Identification of Painting Layers of Sennefer Tomb by Ion Beam Analysis

Egypt has many pharaonic tombs for kings, queens and noblemen. The Sennefer tomb, one of the most important nobleman tombs, is located in the southern hillside of Sheikh Abd El-Qurna - west side of Luxor. It is dated back to 1439-1413 B.C. (18th Dynasty) and is usually referred as the Tomb of Vines, due to the large part of the ceiling of the burial chamber. The vine tomb was carved inside a mountain, its walls are covered with plaster and were painted using the tempera technique (pigments mixed with organic binding medium). The analysis was performed by using particle-induced X-ray emission, microbeam particle-induced X-ray emission and optical microscope for the six samples from the Vine tomb such as white, black, red, yellow, blue and green pigments and for the ground layers of the tomb in order to identify the composition of plaster layers and pigments. The data about the nature of these materials are indispensable for conservation and cleaning.