تحقيق متعدد التحليلات حول الرسوم الجدارية الرومانية: حالة مقابر تونة الجبل، مصر الوسطى Multi-Analytical Investigation on Roman Wall Paintings: The Case of Tuna El-Gabal Funerary Houses, Middle Egypt

A multi analytical study has been undertaken into wall paintings from Tuna El-Gabal funerary houses in El-Minia, Middle Egypt. Tuna El-Gabal is a large site functioned as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian town of Khnum or Hermopolis. It comprises various remains of Ptolemaic and Roman chapels of which some are in the pure classical style, while others represent a mixture of Pharaonic-Greek style, both of which are covered with wall paintings. In the funerary house under study, the usual wall decorations depicting scenes of daily life or of offering bearers are not found. Instead, geometrical and floral ornaments are executed.
The technical investigation of the materials and techniques employed for wall painting of these types of ancient Egyptian funerary houses in Tuna el-Gabal, have not yet been undertaken. In the present study, ground and paint layers as well as paint media were examined using; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Optical microscopy (OM), Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Raman microscopy in order to characterize materials and techniques employed. Our findings, concerning one of these houses, are discussed and compared with the other findings of previous studies from the same period. Pigments like red and goethite, graphite and bone black, calcium carbonate and calcium sulphate are used in the wall paintings as ground layers. The green paint comprised a mixture of Egyptian blue and goethite. Mud bricks were the main substrate on which three types of plaster were used to cover both the walls and the columns.