| Egyptian Journal of Archeological and Restoration Studies

Authors:
Madkour, F.
Asses. Prof. Conservation dept., Faculty of Fine Arts, Minia Univ., Minia , Egypt

Abstract:
Amphoras are large ceramic vessels which were used, in the Greaco-Roman period, to ship wine and other liquid products throughout the Mediterranean. An amphora was excavated at El-Bahnasa archaeological site at the south of Egypt and it dates back to the Late Roman period (4th-6th centuries AD.). The condition of the amphora was very poor and suffered from many deterioration phenomena including, accumulation of dirt and soil residues, narrow and wide cracks, decay and fragility of pottery body and crystallization of salts. Furthermore, many shards are broken from the body and some are missing. The aim of the present paper is to study the chemical and the mineralogical composition of the clay body, the soil residues and the crystallized salts and to restore it. Different analytical methods were used including; X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive Xray spectroscopy (EDS). The results obtained by (XRD) reported that clay body contains Quartz (SiO2), Calcite (CaCO3), Anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8), Halite (NaCl), Magnetite (Fe3O4), Dolomite (Ca Mg(CO3) and Hematite (Fe2O3), while the salt is Halite mineral (Sodium chloride). The soil residues sample consists of Halite, Quartz and Calcite. Different restoration treatments were carried out on the amphora comprising; mechanical and chemical cleaning, consolidation, bonding and replacement processes.

Keywords:
Roman; Amphora; El-Bahnasa; Deterioration; accumulation; Wide cracks

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