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Scent of the Afterlife in Ancient Egyptian Mummification Balms

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In an innovative endeavor to create a sensory bridge to the ancient past, a team of researchers has recreated one of the scents used in the mummification of an important Egyptian woman more than 3500 years ago.

Coined ‘the scent of eternity’, the ancient aroma will be presented at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark in an upcoming exhibition, offering visitors a unique sensory experience: to encounter firsthand an ambient smell from antiquity – and catch a whiff of the ancient Egyptian process of mummification.
The team’s research centered on the mummification substances used to embalm the noble lady Senetnay in the 18th dynasty, circa 1450 BCE. The researchers utilized advanced analytical techniques – including Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, High-Temperature Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, and Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry – to reconstruct the substances that helped to preserve and scent Senetnay for eternity.

“We analyzed balm residues found in two canopic jars from the mummification equipment of Senetnay that were excavated over a century ago by Howard Carter from Tomb KV42 in the Valley of the Kings,” says researcher Barbarra Huber. Today, the jars are housed in the Museum August Kestner in Hannover, Germany. The team found that the balms contained a blend of beeswax, plant oil, fats, bitumen, Pinaceae resins (most likely larch resin), a balsamic substance, and dammar or Pistacia tree resin.



Among those imported ingredients were larch tree resin, which likely came from the northern Mediterranean, and possibly dammars, which come exclusively from trees in Southeast Asian tropical forests. If the presence of dammar resin is confirmed, as in balms recently identified from Saqqara dating to the 1st millennium BCE, it would suggest that the ancient Egyptians had access to this Southeast Asian resin via long-distant trade almost a millennium earlier than previously known.

AR #69

Lincoln and the Afterlife

by Susan Martinez, Ph.D.

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Tracking Lost Ancient Trade Routes with Gemstones

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Since ancient times, gemstones have been mined and traded across the globe, sometimes traveling continents from their origin. Gems are geologically defined as minerals celebrated for beauty, strength, and rarity. Their unique elemental composition and atomic orientation act as a fingerprint, enabling researchers to uncover the stones’ past, and with it, historical trade routes.

In new research published in AIP Advances, researcher explain how they employed three modern spectroscopic techniques to rapidly analyze gems found in the Arabian-Nubian Shield and compare them with similar gems from around the world (https://pubs.aip.org/aip/adv/article/13/8/085023/2907404/Thermodynamics-of-mechanopeptide-sidechains?searchresult=1). Using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, the authors identified elements that influence gems’ color, differentiated stones found within and outside the region, and distinguished natural from synthetic.


The Arabian-Nubian Shield is an exposure of mineral deposits that sandwiches the Red Sea in current-day Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The deposits date back to the Earth’s earliest geological age, and the precious metals and gemstones have been harvested for thousands of years.

“We showed the main spectroscopic characteristics of gemstones from these Middle East localities to distinguish them from their counterparts in other world localities,” said author Adel Surour. “This includes a variety of silicate gems such as emerald from the ancient Cleopatra’s mines in Egypt, in addition to amethyst, peridot, and amazonite from other historical sites, which mostly date to the Roman times.”

The various spectroscopic techniques they employed revealed different information about the stones. LIBS quickly characterizes chemical composition, while FTIR determines functional groups connected to the structure and indicates the presence of water and other hydrocarbons. Even for chemically identical materials, Raman spectroscopy shows the unique crystalline structure of the gems’ atoms.

The authors identified that iron content correlates to amethysts’ signature purple hue, and other elements such as copper, chromium, and vanadium are also responsible for colorization. A signature water peak exposes lab-grown synthetic gems, which are useful for scientific purposes and identical to natural gems but are less expensive.
Crystalline structure differentiated amazonite beads from Mexico, Jordan, and Egypt.

“Gemstones such as emerald and peridot have been mined since antiquity,” Surour said. “Sometimes, some gemstones were brought by sailors and traders to their homelands. For example, royal crowns in Europe are decorated with peculiar gemstones that originate from either Africa or Asia. We need to have precise methods to distinguish the source of a gemstone and trace ancient trade routes in order to have correct information about the original place from which it was mined.”

