Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ascended to the throne of ancient Egypt around 1350 BCE, was considered a revolutionary ruler. He broke with the classical polytheistic religion of his time, persecuting its followers and destroying its cult sites. In his kingdom Akhenaten established the worship of the sun god Aten. In Aten’s honor, Akhenaten established the city of Akhetaten, about 320 kilometers south of present-day Cairo. It was intended to serve as the new capital of the kingdom. Anna Hodgkinson, a researcher at the Institute of Egyptology at Freie Universität Berlin, points out that within a few years, Egyptian craftsmanship began to flourish in Akhenaten. She says that during the New Kingdom, there was a veritable explosion of color. Everything became colorful, from jewelry and artwork to houses and religious sites.

Investigating Techniques of Ancient Artisans

Many of the impressive cultural artifacts that were handed down to us from ancient Egypt date from this period. One famous example is the bust of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s wife, which is on display in the Neues Museum in Berlin. The bust was discovered in 1912 during an excavation campaign led by the German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt in Amarna, the present-day name of the excavation area around Akhenaten’s former capital.

According to Hodgkinson, the artisans of ancient Egypt were unique in their level of skill and they were highly motivated. She explains, “During this period various high-temperature technologies such as the production of copper alloys, glass, faience, and artificial pigments, reached a new peak. They used special techniques that, even today, we do not understand how they functioned.”

Hodgkinson and her colleague Frederik Rademakers from the British Museum in London are leading a team of researchers in a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) entitled “Craft Interactions in a New Kingdom Industrial Landscape (Egypt, 1550 – 1069 BCE).” In particular, they are investigating how the various high-temperature technologies of the period were intertwined. They hope to gain a better understanding of the techniques and diverse working relationships.

Hodgkinson says, “Our main goal is to understand how copper and copper alloys were used. Back then those materials were used as a pigment for faience, glass, and Egyptian blue.”

The production of Egyptian faience, a type of quartz ceramic material, began in Egypt as early as 4500 BCE. Presumably, the artisans used the materials they found locally. First they mixed quartz or sand with limestone and plant ash in water to form a paste. Then they added metallic pigments such as copper. Stephanie Boonstra, an Egyptologist at Freie Universität Berlin who is also involved in the project, describes the process. She says, “Before the mixture was dried and fired in a kiln, it had the consistency of toothpaste. We still do not know how the artisans of that time managed to create such complex works of art from it.”

Glass is made of the same materials as faience, or glazed earthenware. Hodgkinson explains that the researchers think glass was first made unintentionally, when the faience was fired at excessively high temperatures. Intentional glass production began in the New Kingdom.

The City of Akhetaten Existed Only Twenty Years

In Amarna colorful works of art such as vessels, inlays, tiles, and jewelry were created from faience and glass. They shape our image of ancient Egypt to this day. Yet, just twenty years after Akhetaten was founded, the city was gradually abandoned. Boonstra says that scholars still do not know what happened. However, it is certain that within a few years after Akhenaten’s death, the city ceased to function as the capital, and soon thereafter it was used as a quarry.

Ironically, because of the rapid decline of Amarna, researchers find excellent conditions there. Hodgkinson says, “It appears that many people left the city in a hurry – almost as though they expected to be right back, which is just how we found it.” In addition to the remains of the kilns, many objects from everyday production can still be found there. Besides tools such as tweezers or melting pots, there are defective products or trash, and sometimes even raw materials.

For 2026 Hodgkinson and Boonstra are planning new excavations at a workshop that was first uncovered in 1921, but which has remained almost entirely undocumented. According to the excavation diary of archaeologist Angelo George Kirby Hayter, faience, glass, and agate were processed there. Hodgkinson says that the archaeologists intend to excavate the site very carefully and document each find individually. That way they expect to be able to reinterpret the finds completely.

Appreciation for Artisans?

Within the project, in addition to the excavations, researchers will reexamine holdings from collections in Great Britain and Germany. They will use portable X-ray fluorescence analysis to determine the general composition of a large number of objects.

Hodgkinson says that the researchers intend to primarily examine copper and other metals such as cobalt and lead antimonate, which were used as dyes. Using a scanning electron microscope, they will then look closely to see where exactly the materials are distributed in the individual objects. With the use of mass spectrometry and isotope analyses, they expect to gain information about the origins of the objects. In these processes, they heat small samples to several thousand degrees, which allows the scientists to precisely detect even the tiniest traces of elements.

Hodgkinson notes that artisans in ancient Egypt seemingly received little praise. In surviving texts they were sometimes caricatured as poor, sad figures. She and her colleagues, however, disagree with this interpretation. She says, “We are convinced that they were active members of Egyptian society who maintained diverse and complex networks in and around Amarna. We are convinced that is the only way that it would have been possible for them to create works that still captivate us more than 3,000 years later.”

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This article originally appeared in German in the Tagesspiegel newspaper supplement published by Freie Universität Berlin on November 29 , 2025.