Saqqara is one of the most famous archaeological sites in Egypt and all over the world. It was the main necropolis of Memphis which was the capital of Egypt for the most part of the Old Kingdom period. Saqqara is also famous for the Step Pyramid which is the oldest stone structure in ancient Egypt. It was built by king Djoser who was the first king in the Third Dynasty. It is thought that the south entrance of the Step Pyramid was opened during the Saite period. During that period, a lot of restoration work was done to many places in Saqqara, one of whose places was the Step Pyramid, especially the south entrance, when they saw that there were cracks in the bedrock ceiling, that some limestone columns were used to support it. It seems that the ceiling of the burial shaft had a problem since that time. So, some wooden trunks were used to support the ceiling, especially in the places where there was a collapse. Those trunks were in bad condition, because they were affected by deterioration factors especially the brown rotten that caused the wood to be turned into cubes in different sizes. It is known that the ancient Egyptians used both local and imported wood, especially wood that was imported from Lebanon. So, it was important to identify the wood species to indicate if it was local or imported. Transmitted light optical microscope was used to identify the wood species. It is indicated that the species is Acacia Nilotica which has been common in Egypt from ancient times till now. There were deterioration products that could be seen on the wooden trunks such as cracks in different sizes and different depths, wood turned into cubes in different sizes. And then, and the surface of the wood was fragile and squishy, and some parts of the wooden trunks were covered with mortar that used for restoration in the Saite period or for supporting the ceiling during the current restoration project. Restoration work was done through three main steps. First, cleaning was done mechanically and chemically. Consolidation by using Nano cellulose and Plexisol P550, filling by using cotton injected with Paraloid B72 20% and Microballoon. FTIR analysis was done after using Nano cellulose and it indicated the percentage of cellulose in the wood was increased after using Nano cellulose for consolidation.
Ashraf Youssef Ewais (Thu,) studied this question.