Painting Amara West: The Technology and Experience of Colour in New Kingdom Nubia

Abstract

• The first in a series of volumes generated by the British Museum's Amara West Research Project, this explores the use of pigments and the experience of colour in the town founded around 1300BC as a centre of the pharaonic administration of Upper Nubia (Kush). Combining scientific analyses, archaeological fieldwork, and modern ethnographic perspectives, the research provides nuanced perspectives on lived experience at Amara West. This study outlines the evidence for paint products at the site from pigments, palettes, grindstones, painted walls, and coffin fragments, and uses several scientific techniques to identify the materials used. The evidence is used alongside interviews with current residents of the area around Amara West, and experiments with grinding and painting, to discuss the importance of the process of collecting and preparing the paint in ancient times, and its place in the interconnected taskspaces in the ancient town.