guarded dormitories at Ghozza," Redon said. In contrast, dormitories at other ancient Egyptian mines "were guarded by a gatehouse near their narrow entrances," Redon wrote in a 2021 study.
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But the discovery of two sets of shackles designed to restrict the movement of miners working on the surface revealed that there was at least some forced labor at Ghozza.
Iron shackles being excavated at the Ghozza mine in Egypt.
(Image credit: Bérangère Redon / French Archaeological Mission at the Eastern Desert; Antiquity Publications Ltd.)
One set of shackles consisted of seven ankle rings and two links, and the other included four links and two ankle-ring fragments. Archaeologists discovered the shackles, along with a large amount of discarded slag and many iron objects, in an ancient storage building at Ghozza.
The Ghozza shackles closely resemble ones found in the silver mines of Laurion in Greece, Redon wrote in her study, suggesting the Greeks brought their technical knowledge of mine engineering to Egypt during the Ptolemaic period. The mined Egyptian gold would have helped fund Ptolemy I's military campaigns at the expense of the workers.
"These objects give us irrefutable proof of the miners' status, which we did not have until now," Redon said.
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Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.
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