Relief Fragments Research Articles

An Achaemenid God in Color

A limestone relief fragment with a figure in a winged disk from the fifth-century BCE Hall of 100 Columns at Persepolis in southwestern Iran that entered the Harvard Art Museums’ collections in 1943 preserves significant traces of its original coloration and has played a key role in the rediscovery of polychromy at the Achaemenid Persian capital. After tracing the fragment’s journey to Cambridge, MA, this article presents the results of recent technical studies of its pigment remains, including visible light-induced infrared luminescence (VIL) imaging, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and the analysis of micro samples by Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and polarizing light microscopy (PLM). The new scientific data is compared to the findings of ongoing investigations of polychromies at Persepolis and other Achaemenid Persian sites and evaluated for the information it can and cannot provide on the original appearance of the figure in the winged disk, likely the Zoroastrian god Ahuramazda. The article reviews past attempts at reconstructing the relief’s coloration and the assumptions that guided them, recounts the experience of creating a tangible three-dimensional color reconstruction for an exhibition, and concludes with some general thoughts on the valuation of colorfulness.

Archaeological and Epigraphic Evidence about the Religious Life of the Roman Garrison in Tyras

This article offers a review of the evidence that give insight into the religious ideas and cultic practices of soldiers and officers in the garrison of Tyras. In the southern part of the citadel, two structures were discovered, identified by the researchers as temples. A votive altar dedicated by a military sailor to the god with an epithet Invicto (Mithras or Hercules) and three fragmentary votive slabs with dedicatory inscriptions were also discovered at this area. A fragment of the limestone pediment of a small building with a dedicatory inscription in honor of the emperor was found within the citadel area. In the northern part of the citadel a marble relief depicting Artemis/ Diana and a marble statuette of Priapus were discovered. A structure located outside the citadel may be associated with the religious life of the Tyras garrison. It has an apse leaning against it on the east side. This structure might have been a sanctuary, dedicated to some unofficial cults of the Roman army, probably a Mithraeum. Indirectly, this assumption is confirmed by the fragments of reliefs depicting a Thracian horseman and a Mithras Tauroctony found in the adjacent area.

Kentauren in Noricum

The head of a centaur found in Virunum, which is a replica of the late-Hellenistic type of the Capitoline “older centaur”, deserves special mention as a depiction of a centaur from Noricum. The extremely high-quality and dynamic centaur frieze from St. Johann near Herberstein (Hartberg – Fürstenfeld district), which originates from a aedicula-tomb, can certainly be regarded as depicting centaurs, as does a relief fragment from Hartberg, which, however, does not come from the same tomb-building. On several reliefs, a sea centaur appears as an idiosyncratic hybrid between triton and centaur, carrying a nereid on its back. These include above all two reliefs from Schloss Seggau near Leibnitz. A single relief comes from Lauriacum in northern Noricum and shows a triton or sea centaur again with a nereid.

Singaraja dan Fragmen-fragmen Relief Penanda Perkembangan Kota Tinjauan Sejarah Visual Awal Abad XX Sebagai Potensi Visual Branding Urban Heritage

The relief fragments are interpreted as pieces of relief scattered in the Singaraja City area, viewed from a visual historical point of view in the late 19th to early 20th century. The problem is how to describe the historical narrative of the city through pieces of relief in Singaraja City, which aims to read the flow of the city's development and reveal the potential for visual branding of the cultural heritage of Singaraja City. The research method uses a visual history approach through a qualitative paradigm with analytic descriptive elaboration, the emphasis is more on the 20th century because the remains are based on the distribution of data in the remaining fields, the rest uses literature review and internet data in the elaboration process. Through this research, the narrative of the development of the relief from the medium side and the working technique along with the development of urban culture is obtained due to the multicultural assimilation process which is related to the existence of the city port and the center of government in Singaraja City.

