How much information can you get from a speck of purple pigment, no bigger than the diameter of a hair, plucked from an Egyptian portrait that’s nearly 2,000 years old?
Plenty, according to a new study. Analysis of that speck can teach us about how the pigment was made, what it’s made of–and maybe even a little about the people who made it. The study is published in the International Journal of Ceramic Engineering and Science.
“We’re very interested in understanding the meaning and origin of the portraits, and finding ways to connect them and come up with a cultural understanding of why they were even painted in the first place,” says materials scientist Darryl Butt, co-author of the study and dean of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences. [Read more…] about Science reveals secrets of a mummy’s portrait