Abstract
Abstract. Ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Period to the
Greco–Roman Period were covered by a black coating consisting of complex and heterogeneous mixtures of conifer resins, wax, fat and oil with variable amounts of bitumen. Natural bitumen always contains traces of vanadyl
porphyrin complexes that we used here as internal probes to explore the
nanoscale environment of V4+ ions in these black coatings by electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and hyperfine sub-level correlation
spectroscopy (HYSCORE). Four types of vanadyl porphyrin complexes were
identified from the analysis of 14N hyperfine interactions. Three types
(referred to as VO-P1, VO-P2 and VO-P3) are present in natural bitumen from
the Dead Sea, among which VO-P1 and VO-P2 are also present in black coatings
of mummies. The absence of VO-P3 in mummies, which is replaced by another
complex, VO-P4, may be due to its transformation during preparation of the black matter for embalming. Analysis of 1H hyperfine interaction shows
that bitumen and other natural substances are intimately mixed in these
black coatings, with aggregate sizes of bitumen increasing with the bitumen
content but not exceeding a few nanometres.
Funder
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
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