The Egyptian Execration Statuettes (EES) Project

The EES project aims to create multi-spectral 3D images of a series of fragile Egyptian objects of the RMAH collection in order to avoid future handling and facilitate their detailed study. The texture/colour values on these 2D+ and 3D models are interactive data based on a recording process with visible light, infrared and ultraviolet. This leads to an easy and cost-effective methodology, applicable to a wide variety of Egyptian heritage objects with pigments on clay, wood and stone. As a case-study, the well-known Brussels “Execration Statuettes” (Middle Kingdom, ca. 1900 BC) have been chosen. Their surface is covered with hieratic texts, written in two types of ink (black carbon and red ochre), listing names of foreign countries and places. The study of this type of collections is mostly hampered by the poor state of conservation of the objects (in this case unbaked crude clay) - any operation carried on them can result in considerable material losses - and secondly, by the only partial preservation of the ink traces in visible light. Thus, creating an approach which requires minimal handling but delivers maximal output for research and conservation purposes must be seen as most welcoming. In addition, the system presents itself as an easy by scholars to use tool and transportable to any collection or excavation in the field. This project is financed by the Belgian Science Policy (Belspo): BRAIN.be. This lecture will focus on the first preliminary results of the project.