ChemEng Culture: From Hieroglyphics to Hydraulics

Trustees of the British Museum

The latest art history exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK is a fascinating look at ancient Egyptian craftwork – and explores how their spiritual beliefs helped develop some of the most fundamental principles of chemical engineering, writes Sam Baker

A NEW exhibition on ancient Egyptian art has enjoyed glowing reviews across the UK’s national press. But Made in Ancient Egypt at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is about far more than art history. It offers a rich and surprising journey into the materials, processes and technical ingenuity of one of the world’s earliest engineering cultures – making it a compelling visit for anyone interested in the fundamentals of chemical engineering.

On the face of it, Made in Ancient Egypt is a collection of familiar artefacts excavated along the Nile more than a century ago and now housed in collections worldwide. Without guidance, many of us couldn’t distinguish one gleaming sarcophagus from another, beautiful as they may be.

The novelty here lies in research undertaken at the University of Cambridge – the Fitzwilliam Museum’s owner – that uncovers the methods behind their manufacture and the identities of the craftspeople who made them.

Spread across three galleries, the display provides a glimpse into the techniques used in the ancient society to craft everything from clay sculptures to ceramic jewellery. What we find is that the collection of artefacts, some from over 7,000 years ago, were made using techniques remarkably similar to the processes used in modern-day engineering.

Perhaps the most well-known example of ancient chemical engineering is Egyptian blue – thought to be the world’s first synthetic pigment. Made by firing limestone, quartz, sand, natron and copper in kilns reaching 1,000C, sometimes for over 100 hours, the pigment allowed craftsmen to artificially add a striking blue colour to their work. That some artefacts here, including a piece of ceremonial doorway and little balls of the pigment stuck to a piece of kiln wall, date back 2,000 years is testament to the durability of Egyptian blue. Its frequent use in coffins and tombs, meanwhile, underscores the ancient Egyptians’ strong belief in eternity and the afterlife.

The exhibition draws further parallels between ancient craft and modern engineering. Craftsmen employed heat specialists called hemut who were experts at working with fire and were responsible for glassblowing and firing pottery in kilns. Economics was also important: we see how the Egyptians batch-produced ceramic amulets out of faience in open moulds. By mass-producing the amulets, which were wrapped around mummified bodies to protect the soul, craftsmen reduced costs and made the ritual accessible to less wealthy Egyptians.

Material innovation is another recurring theme. Bronze artefacts dating back nearly 5,000 years demonstrate how the Egyptians learned to enhance mechanical properties by alloying metals. They likely first encountered copper-arsenic composites in nature, later refining the process by intentionally doping copper with tin to produce bronze for sculptures, tools and weapons. This deliberate manipulation of material properties marks a significant technological step.