AR #71

Enigma of the Crystal Skulls

by David H. Childress

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Ancient Plans for Mysterious Desert Mega Structures

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Although human constructions have modified natural spaces for millennia, few plans or maps predate the period of the literate civilizations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Researchers have now been able to identify engravings in Jordan and Saudi Arabia as the oldest known true-to-scale construction plans in human history. The 8,000 to 9,000-year-old engravings depict so-called desert dragons—kilometer long prehistoric megastructures used to trap animals.

Researchers from the French research organization “Centre national de la recherche scientifique” (CNRS), together with Prof. Dr. Frank Preusser from the University of Freiburg, have now been able to identify engravings in Jordan and Saudi Arabia as the oldest known true-to-scale construction plans in human history. “Conclusions can be drawn from the findings about the people of the time. The ability to transfer a large space to a small, two-dimensional plan represents a milestone in intelligent behavior,” explains Preusser. The results, which were published in mid-May in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, should help to understand how desert dragons were conceived and built.

Both finds are representations of nearby desert dragons engraved with stone tools. First sighted from aircrafts in the 1920s, desert dragons, up to five kilometers long, consist of stone walls that converge in a complex bounded by pits. As archaeologists have been able to determine in recent years, they were used for large-scale trapping of wild animals. In Jordan, there are eight desert dragons in the area of Jibal al-Khasabiyeh. There, the researchers found a depiction engraved in stone that measures 80 by 32 cm, its age is about 9,000 years. At Jebel az-Zilliyat in Saudi Arabia, two visible pairs of dragons are found three and a half kilometres apart. Here, too, a scaled engraving dating back about 8,000 years was discovered with a total length of 382 cm and a width of 235 cm.

Plans of large structures have so far only been attested by rough representations, in stark contrast to the precision of the engravings of al-Khashabiyeh and az-Zilliyat. The question of their exact use and how they were implemented, especially due to the difficulty of grasping the entire complex from the ground, remains for the time being the secret of the people by whom they were created.

AR #109

Once Upon a Time in Inner Space

by Martin Ruggles

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Archaeologists Find Bird Sacrifices by Ancient Romans to Goddess Isis

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An archaeologist and a biologist have found evidence of birds being sacrificed to the goddess Isis in the excavated ruins of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii. In their study, reported in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Chiara Assunta Corbino and Beatrice Demarchi studied frescos found at the ancient site revealing the role birds played in ritual banquets. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/oa.3224)

The goddess Isis was first worshiped by people in ancient Egypt. Myths from the time suggest she resurrected her husband and slain brother and thus came to be known as a goddess who helped the dead enter the afterlife. Worship of Isis spread to ancient Greece, where the name meant “great mother,” and eventually to Italy and the rest of the Roman Empire.

During this latter time, belief in Isis became a cult-like obsession in which she was worshiped as part of ritual celebrations. Corbino and Demarchi suggest that such rituals were likely performed by priests. They believe they have found evidence of such rituals in frescos on the walls of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii.

Prior research has found that the Temple of Isis was mostly destroyed during an earthquake sometime around A.D. 62. Imagery in the frescos suggest they were added after the earthquake as part of renovations. The researchers found depictions of rituals involving birds. Thus far, they have found evidence of geese, turtle doves, chickens and ibises, along with pigs and various sea creatures. This new finding, the researchers suggest, adds more evidence to theories that birds were used in Isis worship rituals in other places.

The researchers note that the find is significant because such rituals were conducted in private; thus, little evidence of them have been found. The Isis frescos are the first to have been found in Italy. The researchers also note that the birds were charred, suggesting that the people conducting the rituals had eaten them—likely as part of a banquet similar to some of those shown in the frescos.

