LEGO used to restore ancient Egyptian sarcophagus

It looks like LEGO is about to be ranked up there with the Swiss Army knife, after it helped archeologists restore a 3,000-year-old mummy case to its former shape.

 

The sarcophagus, which had been in the possession of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, was found in 1896 in bad shape, Patheos.com reported.
 

"The mummy case was found in the Ramesseum at Thebes in 1896. The gilded wooden face had been torn out by robbers and the mummy removed," it said.

 

Exposure to damp conditions also caused structural problems along with cracking and instability in the painted decoration.

 

Archeologists used LEGO to conserve the cartonnage, a linen papier mache, by building frames to support the delicate case during conservation and a new display case with internal supports.

 

Reshaping cartonnage

 

The conservators tried to reshape the cartonnage by using humidity to soften it, but introducing water into the material was risky as the surface can be damaged by moisture.

 

With help from the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering final-year student David Knowles, they built a frame to suspend Hor face-down while the reshaping was carried out.

 

They used wooden frames and moldable materials designed for medical use to support Hor for weeks at a time, and let conservator Sophie Rowe reshape the cartonnage.

 

After Rowe reshaped the chest and face and stabilised the surface, Knowles designed and built a display mount for the mummy case.

 

But an important part of this is the internal support that ensures the structure cannot collapse again in the future.

 

Enter LEGO

 

Here's where LEGO comes into the picture: six light structures made from the plastic brick were placed inside the chest cavity.

 

"They are adjustable using screw threads, and are padded with archival foam where they are in contact with the ancient surface," Patheos said.

 

The result? A sarcophagus restored to its former glory, with an internal LEGO support system, Gizmodo noted.

 

"This is just further proof that there is literally nothing that LEGO can't do," it said. — TJD, GMA News