{"id":55851,"date":"2019-04-23T15:14:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T19:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=55851"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:55:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:55:52","slug":"documenting-tutankhamen-tomb","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/documenting-tutankhamen-tomb\/","title":{"rendered":"Documenting King Tut’s Tomb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Documenting King Tut's Tomb\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Since it was discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, the tomb of King Tutankhamen<\/a> has been one of the most significant \u2014 and most visited \u2014 cultural heritage sites in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But thousands of tourists who descend on Egypt\u2019s Valley of the Kings each year, and the humidity, carbon dioxide and dust they inadvertently bring into Tutankhamen\u2019s 3,300-year-old tomb, has a destructive impact on the elaborate wall paintings inside the pharaoh\u2019s burial chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years ago, the Los Angeles-based Getty Conservation Institute<\/a> (GCI), in collaboration with Egypt\u2019s Ministry of Antiquities, began a major research, conservation and infrastructure improvement project<\/a> to safeguard the site, improve the experience for visitors and create a sustainable plan for continued management of the tomb. In 2017, the Carleton Immersive Media Studio<\/a> (CIMS) was engaged by the GCI<\/a> to document King Tut’s tomb and its decorated surfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Documenting
Photo provided by CIMS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The conservation project was completed late last year<\/a>, and the photography that has emerged highlights one of the contributions of CIMS. The restored wall paintings vividly come to life with the help of a new lighting setup that was designed with data provided by a team led by Prof. Mario Santana Quintero.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor us, it was an outstanding opportunity to be involved in such an important project,\u201d says Santana Quintero, an Architectural Conservation and Sustainability<\/a> scholar on faculty with CIMS. \u201cThe Getty Conservation Institute is one of the world\u2019s leading-edge institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe experience inside King Tut\u2019s tomb is incredible,\u201d continues Santana Quintero, who first visited the site as a tourist travelling around the region when he was in his mid-20s.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cBut one shortcoming was always the lighting. Now you can really appreciate and admire the colours. This is a great example of what you can do to protect a site and show it off to visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although many treasures from King Tut’s tomb are now housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the tomb \u201cstill houses a handful of original objects, including the mummy of Tutankhamen himself (on display in an oxygen-free case), the quartzite sarcophagus with its granite lid on the floor beside it, the gilded wooden outermost coffin, and the wall paintings of the burial chamber that depict Tut\u2019s life and death,\u201d says CGI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConservation and preservation (are) important for the future,\u201d Zahi Hawass, the former minister of State for Antiquities in Egypt who initiated the project with the GCI, said in a press release, \u201cand for this heritage and this great civilization to live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Documenting<\/figure>\n\n\n

Documenting and Preserving Some of the World\u2019s Most Important Heritage Sites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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From the subterranean mystique of King Tut’s tomb and the sunbaked 1,000-year-old temples of Bagan, Myanmar, to the ancient homes on Bahrain\u2019s Pearl Road and the earthquake-damaged earthen buildings in Katmandu, Santana Quintero and his students painstakingly work<\/a> to help document and preserve some of the world\u2019s most important heritage sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2017, Santana Quintero, Heritage Engineering master\u2019s student Alex Federman and CIMS instructor Christian Ouimet spent nearly two weeks laser scanning and taking detailed photographs inside both Tutankhamen\u2019s tomb and the nearby tomb of Queen Nefertari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The orthorectified (or geometrically-corrected) images and photogrammetry data they captured in Tutankhamen\u2019s burial chamber was used to generate digital maps and meshed surface models that represented with extreme accuracy the textured three-dimensional relief of the wall paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe data we collected was of very high quality,\u201d says Santana Quintero, \u201cand captures the current as-found state of the tomb after restoration. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as structural analysis of the site.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This information was given to the GCI, who shared it with the project\u2019s lighting consultant, Studio Three Twenty One.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Documenting
Prof. Mario Santana Quintero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMario and the team were very helpful in helping us get the modelling data into a format that the lighting designer could import into his programs,\u201d says CGI project specialist Sara Lardinois, explaining that, ultimately, two-foot-long LED lighting fixtures in a continuous aluminum enclosure with adjustable feet were placed on the ground. The lighting system was set back from the wall to minimize grazing the wall texture, which can interfere with the legibility of the paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cAll of these models and floor plans allowed the lighting designer to do analysis and generate simulations showing what different lighting solutions could look like,\u201d says Lardinois.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThis the new lighting helps people really<\/em> see the wall paintings. If you can\u2019t read the iconography, it hinders your experience in the tomb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the lighting and restoration work on the paintings themselves, other improvements in the tomb include a new ventilation system to filter out dust and humidity, new interpretive signage, and a new viewing platform in the antechamber that allows visitors to see the paintings while preventing anybody from accidentally (or intentionally) touching the walls.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cAll of this had to be designed and installed in a way that didn\u2019t impact the archaeology,\u201d says Lardinois, noting that a detailed floor plan and cross-section model of the tomb produced by CIMS helped with this process.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cEvery surface is historically important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Lardinois, Santana Quintero and others involved in the project, it\u2019s hard not to focus on the technical details and the challenges of working in a confined space. (The tomb is 122 square metres, with a 58-square-metre covered entry area.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut then you step back at look at the 3,000-year-old wall paintings, or the sarcophagus in the middle of the room, and I\u2019m never not amazed,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that happens every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a remarkable experience for us to have an opportunity to work in the tomb with all of our partners and consultants, including Carleton,\u201d adds Lardinois. \u201cIt\u2019s been a hugely collaborative effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Documenting<\/figure>\n\n\n

Training Egyptian Conservators in the tomb of King Tutankhamen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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In addition to the data capture and documentation, Santana Quintero and his CIMS colleagues also helped train a pair of Egyptian conservators who were working on the Tutankhamen project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They did intensive one-on-one instruction on documentation techniques, equipment usage and software workflow. This training, in fact, occupied the majority of their time in the tomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have a lack of equipment, but not a lack of willingness,\u201d says Santana Quintero.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI was very impressed by the Egyptian trainees.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now that the project in King Tut\u2019s tomb is finished, Santana Quintero \u2014 who is currently on sabbatical and spending three months with the GCI in Los Angeles doing research on ethical principles for the application of digital workflows in heritage conservation \u2014 has turned his attention to the sprawling Paphos archaeological site<\/a> on Cyrpus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Documenting<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The GCI and Cyprian Department of Antiquities (DoA) have been collaborating at the Roman-era site since the mid-1980s, beginning with a mosaic conservation project, and are now preparing a conservation and management master plan for the Nea Paphos UNESCO World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To provide the groundwork for that plan, CIMS was commissioned to produce a digital record of the as-found conditions of the site. The project is intended to help improve visitor understanding and experience, and to provide the GCI and DoA with the capacity to use the heritage information system to guide conservation objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this hands-on work is an excellent example of experiential learning, says Santana Quintero, for the Carleton students who participate.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t do these projects to make money,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe do them for conservation purposes, and to create opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, so they can develop the skills and experience that the non-profit and private sectors require, and so they can help us advance the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Documenting<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since it was discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, the tomb of King Tutankhamen has been one of the most significant \u2014 and most visited \u2014 cultural heritage sites in the world. But thousands of tourists who descend on Egypt\u2019s Valley of the Kings each year, and the humidity, carbon dioxide and dust they inadvertently bring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":55860,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13],"cu_story_tag":[1918,1926],"class_list":["post-55851","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design","cu_story_tag-international"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/55851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/55851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97326,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/55851\/revisions\/97326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=55851"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=55851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}