Many centuries before the Roman empire, Akhenaten—1373-1337 BCE—made history as Egypt’s “heretic Pharaoh.” Along with his wife, co-ruler, Nefertiti, Akhenaten completely changed most aspects of Egyptian religion, abandoning traditional polytheism and introducing the world’s first monotheism. Under his direction, workmen created a new city, ‘Amarna,’ from scratch. Akhenaten also introduced a new art style upsetting the traditional artistic conventions that he had inherited.

In much of Amarna art, the king and his family, as well as their staff, were depicted in a strange exaggerated physical form bordering on androgyny and even femininity. Features included: elongated head, almond-shaped eyes, protruding jaw, fleshy lips, serpentine neck, narrow shoulders, enlarged breasts, protruding belly and buttocks, wide hips, spindly arms and legs with bulging upper thighs, flat feet, spider-like fingers and toes, knee-joints that bend the opposite way, and even the rare absence of genitalia.

A virtually infinite array of explanations have been proposed for these bizarre features, but which, remain unsatisfactorily explained. Interpretations run the gamut from purely physical to purely symbolic. But writer Jonathon Perrin believes Akhenaten’s strange appearance, may have had nothing to do with his actual physical appearance, and more to do with birds.

In an article for Atlantis Rising Magazine, Perrin explains that Akhenaten had a great fondness for birds, having them painted all over his city in scenes of bucolic marshland bliss, and even keeping them in special areas of his city, primarily in the lush garden palaces. Besides being a common motif in quixotic Amarna art, where they, along with oxen, wine and flowers, were a daily sacrifice to the sungod Aten.

Birds, says Perrin, formed a key part of Akhenaten’s new religious ideology. During the first few years of his rule, Akhenaten worshipped all the gods of Egypt, but favored Ra-Horakhty, the syncretistic solar deity of Ra and Horus.
An ancient symbol, going back to the Old Kingdom, the akh bird was also very important to the king. The northern bald ibis was used in hieroglyphs to depict the akh, which was the highest form of soul a person could attain in the afterlife, a shining immortal spirit.

The case can be made that when he changed his name to Akhenaten, the king had taken on the very spirit of the Akh bird, and that he wished to imbue himself with the essence of the northern bald ibis bird (who symbolized “effectiveness”, “righteousness”, and “radiance”). If the akh was depicted as a bird, it makes sense that the king may have been adopting the physical attributes of the bird itself, to greater glorify his father and signify his own immortality.

Another bird important to Akhenaten was the immortal Bennu Bird of Heliopolis. Researcher Andrew Collins has noted that the akh shining spirit was bound up with the Heliopolitan creation myth of the bennu bird, or grey heron. When Ra first appeared over the formless void of Nun, he cast his light upon the primeval mound that emerged from the waters. This mound was called the benben stone, and on it landed the bennu bird, which was the “soul”, or Ba, of Ra. The bennu bird was immortal, and formed the template for the later Greek Phoenix bird of resurrection.

AR #128

The Bird King

by Jonathon Perrin

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Hidden Corridor in Great Pyramid

Egyptologists Investigate New Discoveries

A hidden corridor, 30 feet long, has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, say officials of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.

The discovery within the Pyramid, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, was made under the Scan Pyramids project that, since 2015, has been using non-invasive technology including infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic-ray imaging to peer inside the structure.
An article published in the journal, Nature, in February said the discovery could contribute to knowledge about the construction of the Pyramid and the purpose of a gabled limestone structure that sits in front of the corridor. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36351-0)

According to orthodox Egyptology, the Great Pyramid was constructed as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC, during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops. Built to a height of 146 meters (479 feet), it now stands at 139 meters and was the tallest structure made by humans, until the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889.

The unfinished corridor, it is asserted, was likely created to redistribute the Pyramid’s weight around either the main entrance, now used by tourists, about 20 feet away, or around another as yet undiscovered chamber or space, said Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
“We’re going to continue our scanning so we will see what we can do … to figure out what we can find out beneath it, or just by the end of this corridor,” he told reporters, after a press conference in front of the Pyramid.

Five rooms atop the king’s burial chamber in another part of the Pyramid are also thought to have been built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure. It was possible the Pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, Waziri added.

