Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

OLD DONGOLA

SUDAN

APPENDIX 1
OLD DONGOLA 2006:
CONSERVATION REPORT

Dorota Moryto-Naumiuk

One of the chief tasks of the conservation
team working this season in the monastery
on Kom H (for previous conservation
reports, cf. Jakobielski 2001: 278; Jako-
bielski 2003: 228-229; Jakobielski 2005:
272) was to put together the mural
depicting the Massacre of the Innocents from
the tumbled southern part of the vault in
Room 6 of the Southwestern Annex. The
original vault had been constructed of mud
brick, coated with mud plaster and white-
washed with kaolin clay. The difficulty lay
in the fragmentation of the remains, many
being preserved on single bricks or as loose
pieces of plaster, which had additionally
been twice removed from their original
position, further breaking any connections
which may have remained after the first
exploration of the vault. Closer observation
of the material also indicated that part of the
plaster had been distorted and the painting
layer washed out by rain sometime in the
distant past.
Considering the short season this year,
the decision was taken to salvage all the
bigger pieces, which were easier to identify
and replace in position. Smaller loose
fragments and parts of the background have
been protected by placing them in sand in
flat boxes and storing them for further
work.

The painted surface of fragments of
murals still adhering to loose bricks was
cleaned mechanically and consolidated
with a 2% solution of PARALOID B72 in
toluene. Once the solvent had evaporated,
the surface was protected with several
layers of Japanese tissue paper attached
with Klucel G (c. two big spoons of dry
adhesive per half a liter of water). The
painted layer was cut away from the bricks
[Fig. 1}. It was then placed face down and
the back side was reinforced by daubing it
delicately (so as not to dissolve it) with
a water dispersion of Primal AC33 (1:10).
Putties made of fine sand, clay from
crushed mud brick with a few percent of
polyvinyl acetate added were used to fill
the losses. The Japanese tissue was then
removed from the face by soaking and the
elements were arranged on a 2 mm mesh
screen, attached to it with the same plaster
used for the putties.
Bigger parts with identifiable elements
of the composition were reintroduced on the
south wall of Room 6, below the non-
existent vault from where they had come.
This was done using an appropriate Atlas
adhesive instead of the regular building
material, in this case mud mortar, which
takes too long to set and is too weak for
immuring a large and heavy element. The

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