Nike/Victoria representations in Late Antique Central Balkans

During the archaeological excavations in the north-eastern part of the thermae at Constantine the Great?s villa in Mediana, in the 2022 campaign, in a layer of debris two fragments of marble relief with a representation of Nike/Victoria standing on a globe were discovered. The fine grain white marble used for the icon, with its exquisite modelling, suggest that it was made from expensive marble by the hands of a skilful artisan in the period from the 3rd to the 4th century. The fact that the relief was discovered in the area of an imperial residential complex relates it to other known Central Balkan finds with Victoria representations, discovered in Galerius? imperial domain Felix Romuliana and Moesia Superior?s capital Viminacium. All these mythological objects can be dated into the period of the 3rd and the 4th century, attesting that the goddess? symbolism did not lose any of its popularity in the period of Late Antiquity - on the contrary, it announced the transformation of the goddess into an angel and, later on, as the one who blessed the emperors during their coronation. Thus, the question of Victoria?s different roles (goddess or personification) again arises, gaining a new meaning in the early Byzantine period.

A Lintel Fragment from the Meniset Temple of Amenhotep I and Ahmose Nefertari at Thebes

A limestone relief fragment in the Barnes Foundation (A303), Philadelphia is identified as a recut fragment from a Sed festival lintel that surmounted a doorway in the Meniset temple of Amenhotep I and Ahmose Nefertari at Thebes. Originally found by Wilhelm Spiegelberg and only documented through a photograph of a squeeze, the condition of the relief speaks to a complex provenance history and provides confirmation of the reconstruction of the festival scene by Kurt Sethe.

Byblos in the Late Bronze Age: Interactions between the Levantine and Egyptian Worlds

Byblos in the Late Bronze Age: Interactions between the Levantine and Egyptian Worlds

Preliminary Report on the Twenty-First Excavation Season of the Archaeological Expedition to Wad Ben Naga

The twenty-first excavation season focused on the continued exploration of the so-called Isis Temple (WBN 300) and chapel WBN 1100. In the temple, the area of the northern corridor, the northern vestibule, and the southern sanctuary were primarily examined, confirming its assumed internal distribution. Numerous fragments of the temple’s iconographic and epigraphic program were retrieved. Furthermore, the southern sanctuary was uncovered and parts of a bark stand that stood in it were found. Amongst notable finds from the temple, there was also a fragment of an abacus previously documented by the Royal Prussian Expedition. Two burials were uncovered in the secondary cemetery over the temple. The excavations in the area of chapel WBN 1100 allowed to estimate its spatial limits and architectural layout. Dozens of fragments of architectural sandstone elements and reliefs coming from the chapel were recorded, adding to the growing evidence of its architectural design and iconographical program. A discard area with remains of cultic equipment and goods presumably used for the management of the cult was documented.

Die Caracallathermen in Rom, das Hafengymnasium in Ephesos – und die Friese des „Partherdenkmals“

In the course of processing the architectural decoration of the Caracalla Baths, Gunhild Jenewein assigned fragments of historical reliefs to the palestras. The decoration element, unusual for thermae, reminds of the figure friezes of the ‘Partherdenkmal’, whose main finding place was the harbor gymnasium in Ephesos. The construction form and the location of this monument could not be clarified so far, because all relief plates had been reused in late antiquity. Instead of the previously favored form of construction as an altar building, a completely different use is suggested here for the first time. In the palestra of the harbor baths there are two large exedra, the southern one, the ‘Marble Hall’ is a facade hall with a tabernacle architecture. The northern exedra, on the other hand, was built as a niche hall at the time of its construction, but was remodeled in a second construction phase. According to two excavation photos, a blind facade was built in front of the niches. The 16 × 32 m room, with 64 m of wall area, results almost exactly in the total length reconstructed from the assemble marks of the bull’s head garland frieze. Since the figure friezes of the series with battle scenes, adoption and sacrifice scenes, personifications and deities together with the chariot rides can also be compressed to a length of about 64 m, the secondary placement of the friezes in the northern exedra for a banquet hall to honor the Antonian imperial house results in a hypothesis worth considering.