Scientists detected the corridor through cosmic-ray muon radiography, before retrieving images of it by feeding a 6mm-thick endoscope from Japan through a tiny joint in the pyramid’s stones.

In 2017, Scan Pyramids researchers announced the discovery of a void, at least 30 meters long, inside the Great Pyramid, the first major inner structure found since the 19th century.

According to William Brown, an American Civil Engineer who worked extensively with a Polish Research Team, at least 7 such ‘anomaly’ tomb-like features had been found within the limits of Giza plateau before the Scan Pyramid project, but had not been reported.

AR #75

Giza Underground

by Phillip Coppens

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Enormous and Complete Egyptian Book-of-the-Dead Papyrus Found

by Becky Ferreira

An Egyptian archaeologist has uncovered a first-in-a-century find in Saqqara: A 16-meter-long papyrus scroll containing texts from the Book of the Dead, the Egypt Independent reported, citing an announcement made last Monday by Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mostafa Waziri.

The papyrus scroll was fully restored and translated at Tahrir’s Egyptian Museum and has been named the Waziri Papyrus, Waziri revealed in an Egyptian Archaeologists’ Day ceremony, the Egypt Independent reported.

The Book of the Dead is a funerary text believed to date back from the beginning of Egypt’s New Kingdom era. 

Despite an ominous-sounding name, the book is hardly anything of the sort. Rather, it was simply instructions for funerals and for how to best help a deceased Egyptian travel to the underworld and into the afterlife. 

The Book of the Dead was not a specific singular book. Rather, there were several different papyri upon which the Book of the Dead was written, after which it would be placed in the coffin or burial chamber. This is why they were actually commissioned in advance.

Since there was no single Book of the Dead and no specific canon for it, the exact details varied, with different “spells” having been included, with just under 200 spells thought to have been known, each varying between individual papyri. 

The most famous spells – which are not necessarily magical acts performed by an individual but are more or less equivalent and interchangeable with the word “chapter,” complicated further by the blurred line between where the ritualistic words end and outright magical incantations begin in ancient Egypt – relate to the Weighing of the Heart, when the deceased’s heart would be weighed against the goddess of truth and justice, Maat (symbolized by an ostrich feather) to see if they would be judged to have lived a good life and could enter the afterlife. 

Original Jerusalem Post article with graphics and captions
https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-729263

AR #79

Wallace Budge Gets the Last Word

by Laird Scranton

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Hidden passage discovered in Great Pyramid of Giza

Egyptian and international scientists have been scanning the famous edifice using 3D-imaging technique since 2015

During an unveiling ceremony held at the Giza plateau on March 2, Egypt’s tourism minister announced the discovery of a passageway inside the Great Pyramid of Giza.

This previously unknown corridor, measuring nine meters in length and 2.1 meters wide, was uncovered by the ‘ScanPyramids’ project, a team of heritage experts from Cairo University and the French Heritage Innovation. The project, which began its work on the Great Pyramid in 2015, utilizes muon tomography to produce accurate 3D imaging. In 2016, the team announced the discovery of a void inside the pyramid, followed by the ScanPyramids “Big Void” in 2017. The Big Void was discussed in depth by geologist Dr. Robert Schoch in an article for Atlantis Rising Magazine (#128) and republished in 2018 in the AR Special issue, The Quest for Lost Ancient Secrets

The passageway was most likely constructed to relieve the weight of the pyramid on the main entrance hall or a yet-to-be-discovered chamber, according to Dr. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. Attending the ceremony was the notorious Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Eissa, and a delegation of scientists from the mission. The ScanPyramids project plans to continue exploring the Great Pyramid.

Picture and caption:https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/2023/03/02/hidden-passage-discovered-in-great-pyramid-of-giza/

An imaging robot used in the unearthing of a corridor inside the Great Pyramid. Photo: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
An imaging robot used in the unearthing of a corridor inside the Great Pyramid. Photo: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

AR #128

THE BIG VOID

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Smallpox: Curse Since Ancient Egypt?

