Hidden mysteries revealed in ancient Egyptian necropolis paintings. Details inside

A new study published has made scientists rethink their previous notions regarding Egyptian artists and their paintings. Using modern, state-of-the-art portable imagingand chemical analysis techniques, the team took a fresh look at the paintings in the Valley of the Kings — a royal burial ground for pharaohs and other ancient Egyptian elites.

During the probe, the scientists discovered subtlemodifications, suggesting efforts to touch up the original work. Previously,Egyptologists believed that most artwork found in these tombs followed set conventional rules, strictly adhering to them at all times.

According to scientists, during thePharaonic civilisation, the work on wall paintings usually started witha preliminary sketch drawn in red ochre on the plastered wall.

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"This was followed by the application of white or coloured backgrounds, at times leaving a reserve for pictorial details. Afterwards, the colour came, commonly with pigment mixtures and layered applications. As the last step, the final outline and details were drawn, mainly with red ochre. In thefinal and vital stage, paint spilling over the outline was overpainted with opaque white," the researchers noted.

The discovery

However, upon using a small robot equipped with X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared vision which can scrutinise any work akin to a medical scanner, researchers observed the oddity. They found that alterations had been made to the pictures.

The team scanned the Ramesses II painting in the tomb of the priest Nakhtamon, painted in approximately 1,200 years BCE,and another artworkfrom the necropolis, revealing details that were not visible to the naked eye.

"The use of XRF mapping has, for instance, been applied to a known case of correction by surface repaint, something that is supposedly rare in the ancient Egyptian formal artistic process, while another fully unexpected one was discovered during the analytic exploration of a royal representation," the team said.

"We didn't expect to see such modifications of a supposedly very formal representation of a pharaoh," added Philippe Walter, the co-author of the study.

The precise timeline and reasons for these alterations is yet not known but if the practice of modifications is truly established, it could bring pharaonic art closer to our “modern aesthetic standard", the experts argued.

"At this stage, though the progress in this on-site material assessment of ancient works of art definitely means astonishing progress, one humbly has to face the fact that these ancient treasures shall still retain part of their defining mysteries."

(With inputs from agencies)

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