lewis, a. et al. discuss reconstruction stone vessel. 2011

8/3/2019 Lewis, A. Et Al. Discuss Reconstruction Stone Vessel. 2011

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Inside The Conservator's Art

A behind-the-scenes look at conserving Egyptian artifacts at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum ofAnthropology

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{ 2011 03 30 }

Talking shop: A conservator a nd anEgyptologist discuss the r econstru ction o f astone vessel

Welcome to guest blogger, PAHMA gallery guide, and UC Berkeley Egyptology PhD candidate ElizabethMinor! Were going to discuss a stone vessel from Naga ed-Deir that I recently reconstructed in themuseum gallery. When conservators and archaeologists put their heads together, we can both learn moreabout the objects with which we work.

PAHMA 6-313 after reassembly.


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AL: Hi Elizabeth, thanks for providing some expert knowledge about this stone vessel. I have lotsof questions about the site and tomb in which it was found, as well as about how this type ofvessel would have been used.

EM: Hi Allison, thanks for giving me a chance to geek out about ancient Egypt!

AL: Anytime! To start things off, please tell us about Naga ed-Deir and George Reisners workthere.

EM: Naga ed-Deir is a really interesting site. There is an extensive cemetery along the desert cliffs,ranging from some of the earliest periods of Egyptian history to some of the latest. The site is thecemetery for the ancient town of Thinis. This area is what is considered a regional center, not with thesame kind of gigantic monuments that you find just up the Nile at Thebes, like Karnak Temple or the Valleyof the Kings. Ancient Egypt was split into smaller administrative regions called nomes, which are kind oflike modern American states. Thinis was the capital city of the 8th Upper Egyptian nome, called Ta-wer.That means the people buried at Naga ed-Deir provide a unique look at provincial Egyptians, not just thepharaoh and his court which we hear so much about.

This pot came from tomb N1523, which means that it was the 23rd tomb found in Cemetery N1500. Thispart of the site was used for burials in the Early Dynastic Period, mainly Dynasties 1 and 2. Ancient

Egyptians and modern Egyptologists use dynasties, or groups of related pharaohs, for dating. If yousurprise an Egyptologist and ask for an absolute date, we usually have to think about it for a while.Dynasties 1 and 2 are roughly 2920-2649 BCE, but we are always perfecting how we calculate the exactyears for dynasties. The earliest finds at Naga ed-Deir are from the Predynastic Period (starting around4000 BCE), and show a long history of increasing wealth among some individuals in the area. Other sitesin Upper Egypt show the same pattern, but eventually the nearby rulers at Abydos seem to take over thewhole region, and then all of Egypt. This is the beginning of Pharaonic Egypt, so Dynasties 1 and 2 arewhen cultural traditions are developed that will be continued by Egyptians for millennia. Whats reallyinteresting about Naga ed-Deir is that you can see the whole development of Egyptian culture, with tombsused even in the Greco-Roman period (332 BCE-AD 395), all through people who lived and died in thesame local area.

The site of Naga ed-Deir was excavated by Dr. George Reisner starting in 1901. Reisner was a youngEgyptologist who happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was finishing up a job at the

National Egyptian Museum when Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst decided to start sponsoring scientificarchaeological expeditions all around the world. She hired him and gave him complete control to decidewhere to excavate, and even told him she didnt want him to just look for beautiful objects for hermuseum. Dr. Reisner took her forward-thinking to heart, and developed careful record-keepingtechniques, especially taking photographs of all the steps of his excavation and finds. Over a hundredyears later, researchers can still use his notes and photos to analyze his sites, like we are right now.


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PAHMA 6-313 in situ at Naga ed-Deir.

AL: How would this jar have been used; what type of contents would it have held?

EM: A stone jar like this wouldnt have been used for everyday eating and cooking. This jar would havebeen used to hold some sort of liquid for the deceased to use in the afterlife, probably some kind of oil orfatty substance that could have been as valued as the stone itself. Perfumed oils were used inmummification, or just cosmetically to make people smell better. Ancient Egyptians believed that your soullived for eternity in an afterworld, and youd have a chance to enjoy all the things you liked to do while youwere alive. That meant that you needed to have a supply of anything and everything you could think of.Earlier on in Egyptian history, they took this very literally and tried to pack actual examples of items. Thisjar also had a dual purpose in that the stone vessel itself was valued. The beautiful banded stone, theelegant shape, and all the work that went into making it meant made it a luxury item.

AL: What can this vessel tell us about the social status of the person with whom it was interred?

EM: Looking at this vessel on its own, we can tell that the person who owned it was an elite who wanted tohave the best provisions for the afterlife. We can tell a lot more about the person by looking at in thecontext of the whole tomb.

