Tracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

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dc.contributor.authorBraekmans, Dennis
dc.contributor.authorBoschloos, Vanessa
dc.contributor.authorHameeuw, Hendrik
dc.contributor.authorVan der Perre, Athena
dc.date.accessioned2019-07-08T10:44:06Z
dc.date.available2019-07-08T10:44:06Z
dc.date.issued2018-12-19
dc.description.abstractA collection of Prime Cultural Heritage artefacts consisting of Egyptian late Middle Kingdom figurines (c. 1850–1700 BCE), made of unfired clay and covered in inscriptions, is kept at the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) in Brussels, Belgium. Several of these hieratic inscriptions curse enemies of the Egyptian state, including Canaanite, Nubian and Libyan entities; thus providing invaluable information for Middle Bronze topography in ancient Near Eastern studies. What makes the extensive Brussels group even more exceptional, is the fact that these figurines were discovered in a closed archaeological context in Saqqara, Lower Egypt. Defining and classifying clay and ancient ceramic provenance groups in Egypt is highly complex due to variability in Nile and marl clay deposits. Chemical characterization of this figurine assemblage (n = 91) allows to effectively study the potential direct use of clays in the vicinity of Saqqara and characterize the nature of the raw materials used. Additionally, it aims to assess the validity of portable XRF spectrometry for this type of materials and its provenance resolution. Analyses show that very similar clays were used to produce the different morphological types of figurines in the assemblage. The chemical profile indicates the use of a mixed source at Saqqara rather than pure marl or Nile clays, which are common for ancient pottery production.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationBraekmans D, Boschloos V, Hameeuw H, Van der Perre A. (2019) Tracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Microchemical Journal, Volume 145, March 2019, pp. 1207-1217en_UK
dc.identifier.issn0026-265X
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2018.12.029
dc.identifier.urihttp://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/14309
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherElsevieren_UK
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectClay figurine characterizationen_UK
dc.subjectUnfired clay objectsen_UK
dc.subjectNon-destructive chemical analysisen_UK
dc.subjectAncient Egypten_UK
dc.subjectPortable XRFen_UK
dc.subjectClay provenanceen_UK
dc.titleTracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometryen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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