Smallpox was once one of humanity’s most devastating diseases, but its origin is shrouded in mystery. For years, scientific estimates of when the smallpox virus first emerged have been at odds with historical records. Now, a new study reveals that the virus dates back 2,000 years further than scientists have previously shown, verifying historical sources and confirming for the first time that the disease has plagued human societies since ancient times.

The paper appears in the journal Microbial Genomics, published by the Microbiology Society.
Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, is perhaps best known for being the only infectious human disease to be eradicated worldwide. But the disease was a major cause of death until relatively recently, killing at least 300 million people in the 20th century. This is roughly the equivalent of the population of the United States.
Until relatively recently, the earliest genetic evidence for smallpox was only from the 1600s. Then in 2020, a study that sampled skeletal and dental remains of Viking-age skeletons recovered multiple strains of variola and confirmed the virus’ existence at least another 1,000 years earlier.

However, some historians believe that smallpox has been around since long before the Vikings. Suspicious scarring on ancient Egyptian mummies (including the Pharoah Ramses V who died in 1157 BC) leads some to believe that the history of smallpox stretches back at least 3,000 years. So far, the missing piece of scientific evidence to support this theory has remained hidden.

By comparing the genomes of modern and historic strains of variola virus, researchers at the Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea and University of Milan in Italy have traced the evolution of the virus back in time. They found that different strains of smallpox all descended from a single common ancestor and that a small fraction of the genetic components found in Viking-age genomes had persisted until the 18th century.

They also worked out an estimate for when the virus originated. In their estimate, the researchers accounted for something called the ‘time-dependent rate phenomenon’. This means that the speed of evolution depends on the length of time over which it is being measured, so viruses appear to change more quickly over a short timeframe and more slowly over a longer timeframe. The phenomenon has been well-documented in DNA viruses like variola.
Using a mathematical equation, scientists can account for the time-dependent rate phenomenon to give more accurate dates for evolutionary events, such as the appearance of a new virus. This gave the team a new estimate for the first emergence of smallpox: more than 3,800 years ago. Just as historians have long suspected.

The researchers hope these findings will settle a longstanding controversy and provide new insight into the history of one of humanity’s deadliest diseases.

Picture and caption:
https://microbiologysociety.org/news/press-releases/smallpox-has-plagued-humans-since-ancient-egyptian-times-new-evidence-confirms.html
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10.1099/mgen.0.000932

AR #86

Mystery of the Montauk Monster

by Steven Sora

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Enigma of the Long Skulls

Societies around the world portray distinct characteristics that define the language spoken, and the customs and traditions that are passed from generation to generation, each of these can provide insights into a cultural group. There are, however, a number of universal customs that are practiced on each continent around the globe. They include circumcision, death and burial rituals, and cranial deformation. These traditions originated in our remote past, their purpose and meaning seemingly lost to the sands of time.

It was once believed that head modifications developed in Egypt and then spread around the world. Researchers have concluded that this phenomenon was not isolated to one geographic area and then disseminated out into the surrounding areas. Instead, this bizarre hallmark of ancient societies sprang up around the world in different cultural groups independently. Many have come to believe it to be an inherent step in the evolution of a group’s culture.

Cranial deformation is a distinct and painful tradition. The objective of cranial deformation is to elongate the shape of the head. This procedure, once performed, cannot be reversed. More importantly, individuals who have had the procedure performed, unlike circumcision, cannot conceal it. It is a permanent visible marker that identifies not only a cultural group but also select individuals within that society. When a child is born, the infant’s head is fashioned or molded into a unique long and slender shape. The simplest method a caregiver employed was to put pressure on, or gently massage, the child’s head daily until the desired shape was achieved. The second method constrained the child’s head in a mechanical device, which, over time, would produce the desired elongated shape. Head modifications were always performed during infancy, when the cranial bones were still tender and pliable and the sutures between the cranial bones are unfixed. This allowed shaping or reshaping the head. But why would a mother or caregiver subject her child to such a painful and ongoing process?

