FacesRevealed · Investigating the faces of Yellow Coffins through Photogrammetry. Comparison between 3D model and Digital twin for a new analysis of the manufacture, painting techniques and re-use.

Investigating the faces of Yellow Coffins through Photogrammetry. Comparison between 3D model and Digital twin for a new analysis of the manufacture, painting techniques and re-use.

The Faces Revealed Project has focused on a specific aspect of Ancient Egyptian yellow coffins that has never been analysed before: the geometry of the features which create the anthropoid forms. The approach adopted in this project combines digital technologies and traditional approaches and has opened up new avenues of research by providing important information on the production, style, chronology, and ancient reuse of the yellow coffins. Investigation of a corpus of 107 yellow coffins from the 19th to the early 22nd Dynasty (1290-874 BCE) has demonstrated the potential for identifying specific features through their geometry. It was thereby possible to suggest a contemporary production of coffins belonging to the same or different sets, by connecting specific elements. The way the forms (i.e. mouth, ears, or forearms) were rendered not only indicates a specific production style but also corroborates the theory of a common origin for the material. Similarly, these findings hint at the possibility of identifying the craftspeople operating in contemporary “workshops”. Moreover, comparison of the geometry of the coffins and its relation with the paint used can help to identify a chronological sequence within the coffins (set) themselves and also clarify their reuse. Among the project’s main results is the evolution of the forms over time, where a change is visible from the precise and detailed to the more schematic. This change is not abrupt but gradual, and in some cases, does not run simultaneously with the paint but occurs more slowly over time. Moreover, the existence and the coexistence of different styles, types, and a kind of autonomy in the rendering of forms and physiognomic features can be observed which make it difficult (but not impossible) to find two objects pertaining to different sets with identical or, at least, very close features. This variability of forms and individualism that characterize the coffins of the 21st Dynasty seems to stop abruptly at the beginning of the 22nd Dynasty when the stola coffins appear. Unlike the coffins of the earlier period, the stola have recognizable and standardized geometric features which affect all the pieces forming the set, from the outer coffin to the mummy boards. The stola coffins, are thus interchangeable objects, with such a specific and fixed style that they might suggest (for the first time) the existence of a possible "serial production" or their production by a unique craftsman/common “workshop”.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз