Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (11.1999(2000))

DEIR EL-BAHARI

EGYPT

CONSERVATION WORK AND STUDIES

Rajmund Witold Gazda

STONE BUILDING MATERIAL STUDIES

Following rainfall in the late eighties and
early nineties, of an intensity unrecorded
in the past 30 years, the mission was faced
with having to find a method for the con-
servation of the limestone building mate-
rial used in the temple.L) The problem was
outstanding all the more because work was
nearing completion on a project to recon-
struct the Upper Courtyard, which includ-
ed some 1500 attributed stone blocks and
fragments of blocks.
A characteristic of the Theban lime-
stone formation is known and compara-
tive research has confirmed that the lime-
stone building material used in the
Temple of Hatshepsut originated from
the quarries at the entrance to the Valley
of the Kings.2) Studies and observations
in situ in 1991 indicated a considerable
difference in the state of preservation of
the stone with distinct zones or particular
blocks revealing a changed condition.
Laboratory research was designed to
reconstruct the process of destruction.
The samples, studied in 1992 by
Dr. M. Kgsy-Lewandowska, were classi-
fied as marl. Further research on the site
showed a varying degree of damages

regardless of a similar set of external fac-
tors and even the same exposition. This
led to the assumption that loamy compo-
nents were responsible for the swelling of
the rock in humid conditions. A similar
problem had been observed in the British
Museum with regard to some of the lime-
stone objects, which were stored in stable
conditions.3)
Consequently, samples were taken for
study from two groups of stone material
differing in their condition. The objective
was to identify the petrographic factor
that is responsible for the damages. As
a result of examinations carried out in
1998 by J. Magiera, two kinds of lime-
stone were distinguished:
1. A compact stone with laminated or
cloddish structure, compact-tight tex-
ture, formed by alternating laminae of
fine-grained micrite and a coarse-
grained organodetritic limestone. The
principal mass is made up of limestone
micrite of 0.005 mm in diameter. It
contains concentrations of iron oxides
and hydrates. Numerous and usually
small pores from 0.1 to 0.4 mm, most-
ly void.

The present author was responsible for this task. See also R. Gazda, Analiza problemow konserwatorskich i estety-
cznego odbioru swi^tyni krolowej Hatszepsut w Deir el-Bahari (1992), typescript; id., Technologische Probleme der
Konservierung der Dekorierten Steine des Temples von Hatschepsut in Deir el-Bahari, Agypten. IBB-Forum auf der
Denkmal'98. Acts of the conference (Leipzig 1998), 11-16 and 17-23.
2) R. and D. Klemm, Steine und Steinbriicke im Alten Agypten (Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1992), 120.
3) S.M. Bradley, A.R Middleton, A Study of the Deterioration of Egyptian Limestone Sculpture (London 1988).

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