Skulls displaying clear signs of cranial deformation surfaced in the archaeological record of the early Neolithic Era starting around 10,000 BCE. The practice of head modifications during the Neolithic era (prior to 5000 BCE) appears episodic. This may be due to the number of individuals whose heads were modified, or, could be tied to the limited number of remains that have been unearthed. Some of the earliest examples of elongated skulls discovered were unearthed in southeastern Australia in Coobool Creek and Kow Swamp. Remarkably, finds that date to about the same time were also found in the Shanidar Cave in Iraq. In the eastern highlands of Brazil, a skull was recovered from Confins Cave that dates back to 7566 BCE.

Starting around 5000 BCE, the tradition of skull modification appears to have expanded. This assumption is based upon the increased number of remains with elongated skulls recovered. Some researchers believe that the convention of cranial manipulation mushroomed as early hunter-gatherer societies began to coalesce into urban environments. Figurines with deformed crania also begin to appear in the archaeological record, further supporting the antiquity and distribution of this custom.

In the modern world, the tradition of cranial deformation is often associated with ancient indigenous cultures and not with advanced western civilizations. If it was practiced in the Western world, one might assume that it occurred sometime in our remote past

AR #103

Enigma of the Long Skulls

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Magical Mystery Door

Investigation of Egyptian sacred portal reveals a history of renovation and deception

by Daniel Weiss

While a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, Melanie Pitkin became interested in a particular Egyptian limestone stela held by the university’s Fitzwilliam Museum. She had been working with the Fitzwilliam Egyptian Coffins Project, during which time she and her colleagues found that the practice of recycling wood from older coffins to make new ones was much more common in ancient Egypt than previously known. Pitkin was curious as to how the practice of reusing objects translated to other materials. Her Fitzwilliam colleague, Egyptologist Helen Strudwick, encouraged her to investigate the limestone stela, also known as a false door, which had been used for the tomb of a woman named Hemi-Ra during the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2150–2030 B.C.). This was a time of political breakdown and disruption, during which control of Egypt was divided between rival power bases in Herakleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt.

False doors were intended to serve as portals that allowed the ka, or life force, of the deceased to move back and forth between the tomb and the afterlife. “Family members and priests would come to the tomb where the false door was standing and they would recite the name of the deceased and his or her achievements and leave offerings,” says Pitkin, who is now senior curator of antiquities at the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum as well as an affiliated researcher at the Fitzwilliam Museum. “The ka of the deceased would then magically travel between the burial chamber and the netherworld. It would come and collect the food, drink, and offerings from the tomb to help sustain it in the afterlife.”

 By closely examining the false door from Hemi-Ra’s tomb, which measures 32.5 inches tall by 26 inches wide, Pitkin and her colleagues could see that areas of the limestone appeared to have been smoothed and that some parts of the surface were much paler than the rest, suggesting that they had been recarved after the stela was first crafted and had not weathered to the same degree. When she looked at the door under a microscope, it became clear that it had once been painted with red ocher, most likely in an attempt to make it resemble much more expensive red granite. There was also evidence that some of the stela’s hieroglyphic text had been colored with a pigment known as Egyptian blue. However, certain parts of the door showed no sign of pigment at all. “There were no traces of red in some of the figures, but we could see red at their edges,” Pitkin says. “That was what made us really think, ‘OK, this has been tampered with.’” Her investigation ultimately revealed that Hemi-Ra’s false door was likely significantly altered not only in antiquity, but also much more recently, probably by a forger with an eye to modern sensibilities. In order to deepen their understanding of the stela, Pitkin and her colleagues attempted to re-create portions of it using periodappropriate tools, and received a crash course in the level of skill required to craft such an object—or to modify it in a way that might pass muster in the eyes of ancient Egyptians or modern connoisseurs.

Referenced article with pics and captions: https://www.archaeology.org/issues/488-2211/features/10882-egypt-stela-false-door

AR #63

Opening the Door to Sacred Geometry

by Len Kasten