The source of Egypt’s copper supply during the Third Intermediate Period (1070–664 BCE) is largely unknown. Here we present new data from chemical (elemental) and lead isotope (LI) analysis of royal Egyptian artifacts of the 21st Dynasty (ca. 1010 BCE) – a period which until now was represented in the LI record only by a single artifact. Our finds identify the source of the copper in the Arabah region providing a basis for our historical reconstruction of the copper exchange network in the southern Levant at the turn of the first millennium BCE. We also analyzed two objects from the 24th and 25th Dynasties (8th c. BCE), which revealed a marked change in Egyptian copper metallurgy in both the composition (from Cu with traces of Sn to leaded copper with traces of As) and the supply chain (the Arabah ores are excluded). As the sampling involved museum artifacts, we performed X-ray imaging as a means to avoid sampling of any later metallic modifications and ensure the correct sampling process.

第三中间时期（公元前 1070-664 年）埃及铜供应的来源在很大程度上是未知的。在这里，我们展示了来自第 21 王朝（约公元前 1010 年）埃及皇家文物的化学（元素）和铅同位素 (LI) 分析的新数据——这一时期在 LI 记录中至今仅由一件文物代表。我们的发现确定了阿拉巴地区铜的来源，为我们在公元前第一个千年之交重建黎凡特南部的铜交换网络的历史提供了基础。我们还分析了 24 和 25 王朝（公元前 8 世纪）的两个物体，这揭示了埃及铜冶金在成分（从含有痕量锡的铜到含有痕量砷的含铅铜）和供应链方面的显着变化（不包括阿拉巴矿石）。