Digital documentation and visualisation

During the last fieldwork season at Saqqara, we also focused our efforts on creating detailed digital documentation of one of the funerary monuments at Saqqara West. The rock-hewn chapel that belonged to Merefnebef, a courtier who rose to the rank of vizier during the 6th Dynasty, contains invaluable pictorial records of the natural environment and life in the Memphite region towards the end of the Old Kingdom. Despite the millennia that have passed since the funerary chapel was completed, the imagery remains striking with its detailed work, reality of the representations of flora and fauna, and the vibrancy of the paint colours originally used.

The funerary chapel of Merefnebef is not the only such monument uncovered at Saqqara West, but certainly one with the richest pictorial decorations that attest to the life in the region during the time of its construction, making it an invaluable source of knowledge about the local environment. Since its discovery in 1997 by the team of Professor Karol Myśliwiec, the funerary chapel has been undergoing painstaking restoration with utmost efforts to stabilise its fragile condition. Because of it, it is unlikely that the funerary chapel will ever be made available to the general public for viewing like many other monuments across the Saqqara necropolis. The 2004 publication of the funerary chapel remains the only way to become acquainted with its beautiful decorations and the life story of its owner inscribed on the walls.

Earlier this year, Iwona was successful in securing a small funding to turn new digital records of the funerary chapel into 3D model to enable visualization of the entire monument. We anticipate the work to be completed in the next couple of months, after which the 3D model will be made available to all via the University of Warsaw data repository system. We will keep you posted on this exciting development.

The funding for this project has been provided by the Centre for Research on Ancient Civilisations (CRAC), University of Warsaw, in the 14th edition of Small Grants, part of IDUB I.3.11 Ancient Societies in Action funding scheme.