Disclosing Colors and Pigments on Archaeological Objects from the Aga Khan Necropolis (West Aswan Egypt) through On-Site Analytical Methods: Preliminary Results
Paola Fermo,
Chiara Andrea Lombardi,
Alfonsina D’Amato,
Vittoria Guglielmi,
Benedetta Giudici,
Alice Tomaino,
Massimiliana Pozzi,
Valeria Comite,
Andrea Bergomi,
Lorenzo Guardiano,
Patrizia Piacentini
Affiliations
Paola Fermo
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy
Chiara Andrea Lombardi
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy
Alfonsina D’Amato
Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 25, 20133 Milano, Italy
Vittoria Guglielmi
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy
Benedetta Giudici
Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Filologici e Linguistici, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano, Italy
Alice Tomaino
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
Massimiliana Pozzi
SCA-Società Cooperativa Archeologica, Via Melzi D’Eril 7, 20154 Milano, Italy
Valeria Comite
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy
Andrea Bergomi
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy
Lorenzo Guardiano
Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Filologici e Linguistici, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano, Italy
Patrizia Piacentini
Dipartimento di Studi Letterari, Filologici e Linguistici, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano, Italy
The present study is aimed at the characterization of artifacts excavated in the necropolis surrounding the mausoleum of the Aga Khan in Aswan (Egypt), as part of the Mummies Investigations Anthropological & Scientific West Aswan Necropolis (MIASWAN) project. Four cartonnages and some pottery shards were investigated on-site by means of non-destructive and micro-destructive techniques, such as attenuated total reflection/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR/FTIR) and visible reflectance spectroscopy Vis-RS). Thanks to the use of these techniques, several pigments employed in the creation of the artifacts were identified. Due to the impossibility of transporting the investigated objects out of Egypt, a first-ever on-site characterization of the artifacts from this important excavation was carried out through scientific methodologies. These extreme conditions made the use of analytical instrumentation very challenging. Nevertheless, several characteristic pigments and hues were successfully identified.
