Pigments d'Egypte, étude physique de matières colorantes bleue, rouge, blanche, verte et jaune, provenant de Karnak

The aim of this study is to characterize pictorial pigments discovered in August 1984 by architects and archaeologists of the «Mission permanente» of CNRS in Karnak, Egypt. Described as parts of a painter's palette, these colouring matters include blue, red, white, green, and yellow pigmentsTTheir characterizations have been done using classic methods in physics applied to archaeology : SEM to observe faciès and textures, EDS for elemental analyses and X ray diffraction for cristallographie analyses. Results show that some of pigments are synthetic : [CaCuSi4O10] (egyptian blue) for the blue one, [CuSiO,, nH2O] formula closely related to chrysocolla which looks like molten glass for the green one, clay mixed with hematite (composition closely related to an ochre) for the red one. The white pigment is obtained with powered shell. The yellow pigment is an ochre with unidentified cubic cristals containing Fe, S, Si, K, Al. Answering the archaeological problem, this study is dealing with a better knowledge of archaeological materials and ancient technologies.