The contribution of non-invasive and non-destructive techniques to the understanding of the 21st Dynasty Egyptian Yellow Coffins complex stratigraphy: Case of study of E 20043 from the Louvre Museum

Abstract.

In cultural heritage science, methodology development is constantly shifting because of the large variety of problems encountered during artefacts analysis. Generally, each case of study is treated individually and the analytical methodology cannot always be clearly reproducible. It may vary according to obviously the request, but also of sampling opportunities and nature of the objects studied. Issues of object geometry and representativeness are often raised in this field. The archaeometric study of the 21st Egyptian yellow coffins from the Louvre Museum have highlighted a global and recurrent scheme of the painting protocol. It has been observed that variations of this painting protocol can occur depending on the part of the coffin studied. These variations can result from the presence of a different number of layers, or even sometimes their total absence. It can also result from the layer thickness, material choices, or just the mode of their application. This article will present how the in situ non-invasive non-destructive methodology developed at the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, has revealed, once applied to the wood panel E 20043, a painting protocol more complex than firstly originally believed.