French researchers have unearthed disturbing artifacts in Egypt's Eastern Desert: iron shackles that were once used to chain ...

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.

But the use of forced labour at the site is suggested by other artefacts: two sets of iron shackles. The restraints were also alluded to in texts by the second-century BC writer Agatharchides ...

More information: Bérangère Redon, Iron shackles from the Ptolemaic gold mines of Ghozza (Egypt, Eastern Desert), Antiquity (2025). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2025.39 Journal information: Antiquity ...

A complete set of iron shackles found at the Ghozza mine in Egypt. | Credit: Bérangère Redon / French Archaeological Mission at the Eastern Desert; Antiquity Publications Ltd. Two sets of iron ...

There, archaeologists found two sets of iron shackles, Redon said. Photos show the metal artifacts during excavations and after being cleaned. One set of ancient metal shackles found at Ghozza.

In 2023, a team of archaeologists from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, led by historian Bérangère Redon, found iron shackles during excavations in Ghozza, a mining settlement in ...