Conservation at the Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt

Hiroko Kariya

This article accompanies the textbook The Real World of Chemistry 6th ed by Lois Fruen Kendall/Hunt Publishing ISBN 0-7872-9677-5

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Hiroko Kariya is the chemical conservator at the Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt. She is working with silicate consolidants to reinforce stones in ancient Egyptian temples that have been damaged by salt.

Damage to ancient Egyptian temples has resulted from the higher water table, which occurred after the High Dam was built. The sandstone stones of the temples act as wicks and suck up the subsurface water, which is salty. Salts that migrate into the stones with the water cause the stones to crumble. She explained that she dissolves the silicates in organic solvents and then applies the solution to the stones with a pipette. The solution penetrates the stones and the solvent evaporates, leaving the silicate in the stones. The silicate form cross-linked bonds with the stone to bind them together. The problem with this method of conservation is that it is irreversible (Cronyn 115).

The most important work of the Chicago House involves an epigraphic survey of the monuments in Luxor. Dr. Johnson, Director of the Chicago House, explained the process his team uses to document the reliefs. First, the reliefs are photographed. Then the photos are enlarged and coated with an emulsion that can take pen and pencil lines. At the site, the artists stand in front of the wall and trace details into the enlarged photographs. Damaged sections are indicated with broken lines.

Back at the Chicago House, the pencil lines are carefully inked. The photos are then immersed in a bath that bleaches away the photographic background, leaving only the artists' lines.

Ray Johnson

The inked drawings are then checked at the wall by the artists and the field director. Egyptologists also check the drawings and may make suggestions based on their knowledge of related scenes and texts (Chicago House). Finally, the ink drawings are processed along with information about the architecture and text about the drawings and published in Chicago (Johnson).

One of the people involved in the epigraphic survey is Susan Osgood, who is a painting conservator. She works at the temples to copy the wall paintings. Often she recreates scenes based on small fragments of remaining plaster. I saw an example of a wall painting, which looked totally destroyed, that she was able to reconstruct.

At the Amen Temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III at Medinet Habu, Ray Johnson explained the conservation work at the temple. He said the temple was where Amen in the form of the creator came to "get his batteries charged."

Susan Osgood

Members of the Chicago House staff were at work–some on ladders, copying the reliefs onto enlarged photographs. Carol was drawing with a mirror at the entrance to capture the raking light. Byrant was on the ladder. Margaret, Bernice, and Susan were working on wall carvings in the sanctuary. Many were using mirrors to direct light onto the reliefs to enable them to pick out the details that were obscured in the photographs. Susan came over to greet us. Unfortunately, I did not see Hiroko Kariya who was continuing her work at the Luxor Temple.

Dr. Johnson pointed out that there has been a long history of rebuilding and repairing the temple. He showed us the remains of an older temple that his team discovered under the paving stones of the current temple. He said that when his team repaired the roof of the temple in the 1990s, they discovered that it had been previously repaired by the Ptolemies. He explained that the repair work is a joint effort between the Chicago House and the Egyptian Department of Antiquities.

Conservator

Team of the Chicago House at work

Besides the epigraphic work at Medinet Habu, the Chicago House has obtained a grant from the U.S. government for an engineering project that will divert the water from the temples. Dr. Johnson is working with the Supreme Council for Antiquities and other Egyptian government officials in an effort to change the current sugar cane crop of Luxor, which is an extremely water intensive, to sugar beets (Ikram). This alone would make a huge difference.

Sources

Chaining Treasures: "New Chemistry Saves and Preserves Artifacts." Discovering Archaeology. Mar./Apr. 1999.

"Chicago House: Rescuing the Past." Pamphlet.

Cronyn, J.M. The Elements of Archaeological Conservation. London: Routledge, 1996.

Ikram, Salima. "Nile Currents." KMT. Spring 2000: 6.

Johnson, Ray. Lectures. 24 Feb. 2000 and 26 Feb. 2000.