Identification of materials used in a wooden coffin lid covered with composite layers dating back to the Ptolemaic period in Egypt

Nour Mohamed Badr; Mona Fouad Ali; Nesrin M. N. El Hadidi; Gamal Abdel Naeem

doi:10.14568/cp2017029

Authors

Nour Mohamed Badr Conservation Centre, Grand Egyptian Museum, Ministry of Antiquities, El Mathf Elmasry ElKebir (Grand Egyptian Museum) St., El-Remaya Sq., 12572 Giza, Egypt https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4228-4497
Mona Fouad Ali Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, 12613 Giza, Egypt
Nesrin M. N. El Hadidi Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, 12613 Giza, Egypt
Gamal Abdel Naeem Department Advanced Technologies – Scientific Research, 21934 Burj Al Arab, Alexandria, Egypt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14568/cp2017029

Keywords:

Wooden coffin, Abusir El-Meleq, Ptolemaic period, Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Pigments, Binding media

Abstract

A wooden coffin lid, of unknown provenance, with ground and colored layers and an ancient textile, was found at the Egyptian Museum basement in Cairo (JE 36806). The information obtained leads to the conclusion that the coffin lid dates back to the Ptolemaic period in Egypt (332-30 BC), whereas the textile does not belong to the coffin lid. Portable x-ray radiography, photography, optical microscopy, reflected light USB microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy were used to assess the deterioration and the structure of the coffin lid and to understand how it was made in the necropolis workshop.

Received: 2017-6-2
Revised: 2017-10-29
Accepted: 2017-11-30
Online: 2018-2-1
Publication: 2018-9-29

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