The Egyptian coffin from the Archaeological Museum of Carmo: material and technical study

Abstract

The material and technical study of the anthropomorphic coffin (No. Inv. MAC/MUM.1) belonging to the Archaeological Museum of Carmo, in Lisbon, Portugal, carried out by an interdisciplinary team, sought to complete the existing textual and iconographic study on the same coffin, as well as rectify and complete the data from another partial technical study. According to previous studies, the coffin was produced between the Low Period and the beginning of the Ptolemaic period (6th to 2nd centuries BCE), possibly in Akhmim. This work presents results regarding the coffin’s wooden support and polychromy, as well as its current state of conservation. It involved the macro and microscopic examination of the object and the analytical characterization of micro-samples by XRF, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR-ATR, and SEM. The materials identified both in polychromy and in the production of the support indicate the use of materials traditional from the Pharaonic Egypt.