Shackles Found in Egyptian Gold Mine Reveal the Human Toll of Ancient Wealth

In the second century BCE, Greek historian and geographer Agatharchides wrote about the severe working conditions of the criminals and prisoners of war who toiled in ancient Egyptian gold mines: “And those who have been condemned in this way—and they are of a great multitude and all have their feet bound—work at their tasks unceasingly both by day and throughout the entire night.” Archaeologists have discovered rare iron shackles that would have been used to bind the feet of workers, as described in Agatharchides’ text, in the ancient Egyptian gold mine of Ghozza. The artifacts highlight the harsh conditions of gold mine workers in ancient Egypt during the second half of the third century BCE, despite the site previously showing little evidence of forced labor. Bérangère Redon, an archaeologist at the History and Sources of the Ancient Worlds laboratory in France, detailed these findings in a study published mid-March in the journal Antiquity. Though mining in ancient Egypt dates bac ... Read full article.