Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

This paper discusses the damage of two legs from a human mummy found in Luxor dating back to the ancient Egyptian period due to improper displaying with two painted wood funerary stela in the same showcase in the Egyptian Textile Museum, Cairo. These two human legs were wrapped in partially cartonnage painted linen bandages with the stripes of the bandages decorated with prisoners in colors. One of the prisoners is Nubian, and the other belongs to Asia. The other two pieces are painted wood funerary stelas, dating back to the Third Intermediate Period, 21st Dynasty, 1075 - 945 BC, Qurna, Luxor. The different properties and characteristics of the warp textile and cartonnage have been studied. The morphology and properties of warp textile and cartonnage have been analyzed. The surface topology has been studied by SEM-EDX. The modified surfaces were characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Mechanical performance was also investigated. Mutation in tonal quantity has been specified. The type of wood in both plots was determined by ultraviolet analysis. The obtained results indicate a strong effect of the improper displaying with two pieces of wooden funerary stela in the color characteristics of the cartonnage, with a certain change in the mechanical properties of the warp textile and only slight consequences on the two human legs, which may probably increase with time. The two legs of human mummy were displayed alone in a private showcase.