Thanks to Reisners great recording skills, we know exactly what this tomb looked like and what else wasfound in it. Its interesting that he thought it was a smaller imitation of the larger tombs in the cemetery,and with some similarities to Dynasty 3-4 tombs. That means that the tomb was probably built in the laterpart of the Early Dynastic Period. There were five stone vessels found in the tomb, but the rest of thetomb was disturbed. These types of stone vessels are also more like, but not completely like, Dynasty 3-4vessels at the site. In other words, this is an in-between tomb in almost all ways. Not quite Dynasty 2 or 3,not extremely wealthy or poor. Also, by Dynasty 3 most of the highest elite Egyptians, the ones who wereclosest to the pharaoh, would build their tombs in the area right around the kings burial. This was movedfrom Abydos in Dynasties 1 and (part of) 2 from nearby Abydos, to much further north at Sakkara. So byDynasty 3, Naga ed-Deir was much further removed from the cultural capital of Egypt. The people wholived and died there probably had much less access to wealth.


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Field photograph of stone vessels found together in tomb N1523 at Naga ed-Deir.

AL: Is PAHMA 6-313 a typical size/shape for a valuable Early Dynastic jar that would have heldequally valuable liquid products?

EM: This is a large and wide example of this type of cylindrical stone vessel (personally, I think that it lookskind of like a top hat). There are a variety of forms and stones used for vessels in the Early DynasticPeriod, and they seem to have been a favorite burial item at the time. Alabaster seems to be a favoritedue to its relative softness and bands of color. Reisner had 26 classifications of stone vessels at Naga ed-Deir, ranging from these upright cylindrical vessels to thin plates. Archaeologists use typologies of vesselforms to track subtle changes in design over time. Consistent patterns of change, or types that are oftenfound together, can then be used as benchmarks to date the context in which an object is found.


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Chart illustrating part of Reisners stone vessel typology for Naga ed-Deir.

AL: So chronologically, this jar is pretty early, even by Egyptian standards. Did the ancientEgyptians continue to create and inter vessels like this in later periods as well?

EM: Stone vessels were one of the earliest types of luxury burial goods in Egypt. They are found inPredynastic graves at Naga ed-Deir, and continue on into the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom. The mostcomplex and numerous examples from around Dynasty 2 and 3. The pharaoh Djoser of Dynasty 3, thefirst king with a pyramid, had underground chambers packed with stone vessels.

But by Dynasty 4, Egyptians started using substitutions for stone vessels, rather than putting all theresources and labor into them. Prince Kawab at Giza, for example, wanted to have the complete set ofone-thousand stone vessels in for his afterlife. He used a magical loophole though, and had many minimodel alabaster vessels made instead. Other Egyptians just had a list of all the goodies they wanted athousand of (a thousand was more of a concept of abundance, like a bagillion or gazillion or infinity-plus-one), like Prince Wepemnofrets stela also on display in the Hearst gallery.

Stone vessel carving skills werent forgotten, though. Pharaohs in the New Kingdom, like King Tut, hadextremely intricate alabaster vessels with openwork designs. Theyre so thin and translucent that theyglow orange around the painted designs if you put a light inside of them. Although the vessels are whatsleft for us to study today, you always have to remember that equally valuable oils and unguents werecontained in them. When Tuts tomb was robbed in antiquity, the thieves went straight for the jar contents,even before rummaging through the golden jewelry.

AL: Thanks Elizabeth! Its so helpful to learn all about Naga ed-Deir, Reisners work there, as wellas about the history of use and manufacture of stone vessels in ancient Egypt. Your turn to ask mesome questions

EM: What did the vessel look like before conservation?

AL: Before conservation, the vessel consisted of upwards of 20 fragments of varying sizes, in addition to acollection of very small chips, flakes and particles.


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PAHMA 6-313 before treatment.

EM: What is the vessel made of?

AL: The vessel is carved from a dense calcium carbonate stone, variously referred to as limestone onyx,travertine or calcite (technically a mineral rather than a type of stone). It has large, well-defined crystalsand orange, grey and white banding caused by iron and perhaps other mineral impurities. Testing a tinysample with hydrochloric acid, which effervesces when in contact with calcareous material, confirmed thatthe stone is primarily calcium carbonate.

Now this question can actually get confusing because of the ways different people use the termalabaster. If you ask a geologist what alabaster is, he or she will tell you that it is a type of stonecomposed of hydrated calcium sulfate, or gypsum. Both true alabaster and some types of limestone arecreamy in color and translucent. The ancient Egyptians used both types of stone to carve vessels, butmany Egyptologists use the word alabaster to describe any light colored translucent stone regardless ofits composition.

EM: If the vessel was almost complete in the excavation photos, why was it in pieces when youstarted working on it?

AL: While there was breakage at the rim when Reisner excavated the piece (visible in those great fieldphotos), the major damage took place sometime after it was photographed in Egypt. We dont know

exactly when or how the vessel shattered into so many pieces. It was in San Francisco by 1906, and mayhave been damaged in the great earthquake that took place that year. Museum record keeping hasbecome much more thorough since the early twentieth century. Now we record any changes to an objectscondition so that in the future, people will know exactly what happened and when.