The Temple of Millions of Years of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (Luxor). An Update on the Research

This paper presents the most up to date discussion on the architecture of the temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III, which has been investigated by the Spanish-Egyptian joint project since 2008. The first archaeological works took place at the site at the end of the nineteenth century and during the first decades of the twentieth century. Twelve seasons of the resumed research have brought, e.g. some completely new data concerning buildings related to the temple (i.e. the administrative building outside the southern enclosure wall, workshops north of the upper courtyard, and a house of the Ramesside priest called Khonsu at the northeast of the second courtyard), and allowed for the reconstruction of the course of the enclosure wall of the complex, as well as for some architectural restoration works. This paper also offers an overview through some of the most important finds collected so far during our research (e.g. fragments of reliefs, stelae and statues, inscribed and decorated lintels, foundation deposit, stoppers, ostraca, graffiti, and fragments of papyri) and presents the first results of their analysis: how these materials allow us to better understand the history and administration of the temple as well as what data they provide concerning the priests and the rituals which took place there.

Reabilitação cirúrgico-restauradora de dente anterior com fratura coronorradicular: relato de caso

Introdução: Fraturas em dentes anteriores podem ocasionar danos estéticos e funcionais. O tipo, disposição e extensão da fratura são determinantes para o prognóstico e tratamento. Objetivo: Relatar o manejo odontológico em paciente diagnosticado com fratura coronorradicular. Relato de caso: Paciente do sexo masculino, 13 anos de idade, compareceu ao Departamento de Odontopediatria e Ortodontia da FO-UFRJ com relato de trauma no dente 21 por queda da própria altura na escola há cerca de 3 meses. Clinicamente, observou-se uma linha de fratura na mesial e, através do exame radiográfico, observou-se a fratura no terço cervical da raiz, adjacente à parede pulpar. O dente afetado apresentou resposta positiva ao teste de vitalidade, negativa a dor por palpação/percussão e sem alteração periodontal. O plano de tratamento consistiu na cirurgia periodontal a retalho sem alívio e posterior colagem do fragmento. Conclusão: O atendimento pós-trauma deve ser imediato com o objetivo de possibilitar um tratamento eficaz sem sequelas. Neste relato de caso, o acompanhamento clínico realizado por uma equipe interdisciplinar proporcionou uma decisão terapêutica conservadora e estética através da técnica de colagem de fragmento.

A New Fragment from the Amarna Royal Tomb

A gypsum plaster relief fragment from the Amarna Royal Tomb is currently kept at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. The fragment consists of an addition to the corpus of relief fragments from the Royal Tomb compiled by G. T. Martin. This paper presents the object and contextualises the relief fragment within the decorative scheme of the Amarna Royal Tomb.

Borosilicate glass layers on Mycenaean glass: Surface alterations by glass–borax–gold interactions

Abstract A previous report (Moncke et al., PCG 2013) discussed the possible formation of a borosilicate layer on the surface of Late Bronze Age glass samples (Mycenaean period, excavated in Palaia Epidavros, Greece). Now, we investigate potential mechanisms for such suggested borate incorporation into the surface of alkali-lime silicate glasses. Since former studies reported that glass relief fragments have been found alongside gold foils featuring identical reliefs, we tested the hypothesis that borates could have been introduced through gold working via the reaction of a borax-treated gold foil with the silicate glass surface at elevated temperature. A borosilicate layer was successfully generated on replica soda lime silicate glass samples and identified by vibrational spectroscopy. Different approaches were used in order to merge gold sheets to the glass samples. At temperatures above 800 °C, borax could have been used either as a solder in the fusion process between a gold sheet and the glass surface, or borate was transferred from the gold sheet previously in contact with a borax melt, presumably for cleaning gold or during ore extraction. The depth of the borosilicate layer on the thus treated glasses extents from the surface several μm into the bulk glass as probed by micro-Raman and IR spectroscopy, while the dimensions of the spread across the glass surface can be visualized by neutron radiography.

