AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

King Tutankhamun's tomb (the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom) was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, situated in the Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor. Among the finds were textiles, considered an essential component of the burial. These textiles provide valuable insights into the history, craftsmanship, and cultural significance of ancient Egyptian textiles. Tutankhamun's textiles were intricately woven and often adorned with elaborate patterns and motifs, typically featuring religious symbols, mythological creatures, or scenes from ancient Egyptian life. Despite the scarcity of surviving ancient Egyptian textiles, the collection from Tutankhamun's tomb presents a remarkable opportunity to illuminate this aspect of ancient Egyptian identity. Carter recognized the significance of these findings and emphasized the need for meticulous study and careful preservation of the materials found in the tomb.

The majority of ancient Egyptian textiles were made of linen, derived from the bast fiber, flax. The vast assortment of fabric discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb includes various items like garments, gloves, shrouds, sashes, cloth covers for statues, loincloths, and headgears. These findings provide valuable insights into fabric usage during the Eighteenth Dynasty. However, the collection arrived in poor condition due to inappropriate storage conditions at the Egyptian Museum since its discovery.

The research aimed to preserve the collection through an interdisciplinary approach. Preventive conservation is emphasized to safeguard the collection for future generations. The focus is on the preventive conservation plan which was applied to prepare and preserve the collection for display at the Grand Egyptian Museum. Given the fragile nature of these artifacts, a comprehensive and multidisciplinary strategy was required, extending beyond physical preservation to consider their historical identity.

This research highlights the challenges and obstacles we faced during our work to preserve and store the collection. Different types of challenges like the diversity of the collection forced us to explore the best methods, technologies, and scientific approaches for conserving the unique collection of ancient Egyptian textiles.

Part of the collection was very fragile and carbonized which led us to focus on preventive conservation techniques to minimize intervention and ensure the long-term preservation of these valuable historical artifacts. Another part suffered because of the previous intervention, which affected the collection badly. In some cases, the previous intervention changed the characterization and the archaeological context of the object, which posed a high challenge.

Mounting more than 200 pieces was a big challenge because of the diversity we faced and the different obstacles that took us time to manage and deal with in order to achieve the main objective of preserving the textile collection.

This study offers a valuable chance for conservators to learn about the challenging choices made while managing numerous rare and valuable objects as well as the teamwork and planning techniques based on recent scientific approaches.