EM: Did you find out enough by analyzing it to be able to make one today? How long do you thinkit would take?

AL: Im not sure that Icould make one today, but by looking at marks on the stone surface andresearching ancient Egyptian stone carving technology, I have a general sense about how it was made.The center of a block of stone was probably roughed out with a man-powered drill called a twist-reverse-twist drill. Once the basic shape had been carved, additional shaping and smoothing of the surfaces wasperformed with abrasive materials like sand, polishing stones and maybe copper tools. You can see fine

striations on both the interior and exterior surfaces that were probably left by abrasive polishing. Not surehow long it would have taken!


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EM: Why reassemble it?

AL: Remember that collection of small chips, flakes and particles?

Detached chips, flakes and particles from PAHMA 6-313 before treatment.

In the vessels fragmentary state, the stone was at risk of gradually breaking down into smaller and smallerpieces. Object handling and storage methods can exacerbate this problem. When groups of fragments arestored in cramped bags, boxes, trays, drawers etc., the fragments can abrade and jostle each other,causing additional breakdown. Reassembling the extant pieces slows down this process, so reassemblingthe vessel is a means of preserving it.

Reassembly has another important benefit. Now people can immediately see the jars shape and size,which as you mentioned above, can provide important archaeological information about both the individualobject and the context from which it was excavated.

EM: How did you reassemble it?

AL: I worked from the base up, joining fragments with an acrylic copolymer called Paraloid B-72, dissolvedin acetone. B-72 is a popular adhesive for ceramic and stone reassembly because it is very stable overtime and remains reversible. I want to make sure that whatever adhesive I use will remain easy to removewithout any risk to the vessel, even many years in the future. In addition to remaining soluble, B-72 will notsoften and slump, discolor, or release any unwanted by-products that could harm the stone. B-72 hasanother nice property in that it is thermoplastic, or becomes slightly malleable when heated. This allows aconservator to make minute join adjustments by applying localized heat (frequently with a hair dryer) whilereconstructing an object. Its important to get the joins as perfectly aligned as possible because each slightmisalignment throws neighboring joins off, and multiple minor misalignments can accumulate to createlarger misalignments down the road. In order to keep the fragments positioned while the adhesive set up

(as the acetone evaporated), I used clamps or tape to hold fragments in place. When joining smallerfragments together, I placed them in a bowl of plastic pellets so that the joins were parallel to the ground,allowing gravity to help hold the fragments in place.


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PAHMA 6-313 during treatment.

EM: How did knowing more about the Egyptological and excavation background of the vessel helpwith your reconstruction?

AL: The more I know about an object, the better. No matter what type of object I work on, understandinghow it would have been made and used, what it meant to the people who made it, and what it may mean

to people today allows me to make the best treatment decisions possible. Regarding technical issues,knowing the vessels expected shape expedited figuring out how the fragments joined together. Knowingthat the vessel probably once held some sort of precious oil or fatty substance helped me to look for anyresidues or stains on the walls, and avoid cleaning possible residues. Having early photographicdocumentation and knowing when it was excavated and transported helped me to figure out approximatelywhen damage and prior undocumented restorations had occurred, which in turn helped me to make aneducated guess about old restoration materials that may have been used.

EM: What should I do if I find a broken stone vessel while Im excavating?

AL: First of all, document it before trying to remove it from the ground. Photographs and sketches will aid aconservator in reconstructing an artifact if additional breakage occurs. You may want to block lift it, or liftboth the vessel and the surrounding dirt as a unit in order to keep the vessel as intact as possible.Conservators and archaeologists frequently employ different sorts of reinforcing material l ike bandages

and plaster to secure the block in which the fragile object is lifted. Once taken out of the ground, theblock can be carefully excavated in a more controlled setting. Be mindful of the possibility that there may


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be residues of the vessels original contents on the interior, traces of added decoration on the surfaces, orother subtle types of evidence that can be unintentionally cleaned off during any dirt removal.

EM: What are you going to work on next?

AL: A painted wooden funerary stela! Thanks again for all of your input Elizabeth, and I cant wait to

discuss the stela and other objects.

Elizabeth is frequently on gallery guide duty at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology on Fridayafternoons between 2:00-4:00 PM. If youre in the area, come by and chat with us about ancient Egyptianobjects on display inThe Conservators Art.

Posted by Allison on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, at 8:38 am. Filed under Conservation treatments,Historical background, Live in the gallery, Stone. Tagged Elizabeth Minor, George Reisner, Naga ed-Deir.Follow any responses to this post with its comments RSS feed. You can post a comment or trackback fromyour blog.

lewis, a. et al. discuss reconstruction stone vessel. 2011

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