
These 2,200 -year -old shackles reveal the dark side of the old gold mines of Egypt
Iron shackles on the floor of room 44.15. Credit: B. Redon, Antique (2025). At the edge of the vast oriental desert of Egypt, archaeologists have discovered disturbing evidence of an ancient dark history: oxidized iron shackles. It is a chilling vision of the brutal conditions suffered by the miners during Egypt’s gold fever under the…