Egyptian Grave Goods of Kha and Merit Studied by Neutron and Gamma Techniques

Abstract

Artifacts from the Egyptian grave goods of Kha and Merit preserved at the Museo Egizio in Turin were studied through a combination of non‐destructive and non‐invasive neutron and gamma techniques (namely neutron imaging, neutron diffraction and prompt gamma activation analysis). The results provide unprecedented morphological reconstructions of the inner parts of the two alabaster and metallic vases and their isotopic and phase composition, thereby extending our knowledge of the hitherto unknown content of the vases and their functions.

From physics to art and back

“…For example, we have used neutrons to study sealed Egyptian alabaster and ceramic vases [9], part of the Kha and Merit grave goods preserved at Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy (Fig. 1e).…”

Cu-based alloys as a benchmark for T-PGAA quantitative analysis at spallation neutron sources

“…Neutron techniques for the characterisation of objects of different materials have been successfully used for long time at reactors and at spallation sources [1,6]. Neutrons are appropriate for the study of metal objects, for which a variety of techniques is available for chemical characterisation as well as for microstructural studies and lattice properties identification [1,[7][8][9][10][11]. Prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) and neutron resonance capture analysis (NRCA) are among the most fruitful techniques for the isotopic characterisation of a high variety of materials (e.g.…”