Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

(1.5:1.5:1) and pigments as fillers. The
same kind of substance was used for filling
easily and safely accessible voids under the
surface of the mortar.
Detached fragments of wall decoration
found in the fill were protected with
Primal E330.
Disintegrating rock in the fagade of
Chapel 15 (a rock layer that corresponds to
WOODEN
Two planks from the bottom of a coffin,
bearing a painted column of inscription in
the middle of the outer face (no. 363, from
sector 1906), were first cleaned of loose
dirt, after which the peeling and extremely
friable layer of polychromy (including blue,
red, black and white paint) was dripped
with a solution of PLEXISOL P550 in
benzene (2-4%). Following evaporation of
the dissolvent, the painting layer was
stabilized. The wooden ground did not
require any intervention.
A group of votive wooden figurines
from shaft C2/3 in Corridor 2 revealed
modest remnants of paint: black on the
hair, red on the torso, and traces of white on
the wooden bases. The wood had all but
lost its inner cohesiveness, requiring
immediate attention. The layer of
polychromy was treated with a solution of
Plexisol P550 in benzene (2-4%), after
POTTERY
The fragmentary bandages wrapping the
pots found in the deposit discovered in
shaft 16 in Corridor 22 3) were straightened,
reinforced and secured. The process of elas-
ticizing and reinforcing the bandages

a similar layer in the fagade of Merefnebef s
tomb) was trickled with FUNCOSIL
Antihygro, the objective being to
minimize the hydrological heave of loamy
minerals found in the rock. Subsequently,
a suspension based on FUNCOSIL KSE 500
STE with FUNCOSIL Fullstoff A and B
(1:2), fine-grained sand and pigments as
fillers was injected into the crevices.
OBJECTS
which the figurines (as well as other
accompanying objects, such as wooden
models of vessels and wooden head rests,
cf. Fig. 7 on p. 121 in this volume) were
dripped with a solution of Paraloid B-72
in acetone (8-10%) and left enclosed in
fumes of extraction benzene waiting for the
dissolvent to evaporate.
Work continued on the wooden
harpoon found in Corridor 1 in 20002' and
in particular on the very thin, cracked, and
partly deformed walls of the case which
needed consolidating. Wood balsa was used
to fill in losses of original material. Small
pieces of this wood were pasted in with
c. 20% solution of PVA Mowilith-50 with
acetone. The surface of the plug with its
layer of a crumbling white substance was
reinforced and pasted to the ground with
a 2-4% solution of PLEXISOL P550 in
benzene.
DEPOSIT
required the use of a 3% solution of KLUCEL
GF in alcohol. Loose fragments of
bandages, preserved in this way, were sub-
sequently mounted on Japanese tissue-
paper using a 3-5% solution of PVA

2) Cf. PAM XII, Reports 2000 (2002), 124-125 and Figs. 3a,b,c, also 115-116, Figs. 7-9 for the discovery.
3) Cf. contribution by T.I. Rzeuska in this volume, especially p. 138.

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