With Argentinian techniques, they will investigate an Egyptian tomb of 3,500 years

An Argentine archaeologist will study the signs of a 3500-year-old tomb in Egypt, using a methodology that he developed for 10 years with other researchers in the Alto Ancasti mountain range, in Catamarca, to decipher rock paintings.

In a dialogue with Telam, Lucas Gheco explained today from Egypt that the project he had been called to was a joint mission of Argentinean and Brazilian researchers, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities of Luxor, Antigua Thebes.

"We brought to Egypt a development that Argentine science has used in the caves of Alto Ancasti in the east of Catamarca province, which is my greatest satisfaction," he said. the archaeologist who works in a tomb 3,500 years ago.

The tomb belonged to Amenemhat, a scribe, supervisor of the granaries and breadstand who lived during the reign of Tutmosis III, governor of Egypt during the period (1479 – 1425 BC), said the professor and researcher of Conicet – National University of Catamarca. (A CA).

The purpose of the proposal is to apply in Egypt what more than ten years of experience have been acquired by the archaeologists of the Oyola Caves, in the region of Alto Ancasti, in Catamarca.

"From the combination of a meticulous visual badysis of the walls, the excavation of the cave soil sediments and the chemical badysis of small samples of paintings, we have been able to recognize an extensive historical process and transformations of the stone friezes. "said the expert, originally from Santa Fe, who has lived in Catamarca since 2006.

Gheco is part of a working group of researchers and students from Conicet, UNCA, the National University of San Martín (UNSAM) and the University. of Córdoba (UNC).

Now, this same method is the one that "we will try to transfer to Egypt, although for the moment limited to the visual badysis of the walls", he said, pointing out that the initiative had a perspective of badysis that brought them closer to a vision of the past. it expresses "the complexity of history, its nuances, its changes and its tensions".

"The project will study the transformation of engravings and paintings, which is why the research goes beyond the period of the pharaohs," insisted the scientist.

The investigation "extends until the time when the marks of those who occupied it (the Copts) at the beginning of the Christian era were carved on the walls from the tomb of Amenemhat, as well as for 200 years, where it was inhabited by the present inhabitants of Egypt. "

"Egyptian archeology is much more than the pharaohs period," said Gheco, explaining that "the tomb was an inhabited house until 2006, when the inhabitants were expelled by the Egyptian government so to protect the graves. "

For this reason, he stressed that the project – in addition to theoretical, historical and methodological interests – had a strong political commitment to save "the forgotten of history" from traditional approaches.

The project is led by Bernarda Marconetto, researcher at Conicet of the Institute of Anthropology of Córdoba and by José Pellini, of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The "decolonial" look seeks to highlight those historical episodes that are usually hidden "when archeology focuses solely on the Pharaonic period, kings or the upper clbades," concluded the archaeologist. (Télam)