Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CRAFT (Cartonnage Regionalism in the Ateliers of the Fayum Territory)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-07-01 do 2024-06-30
Graeco-Roman cartonnage artefacts represent a severely under-researched topic within Egyptological funerary studies. Although many collections preserve copious amounts of specimens, both in the galleries and in storage, these are rarely studied or published. Scattered pieces are mentioned in excavation reports, monographs, or in exhibition catalogues, but no comprehensively organised study exists on such kind of artefacts. Only recently, few studies have been dedicated to the scattered publication of selected cartonnage artefacts, while only one study started to investigate how cartonnage masks were manufactured. In view of this, the three-year MSCA project CRAFT is focusing on a specific cartonnage feature that has never been analysed before in a systematic way: the geometry of the facial and structural features. The approach adopted in this project combines digital technologies and traditional Egyptological approaches and is opening new directions of research by providing important information on the production, style, and regional craftsmanship of these important funerary artefacts.
CRAFT is a Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Actions Post-Doctoral Global Fellowship funded under the Horizon 2020 scheme. Its primary focus is to investigate degrees of variation within the regional production of funerary cartonnage of the Fayum Oasis, Egypt, during the Graeco-Roman Period. The project builds on previous research, commenced in 2014, and carried out by the present writer in the oases of Dakhleh and Kharga, aiming toward a global mapping of the regional cartonnage manufacturing trends in the Egyptian Western Desert. CRAFT will examine cartonnage artefacts (among which masks, pectorals, leg covers, foot-cases, full body covers etc.) held in museums and private collections worldwide employing a multidisciplinary methodology involving 3D scanning, photogrammetry and XRF, to clarify aspects of the manufacturing process as the use of specific moulds, pigments, and other regional features.
The Overall Objectives of the Project are:
• To reach a first, exhaustive characterisation of the cartonnage stylistic features throughout the Fayum. CRAFT investigates how iconographic and textual evidence change on cartonnage artefacts manufactured throughout the Oasis, in order to understand degrees of permanence and change from site to site. Through this objective, a new, general assessment of the religious themes common in the Oasis during the Graeco-Roman Period will be achieved.
•To investigate how cartonnage artefacts were manufactured. CRAFT studies studies the artefacts with digital technology and archaeometric examinations in order to understand which techniques were used by the craftsmen. This innovative workflow, paired with the stylistic study mentioned above, will contribute to identify ateliers of production throughout the oasis.
•To ascertain degrees of difference and interconnectedness in the cartonnage production within regions of the Western Egyptian desert (namely the oases of Fayum, Dakhla, and Kharga).
CRAFT is a Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Actions Post-Doctoral Global Fellowship funded under the Horizon 2020 scheme. Its primary focus is to investigate degrees of variation within the regional production of funerary cartonnage of the Fayum Oasis, Egypt, during the Graeco-Roman Period. The project builds on previous research, commenced in 2014, and carried out by the present writer in the oases of Dakhleh and Kharga, aiming toward a global mapping of the regional cartonnage manufacturing trends in the Egyptian Western Desert. CRAFT will examine cartonnage artefacts (among which masks, pectorals, leg covers, foot-cases, full body covers etc.) held in museums and private collections worldwide employing a multidisciplinary methodology involving 3D scanning, photogrammetry and XRF, to clarify aspects of the manufacturing process as the use of specific moulds, pigments, and other regional features.
The Overall Objectives of the Project are:
• To reach a first, exhaustive characterisation of the cartonnage stylistic features throughout the Fayum. CRAFT investigates how iconographic and textual evidence change on cartonnage artefacts manufactured throughout the Oasis, in order to understand degrees of permanence and change from site to site. Through this objective, a new, general assessment of the religious themes common in the Oasis during the Graeco-Roman Period will be achieved.
•To investigate how cartonnage artefacts were manufactured. CRAFT studies studies the artefacts with digital technology and archaeometric examinations in order to understand which techniques were used by the craftsmen. This innovative workflow, paired with the stylistic study mentioned above, will contribute to identify ateliers of production throughout the oasis.
•To ascertain degrees of difference and interconnectedness in the cartonnage production within regions of the Western Egyptian desert (namely the oases of Fayum, Dakhla, and Kharga).
At this intermediate stage of the Project, the investigation was carried out in 36 museums, private collections, and research institutions worldwide (US, Asia and Oceania, Europe, Africa), recording an impressive total of 242 artefacts, including 127 mummy masks and fragments of masks, 39 foot-cases and fragments, 28 chest covers, 46 between collars and intermediate elements, and 3 full body coverings. A total of 20 mummies with cartonnage has also been scanned.
The preliminary results already show great potential for the success of the action, as well as for the future involvement of the Egyptological community. Some of the preliminary results include:
• The 3D scanning activity and subsequent 3D shape comparison of the artefacts successfully identified precise clusters of objects that show specific workmanship techniques.
• The retracing of the geographical provenience for several museum pieces highlighted the sound methodology of the project. Thanks to the stylistic and shape comparison, the researcher was able to re-assign the correct geographical provenience for objects which had an incorrect information record, or no provenience at all, thus helping the curatorial and Egyptological community.
• The 3D scanning activity and subsequent 3D shape comparison of the artefacts successfully identified precise clusters of objects that show specific workmanship techniques.
• The retracing of the geographical provenience for several museum pieces highlighted the sound methodology of the project. Thanks to the stylistic and shape comparison, the researcher was able to re-assign the correct geographical provenience for objects which had an incorrect information record, or no provenience at all, thus helping the curatorial and Egyptological community.