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Hildesheim (dpa / lni) - An around 2600 year old wooden sarcophagus from the holdings of the August Kestner Museum has returned to Hanover after nine months of restoration.
The Hildesheim restorer Jens Klocke, who specializes in organic materials and Egyptian objects, has been working on and examining the sarcophagus since April 2020.
This comes from Greek graves in Egypt and was brought to Hanover at the beginning of the 20th century.
During the restoration, the coffin was cleaned and any components that had fallen off were attached - the colors used and the types of wood were also determined.
The technical details can help "culturally classify such a rare object with both ancient Egyptian and Greek references", said Anne Viola Siebert, who is responsible for the collection.
With the help of the Hanover State Criminal Police Office, a yellow pigment, jarosite, which is particularly rarely used, was identified.
There is also evidence that the coffin is the oldest object to date on which white lead has been used.
"This means that it seems to have been used 300 years earlier than previously assumed," Siebert explained.
According to the museum, the sarcophagus comes from ancient Busiris.
This area was examined from 1902 to 1904 by the archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, who also discovered the bust of Nefertiti.
Of nine chest-shaped sarcophagi, two remained in Cairo.
Six came to Germany and were distributed to museums in Berlin, Leipzig, Bonn, Heidelberg and Hanover.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210125-99-163382 / 2
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