MCI Project Summaries 2008 - Smithsonian Institution

MCI 5277.1 King Midas’s Textile Analysis
MCI Staff: Mary W. Ballard, Odile Madden
MCI was approached for assistance in the analysis of 11 textile samples from the
prominent Tumulus MM at Gordion, Turkey—widely considered to be King Midas’s tomb.
Despite the tomb’s pristine and methodical excavation, no gold was ever found inside it—there
was bronze, iron, and exquisite inlaid furniture, but no gold.
At first glance, the textiles were unimpressive—either degraded clumps or small
fragments in which uneven weaving and knots were hardly of regal quality. At high
magnification, the fibers were found to be hollow—with no organic material left. What
appeared as yarns seemed simply the artifact of a uniform coating, entirely hollow, as seen with
SEM/EDS, and composed of iron.
After washing off microbial debris with solvents, an organic infrared spectrum was taken.
It matched “Goethite” a gold-colored iron oxide (α- FeOOH), which in turn matched a recently
published textile study. Various innovative analytical systems were employed, unsuccessfully, to
prove the link between the Tumulus MM textiles and Goethite. The samples were subsequently
analyzed with a TerraSpec VIS/NIR spectrometer which gave a definitive peak at 760 nm, in the
near infrared, and proved the close similarity of Goethite in the Midas sample, its match to the
modern polyester-coated linen, and a known reference spectrum.
Other fragments from the tomb, once thought to be green because of their proximity to
the copper and bronze artifacts, have been proved to be composed of indigo and goethite—a
sophisticated mixing of organic and inorganic chemistry. The Lydian king buried so long ago
reigned over a kingdom filled with very capable scientists and textile technologists.
Three samples of Goethite: (1) on modern polyester (light-yellow background), (2) on
modern linen to the right, resting on the modern Polyester, and (3) 800 BC Tumulus MM
Goethite sitting on glassine envelope (M. Ballard).
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