Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (11.1999(2000))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

CONSERVATION WORK, 1999

Zbigniew Godziejewski

After the opening of the funerary chapel of
vizier Meref-nebef at the beginning of the
campaign, a considerable amelioration of
the climate inside it has been observed as
compared to the previous year. The degree
of humidity was found to be much lower
and it became clear that neither continued
conservation work nor other circumstances
resulting in incremental human presence
inside the chapel over the course of the
1998 season have affected in any way the
climatic conditions.
This is due to the level of humidity
inside the rock, which is still very high in
the burial chamber at the bottom of
Shaft 1, located in the immediate vicinity
of the chapel. The humidity accumulated
in the rock will presumably continue to be
active, diminishing gradually over the
years. The construction of a shelter above
the chapel will protect it against rainfall,
and should stabilize the climatic conditions
inside it.
New cases of salting out processes
directly related to the humidity level, as
well as rock stratification and capillary size,
have been observed, in the form of either
white fluff or hard and compact encrusta-
tion, on all the walls, particularly their
lower section (up to c. 1 m above the floor).
The process has brought with it new air
pores, as well as the disintegration of mor-
tars and of the painted surface together
with a thin surface layer of the rock matrix.
Conservation treatment carried out in 1997
and 1998 has reinforced the layer of paint-
ing sufficiently for it not to peel away.

The seals, put in 1998 on the ceiling
cracks inside the chapel and in front of the
facade, have also remained without any
observable change.
Conservation work inside the funerary
chapel of Meref-nebef focused on re-attach-
ment of new blisters and foliation and on
the parts of the walls, like the northern
one, that had received less attention in the
1998 campaign. Wherever salt concentra-
tions have led to the detachment of the
layer of painting and have disturbed the
integrity of the rock matrix (as on the
chapel facade), a Paraloid B72 solution in
toluene (8%) was used in order to re-attach
the affected parts and reinforce the matrix.
A 5% water solution of Primal E 330 was
used to re-attach detached layers of poly-
chromy, after having first made injections
of 95% ethyl alcohol in order to drain the
capillaries and to diminish the external
tension. This procedure was applied on the
false-doors (the northern one), as well as on
the southwestern and eastern walls, not to
mention the whitewashed lowest wall reg-
ister all around.
Voids under the layer of polychromy,
generated by disintegration of the weak-
ened rocky substance, have been injected
with a lute made of Primal E 330 with
a filling of calcium carbonate CaC03, fine-
grained sand, chalk, and a small quantity
of pigment. In some cases (on the facade in
particular), Paraloid B 72 in toluene was
used instead of Primal E 330.
An attempt was made to consolidate
especially disintegrated stone (devoid of

107