TITLE:
Diagnosis and Damage Assessment of Weathered Quartzite Colossi of 18th Dynasty from Karnak Temple, Egypt
AUTHORS:
Abd Elhakim A. El-Badry, Abdelkareem E. Ahmed, Nabil A. Bader
KEYWORDS:
Colossi, Quartzite, Karnak Temple, Deterioration, Conservation Concepts
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.7 No.1,
January
18,
2017
ABSTRACT: The Egyptian Pharaonic temples are traditionally
made of different stones (limestone granite, diorite, or sandstone and
quartzite) shaped into large heavy blocks or as Colossal statues. One of these
is the colossi of Thutmose II and Amenhotep III at Karnak temple which made out
of red quartzite from Gebel el-Ahmar, located at north-east of Cairo. Quartzite
is one of the famous stones that were widely used during the heights of ancient
Egyptian civilization. The Colossi of Thutmose II and Amenhotep III were subjected
to many exogenous and endogenous deterioration factors which causes of a severe
damage of the stone materials. In this study we documented the weathering of
these quartzite colossal statues using field recording and laboratory analysis
to evaluate their conservation state. Weathering and deterioration aspects
noted through light optical microscope (LOM), polarizing microscope (PM) and
scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mineralogical characterization was
performed using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Energy dispersive analysis
(EDX). The mineralogy and weathering study of quartzite on the Colossi of
Thutmose II and Amenhotep III illustrate a succession of geochemical processes
which have taken place at the colossi and it revealed that, they need for quick
intervention.