The inclusion of couches as basic artefacts of ritual use in ancient Egyptian royal tombs first emerged in the New Kingdom; these are very rare objects, and very little information is available concerning the timber used to make them. To address this knowledge gap the present paper deals with the identification of wood from parts of ancient Egyptian ritual couches from King Horemheb's tomb using reflected light microscopy as a non-invasive analytic technique. Although these couches are from a royal tomb, our results show that the four identified wood species (Cedar of Lebanon, Sycamore fig, Tamarisk and Christ's thorn) are among the most common timbers found in ancient Egypt. This confirms that the shortage of timber in ancient Egypt forced the use of the few available timbers for specific purposes, according to their properties, and led the Egyptian carpenters to use large logs from external sources, such as cedar of Lebanon, confirming trading of wood in ancient Egypt.

To the best of our knowledge, such a detailed study on polychrome wooden shawabtis of King Tutankhamun (18th Dynasty in ancient Egypt) has not been reported in the literature, so the purpose of our study is to noninvasively identify the polychrome layers and previously applied materials for a number of wooden shawabtis that belong to King Tutankhamun through a protocol based on imaging techniques integrated with single-spot spectroscopic techniques. In the first step, imaging techniques (visible, ultraviolet induced visible luminescence, ultraviolet reflected, visible-induced infrared luminescence, infrared reflected, and infrared false color) and optical microscopy were applied to gather information and provide evidence on the distribution of original and previously applied materials on the polychrome surfaces. In the second step of our work, we analyzed the selected areas with single-spot analyses (handheld X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and visible reflectance spectroscopy) and X-ray diffraction analysis. The materials of the previous restoration interventions were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The application of a protocol based on imaging techniques integrated with data obtained from single-spot spectroscopic techniques allowed the characterization of a remarkable number of polychrome layers and some previous restoration materials and mapping of their distribution on the original surface, which provides not only essential data for the follow-up treatment and conservation works but also offers important information for the study of polychrome wooden shawabtis of other periods in ancient Egypt.

Purpose This paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the painting techniques, materials used and deterioration phenomena in a thin panel painting. As well as, straightening buckling in a thin panel painting and reinforcement have been used by an auxiliary support system. Design/methodology/approach This requires using several scientific and analytical techniques to provide a deeper understanding of the painting techniques, materials used, deterioration phenomena and a greater awareness of how well treatment the panel painting is. Visual observation and multispectral imaging (Visible Ultraviolet-induced luminescence, as well as Ultraviolet reflected and Infrared [IR]), optical Microscopy (OM), handheld X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography were used in this case study. Findings The analytical study of a thin panel with different methods allowed defining that the thin panel painting consists of plywood panel, ground layer (white lead and animal glue) and painted layer (lead red, cobaltic black, chrome yellow, Venetian red, iron black and white lead and poppy oil). Also, these determined that a convex buckling was the main form of deterioration. The structure treatment was executed by using a wet compress to straighten the thin panel painting and followed by fixing a new special design of the second auxiliary support system on the back of the thin panel painting. Originality/value The importance of analytical study to determine the painting techniques, materials used, deterioration phenomena and how well treatment the panel painting is. As well as, using a wet compress to straightening of warping or buckling wooden panel painting. Also, the Plexiglas second auxiliary support system could use to reinforcement the wooden panel and control the wooden panel movements.

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