A preliminary investigation of ancient pigments from the mortuary temple of Seti I, El‐Qurna (Luxor, Egypt)

Part of : Mediterranean archaeology & archaeometry : international journal ; Vol.11, No.1, 2011, pages 99-106

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Pages:
99-106
Section Title:
Articles
Author:
Abstract:
The present paper aims to apply different analytical techniques to characterize some ancient pigments from the first group of samples collected on the wall paintings of the mortuary temple of Seti I (c.1291–1278 BC), El‐Qurna (Luxor, Egypt). The analytical characterization has been carried out by means of optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X‐ray detector (EDS), μ‐Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results allowed the identification of different pigments used in the polychromatic decorations of the temple and to establish a preliminary analytical database of the chromatic palette used in this period of the Egyptian history.
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Keywords:
El‐Qurna, Mortuary temple of Seti I, Pigments, SEM−EDS, μ‐Raman, FTIR
Notes:
Corresponding author: marai79@hotmail.com, The author is grateful to Mr. S. Oikonomidis and to Mr. G. Mechailidis, School of Geology, Aristotle University for SEM study and the embedding of the cross‐sections.