AMS Dating of an Artifact from Banat Museum’s Egyptian Collection and Remarks Regarding the Preservation Status

Abstract

Quite a large number of Egyptian antiquities acquired at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20thcentury were proven as being forgeries. One of the best method to identify this kind of fraud, for the items manufactured from organic mass, is the 14C dating. A fragment of a coffin from the Banat Museum’s collections, assigned on stylistically analysis to the 21st Dinasty, was dated via AMS and thus its chronological position was confirmed and, consequently its authenticity was clearly established. The relative poor status of preservation of the item in question as well as of other four fragments from the same coffin is demanding the initiation of the restoration work.