Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

Wherever the detached decorated
surface could not be re-adhered without
risk to the painted surface (south wall and
southern part of west wall), the voids were
filled with a water solution of Primal AC
33 (8%), using as fillers pure sand, sifted
and devoid of salt, and chalk. Where
necessary (e.g. at the outer edges of
detachments), a small quantity of pigment
(natural sienna) was added to this putty.
Some peeling on walls without a layer
of painting, resulting from impregnation
work carried out upon discovery in 1997,
was now removed with scalpels, having
first been softened with acetone.
Another ten fragments of plaster found
on the chapel floor in 1997 were now re-
attached to the matrix in original position.
One of the main objectives of the present
campaign was the conservation of the
“outer architrave’’ in the chapel of Meref-
nebef. Falling fragments of the rock and
three inscribed fragments made of artificial
stone had to be put back in place (Fig. 1).
The overall surface of this part of the
architrave is c. 45 by 20 cm. The artificial
stone turned out to be a gypsum mortar,
the gypsum being no more than a filler and
binder. It also contained quartz and
dispersed vegetal black and loamy matter.
The latter, probably originating from
ground local limestone, was also used as
filler. This mortar, porous and very friable,
has been consolidated by means of repeated
dripping with a solution of Paraloid B 72
in toluene (2-3%).
Once the falling rock fragments of this
part of the architrave were removed, the
inside of the rock structure was found to be
completely disintegrated. Cleaning re-
sulted in an empty space directly above the
place where the fragments of rock were to
be reintroduced. The “ceiling” of this
empty space has been reinforced with
strips of stainless metal netting overlaid

with an adhesive substance made on the
base of a two-component epoxy resin called
Viscacid Epoxy Bauharz Rapid by
Remmers. This substance also contained
chalk filling and fine-grained, sifted sand.
Leaving an empty space above the
inserted fragments relieved the architrave
at the reconstructed spot. Two of the three
decorated fragments made of mortar were
first stuck together, and then attached to
the reinserted stone fragment of the
architrave (using UHU Epoxy Quick).
Given the limited adhesion surface, a kind
of security hanger made of the same epoxy-
covered metal netting had to be prepared


Fig. 2. False door inside the funerary chapel
of Seshemnefer (Photo J. Sliwa)

122