Tracing Technoscapes: The Production of Bronze Age Wall Paintings in the Eastern Mediterranean

Colourful surface treatments form an integral element of vernacular and élite architecture of ancient societies. This is also true for the various regions of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd millennium B.C.E., where elaborate wall paintings furnished temples, tombs, palatial buildings, and in general more elaborate houses. From a present-day perspective, these rich images provide invaluable insights into past realities as well as interconnections between different visual systems. However, beyond stunning images, the materiality of wall paintings implicates a whole range of specific technical choices and gestures executed during the artistic process. The bodies of knowledge immanent in the practice of plaster and pigment preparation, in the application of paint and in the conception and execution of compositions allow us to compare the wall painting corpora of the Eastern Mediterranean on a technical level and to trace differences and similarities in a cross-cultural perspective.

Evolved from an interdisciplinary workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, this volume provides insights into the various technical approaches and underlying bodies of knowledge in the different wall painting traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia and throws light on the way and extent of their possible interwovenness. Moreover, it seeks to overcome regional as well as disciplinary isolation of technical studies by bringing together authors of different scientific backgrounds ranging between Conservational Studies, Archaeometry, Prehistory, Egyptology, as well as Western Asiatic and Classical Archaeology. In doing so, the book permits an interdisciplinary perspective on this field of study.

This book is equally intended for archaeologists, art historians, conservators and the interested layperson and hopes to stimulate more research in this direction in future.

Contents

Tracing Technoscapes in the Production of Eastern Mediterranean Wall Paintings. An Introduction
Constance von Rüden, Johannes Jungfleisch, and Johannes Becker

Western Asia

Wall Painting Techniques in Early Bronze Syria. Clues of Parallelism with the Traditions of the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian Regions
Alessandro Di Ludovico and Marco Ramazzotti

Contextes techniques et historiques des peintures murales du grand palais royal de Mari. Une mise au point
Béatrice Muller

Preliminary Remarks on the Technical and Iconographical Aspects of the Middle Bronze Age Wall Paintings from Tell el-Burak (Lebanon) in Relation to the Aegean and Egypt
Julia Bertsch

The Advantages of Visible Induced Luminescence Technique for the Investigation of Aegean-style Wall Painting. A Case Study from Tel Kabri, Israel
Ravit Linn, Eric Cline, and Assaf Yasur-Landau

Egypt

Original Painting Techniques. Methods and Materials in 18th Dynasty Tombs, in the Valley of the Nobles, Egypt
Bianca Madden and Hugues Tavier

Malqata - The Painted Palace
Peter Lacovara and Alexandra Winkels

How to Paint a Landscape. Technical Perspectives on the 'Aegean'-style Landscape Paintings from Tell el-Dab'a
Johannes Becker

For Further Information Please See the Back of the Plaster. Architectural Impressions in the 'Aegean'-style Wall Paintings from Tell el-Dab'a
Johannes Jungfleisch

Between Common Craft Tradition and Deviation. The Making of Stucco Reliefs in the Eastern Mediterranean
Constance von Rüden and Tobias Skowronek

The Aegean

Forming the Image. Approaches to Painting at Ayia Irini, Kea and Tell el-Dab'a
Lyvia Morgan

The Find Contexts of Knossian Relief Wall Paintings. Some Ramifications
Matthew Haysom

Bronze Age Wall Paintings from Thebes. Technical Aspects and State of Conservation
Sofia Michailoglou, Maria Kaoglou, and Asterios Bakolas