Algunas hipótesis sobre el programa decorativo de las paredes en arenisca del Templo de Millones de Años de Tutmosis III

The archaeological excavations undertaken since 2008 in the Henket-ankh, the Temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III located on the West Bank of Thebes, have resulted in the discovery of a large number of relief fragments, both in sandstone and limestone. While a part of the sanctuary would have been made of limestone, sandstone was used for most decorated walls of the temple. The material is very fragmented, and very little of the original structures of the temple remains. However, its study has allowed us to elaborate hypotheses about some of the scenes that would have been represented, as well as to suggest possible reconstructions. They included, among others, the massacre and list of enemies or battle, a calendar of festivities, processions, the Ished tree or the king outfitted with the Heb Sed robe. These iconographic elements responded to an intentional program in which each type of representation, ritual or other, had its place in specific areas of the temple. These would be combined with scenes of offerings to the gods, in particular to Amun, guarantor at the same time than recipient of the king’s deeds. This paper aims to present an integral vision of what has been determined in terms of these scenes. Given the state of the material, the limitations that we face when it comes to deciphering this figurative discourse are manifest; however, the reliefs discovered in the Henket-ankh evidence the complexity of the decorative and symbolic program, as well as the quality of relief and polychrome, which once existed in the Temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III

Two relief fragments from the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari in the Egypt Centre, Swansea

During a student handling session at the Egypt Centre, Swansea University, two relief fragments from Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahari were identified. Both fragments had been cut from the walls of the temple, most likely in the late 19th century, before arriving in Swansea via the Wellcome collection in 1971. One fragment contains two columns of text (W351b) while the second depicts the head of a figure (W1376). This paper examines these two fragments, identifying the head of the figure as Hatshepsut’s daughter, the God’s Wife of Amun Neferure.

Tell el-Amarna, Autumn 2017 and Spring 2018

Fieldwork at Amarna in autumn 2017 and spring 2018 included excavation at a previously uninvestigated pit-grave cemetery, the North Cliffs Cemetery, on the low desert near the North Tombs. Initial results suggest the burials here are closer in character to those at the South Tombs Cemetery (excavated 2006–13) than at the North Tombs Cemetery (excavated 2015, 2017). Several post-excavation projects continued on materials from the North and South Tombs Cemeteries, including skeletal remains, coffins, hair, textiles, head cones, pottery and botanical materials, in addition to the ongoing recording of Kom el-Nana relief fragments and pottery from the Stone Village. A new site management programme, in partnership with the Ministry of Antiquities, was also launched.

Religion in the Achaemenid Persian Empire: Emerging Judaisms and Trends

Religion in the Achaemenid Persian Empire: Emerging Judaisms and Trends

New Relief Fragments from the Tomb of the Seafarer jnj

New Relief Fragments from the Tomb of the Seafarer <i>jnj</i>

Painting the Palace of Apries I: ancient binding media and coatings of the reliefs from the Palace of Apries, Lower Egypt

This study gives an account of the organic components (binders and coatings) found in the polychromy of some fragmented architectural reliefs from the Palace of Apries in Memphis, Egypt (26th Dynasty, ca. 589-568 BCE). A column capital and five relief fragments from the collections of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen were chosen for examination, selected because of their well-preserved polychromy. Samples from the fragments were first investigated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to screen for the presence of organic materials and to identify the chemical family to which these materials belong (proteinaceous, polysaccharides or lipid). Only the samples showing the potential presence of organic binder residues were further investigated using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection (GC–MS) targeting the analysis towards the detection and identification of compounds belonging to the chemical families identified by FTIR. The detection of polysaccharides in the paint layers on the capital and on two of the fragments indicates the use of plant gums as binding media. The interpretation of the sugar profiles was not straightforward so botanical classification was only possible for one fragment where the results of analysis seem to point to gum arabic. The sample from the same fragment was found to contain animal glue and a second protein material (possibly egg). While the presence of animal glue is probably ascribable to the binder used for the ground layer, the second protein indicates that either the paint layer was bound in a mixture of different binding materials or that the paint layer, bound in a plant gum, was then coated with a proteinaceous material. The surface of two of the investigated samples was partially covered by translucent waxy materials that were identified as a synthetic wax (applied during old conservation treatments) and as beeswax, respectively. It is possible that the beeswax is of ancient origin, selectively applied on yellow areas in order to create a certain glossiness or highlight specific elements.

