scientists look through ancient egyptian paintings

Beautiful details are hidden under ancient Egyptian paintings. These have now been discovered using a new device that can analyze images layer by layer.

With this so-called portable chemical imager, the scientists studied two king portraits, which are in the burial chapels of the famous temple complex of Thebes near the Nile, today known as Luxor. Both paintings date from the Ramesside period, when 19th and 20th dynasty pharaohs ruled Egypt.

On the first board researchers have minor arm position changes discovered during painting, but it is unclear why this was done. In the second painting, a portrait of Ramses II, numerous other adjustments were found in the underlying layers of paint. For example, the shape of the crown and other royal objects changed shape very often. This was probably done because the drawn symbols took on a different meaning over time.

On-site analyzes
Researcher Philippe Martinez from Paris Sorbonne University talks to Scientias.nl explains that these kinds of adjustments to ancient art are rare and therefore this discovery is very special. It is still unclear what the reasons for the adjustments are and how much time has passed between the various paint jobs. Further research could provide answers to these questions. Portable chemical imaging technology is in any case ideal for analyzing Egyptian paintings on site and will be used much more often in the future.

“Several years ago, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities banned the (temporary) collection of samples abroad, no matter how small,” says Martinez. “It’s an understandable decision in a country where a lot of historical heritage is still looted, but the new law makes our job much more difficult. We have now managed to develop a portable device in our laboratory with which we can carry out the analyzes on site in Egypt, although it is not as detailed as in the laboratory. The portable chemical imager takes nothing away from the technique. The technology works on the basis of different wavelengths of light – it can be UV, infrared or X-rays – which partly reflect and with which specific molecules in the substrates can be identified”, explains the researcher.

Beauty and divine perfection
The scientists decided to start studying the well-known portraits with the new technique. “We have analyzed two paintings and thus we are learning more and more about the mysterious ancient Egyptians, their customs, the norms and values ​​of their society over the years. What was the role of this kind of art in the Ramesside period? As far as we know, they didn’t have a word for “art”. For them, it was a kind of expression of “nefer”, which can be translated as “beauty”, but also as “divine perfection”. These types of artifacts – whether statues, paintings, stone reliefs, or wooden dolls – held deeper significance in Osiris’ quest for eternal life and transition to the underworld. . Although the elite of the ancient Egyptians certainly also had an earthly pleasure and desire in looking at the artifacts,” says Martinez.

Philosophical reflections
A moment alone in the dimly lit and stuffy temple complex opened the eyes of the Egyptologist. “I have visited some of these graves several times over the years. I spoke about it at conferences, at home and on the spot. I thought I knew the content like the back of my hand, but when we started this multidisciplinary project, something changed in me. Each of my colleagues looked at the paintings with different eyes, we talked about it together, and I decided to be completely alone in the painted chapel for a while. In the hot, humid, dimly lit, silent tomb, I began to look at walls and ancient creations very differently. Eventually I understood that everything is much more complex than what has been written about this art in the past. Unfiltered reality goes hand in hand with unfiltered imaging technology,” Martinez said.

The scientist wants to investigate many other paintings. “The discoveries we have made in the temple complex of Thebes necessitate a complete and systematic inspection of all the paintings of the ancient Egyptians. The portable chemical imager, which we have used with great success in this study, is crucial for understanding the physico-chemical background of ART.