Treatment of Findings from the Site of the New Kingdom (the South of Saqqara) Leiden and Turin Excavation (Spring 2015)

The necropolis of Memphis, Saqqara, is a famous ancient Egyptian Heritage site that was a religious capital throughout ancient Egyptian history and has monuments dating from the First and Second Dynasties to the Coptic era. It is located to the southwest of Cairo, the current capital of Egypt, and to the south of the Giza area famous for the sphinx and great pyramids from the Fourth Dynasty. Many foreign missions have been working in Saqqara for a long time as there are many places that have tombs from the New Kingdom. The site to the south of the Unas pyramid has been excavated by an English mission and more recently by a Dutch mission. In the spring of 2015, the Leiden and Turin Excavation mission started and has discovered the remains of anonymous tombs, some limestone blocks , and a limestone statue of Horus the falcon, all of which need to be conserved. Urgent conservation work was done at the excavation site to support the flaking layers, after which the statue and limestone blocks were taken to a conservation lab where mechanical and chemical cleaning were conducted. The XRD analyses showed that the main components of the limestone statue and the limestone blocks was calcite (CaCo₃) and the red pigment was Hematite (Fe₂0₃). Injections with treated lime were used to fix and support the separated layers from the statue of Horus; however, as the surface of the statue was fragile, it was consolidated using a 1-1 mixture of Nano lime and ethyl silicate. The limestone block fragments were glued together using steel bars and Epoxy 1306.