The Leiden-Turin Archaeological Expedition to Saqqara: Preliminary Results of the 2019 Fieldwork Season.

In the 2019 season, the joint Leiden-Turin Expedition to Saqqara continued work in the area north of the tomb of Maya with the aim of lowering the terrain above the new tomb discovered during the 2018 season (V82.1) and to prepare the area for further exploration in 2020. Many layers of deposit situated immediately to the north of the new tomb were removed and – although they mostly originated from previous excavations in the 1980s and 1990s – systematically investigated. Several dumps of organic material such as linen and wood as well as numerous small finds and relief fragments were identified and recorded. In addition, existing storage facilities on site were renovated and upgraded. In this process, part of the underground structures of the tombs of Horemheb and Meryneith were surveyed by the 3D Survey Group (Politecnico di Milano). Thanks to the cooperation with the same Milanese team, a new documentation method was tested during the ongoing excavation work. Within a 3D-model the different stages of excavation were recorded, allowing the digital reconstruction of the stratigraphy of the whole area and the documentation of all finds in their original contexts. A Digital Surface Model of the entire concession area was also produced, and 3D-models of some of the previously excavated monumental tombs were created. Lastly, since heavy rainfalls had damaged many of the earlier excavated monumental tombs open to the public, they were consolidated and where necessary rebuilt. ملخص في موسم 2019، واصلت البعثة ليدن-تورينو المشتركة عملها في سقارة في المنطقة شمال قبر مايا، بهدف إزالة الأتربة التي تراكمت فوق القبر الجديد الذي اكتُشِف خلال موسم 2018 (V82.1) وإعداد المنطقة لموسم التنقيب لعام 2020. تمت إزالة العديد من طبقات الأتربة التي تغطي المنطقة الشمالية من القبر الجديد، بالرغم من أن هذه الرواسب تراكمت في الغالب بموجب الحفريات السابقة في الثمانينيات والتسعينيات، فقد تمت دراستها بشكل منهجي. قامت البعثة بالتنقيب وبتسجيل العديد من المواد العضوية مثل الكتان والخشب و غيرها من الشظايا واكتشافات أخرى صغيرة. كما أنه تم الكشف وتسجيل مرافق التخزين الموجودة في الموقع. من خلال هذه العملية، قام فريق الباحثين من الفرع التقني لجامعة ميلانو بمسح جزء من الهياكل تحت الأرض لمقابر حورمحب و مرينيث باستخدام الماسح ثلاثي الأبعاد. بفضل تعاون هذا الفريق، تم أثناء أعمال التنقيب اختبار طريقة جديدة في التوثيق. استناداً على النموذج ثلاثي الأبعاد، تم تسجيل مراحل التنقيب المختلفة مما سمح بإعادة البناء الرقمي للمنطقة بأكملها وتوثيق جميع الاكتشافات في أماكنها الأصلية. تم تنفيذ نموذج رقمي لكامل سطح المنطقة بالإضافة إلى إنشاء نماذج ثلاثية الأبعاد لبعض المقابر الأثرية التي نُقّب عنها سابقاً. وأخيراً، بما أن الأمطار الغزيرة ألحقت الضرر بالعديد من المقابر الأثرية المكتشفة سابقاً والمفتوحة لزيارة الجمهور، فقد تم تدعيمها وإعادة بناء الأقسام الضرورية.