Two-edged Bronze Sword. Sepulchre IV. Half size. After cleaning.
ANALYSIS OF MYCENEAN METALS.
DR. PERCY'S ANALYSIS.
Mr. P. Eustratiades, the Director of the Antiquities of Greece, having kindly given me some specimens of the Mycenean metals, I thought I could not do better than submit them for analysis to the celebrated chemist and metallurgist, Dr. PERCY, in London, to whom I cannot adequately express my gratitude for his invaluable Report. I would especially direct the reader's attention to the evidence, which is suggested by the analysis, of the extensive use at Mycenæ of what is probably native gold,—to that use of gold largely alloyed with silver which, when carried somewhat further, produced the well-known electrum, of which I found several goblets in the ruins of prehistoric Troy,—and to the new light thrown on the question of the Homeric χαλκός (so largely discussed by Mr. Gladstone) by the proof that both copper and bronze were in use in the heroic age of Mycenæ, but that the weapons (and some of the vases) were of bronze, while the domestic utensils, such as kettles, were of copper. Thus the metal of a sword from one of the royal sepulchres contains a little more than 86 per cent. of copper and above 13 per cent. of tin, and that of a vase-handle contains nearly 90 per cent. of copper and above 10 of tin; whereas that of a kettle contains 98·47 per cent. of copper, and a mere trace of tin. I would remind the reader that of the Trojan bronze battle-axes the one contained only 4 per cent., the second 8 per cent., and the third about 9 per cent. of tin.[410]
The course taken by Dr. Percy to effect the analysis is described in the following letter with which he has favoured me:—
DEAR DR. SCHLIEMANN, London, August 10, 1877.
I have now the pleasure of communicating to you the results of the examination of the various specimens of metal which you placed in my hands for that purpose. A considerable time and very great care have been required to complete this work; and I must ask you to be so good as to state that the analytical investigation, with two exceptions, has been wholly conducted by my able assistant, Mr. Richard Smith, in the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Royal School of Mines, London. Mr. Smith, I can assure you, has laboured most earnestly and heartily in this investigation; and whatever credit there may be is due to him. Some of the results are, I think, both novel and important, in a metallurgical as well as archæological point of view.
I remain, yours very truly,
JOHN PERCY, M.D., F.R.S.
Lecturer on Metallurgy at the Royal
School of Mines, London, &c.Dr. SCHLIEMANN.