Teresa Dziedzic

El Fuerte de Samaipata is a pre-Hispanic archaeological site in Bolivia that has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its main part – the rock – is densely covered with a complex arrangement of terraces, platforms, water reservoirs, channels, and petroglyphs. The rapidly progressing erosion of the rock is making the petroglyphs less and less clear, and some are no longer recognisable. The main topic of this study is to indicate all risk factors conducive to erosion and to create risk maps identifying the most vulnerable areas that require immediate conservation intervention. Parallel mineralogical and petrographic studies show that the Samaipata rock is a quartz-rich, porous, well-sorted sandstone, classified as quartz arenite or subarcosic arenite. The cement of the rock is composed of quartz overgrowth and ubiquitous, pore-filling hematite-clay aggregates containing non-expanding kaolinite, illite, and expanding smectite. The rock exhibits different stages of weathering, from relatively fresh to strongly altered and heavily cracked. In comparison to fresh rock, the latter has cement enriched in clay minerals and is depleted in hematite due to weathering and the dissolution of the iron-bearing phase.

In the first section, the authors wish to present a short story of the reconstruction works on the sculpture of Queen Hatshepsut as Osiris which is situated in the northern Lower Portico of Hunting of the Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari. Later, the results of architectural research and of studies regarding the design of the correct reconstruction of the statue will be presented. The design was prepared by architects from the Polish-Egyptian Archeological and Conservation Mission in the Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari in Egypt. Two architects-Teresa Dziedzic (the main architect of the mission) and Mariusz Caban-undertook an attempt to verify mistakes in the reconstructed monument. The incorrect reconstruction took place in the 1930s and was conducted by American mission led by H.E. Winlock. The sculpture presents the Queen Hatshepsut as Osiris decorated with the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt. The statue with the crown reached the upper edge of the wall of the northern porch. Sculptor Wojciech Myjak is working on the reconstruction of the statue. He is also behind the method of reconstructing the statues of the façade of the Upper Porch. Another artist and sculptor-Andrzej Sośnierz-also participates in the project and he is in charge of the reconstruction of the head of the second colossus of the Queen, whose original location was most probably the southern wing of the Obelisk Porch.

The article presents the results of physico-chemical analyses of a few masonry mortar and whitewash samples taken in the mid-1990s from the Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari. The mineralogical characteristic of the samples contributes to the body of knowledge on the composition of these masonry mortars and their structure, while at the same time encouraging further research on a greater number of samples.

The article presents the results of physico-chemical analyses of a few masonry mortar and whitewash samples taken in the mid-1990s from the Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari. The mineralogical characteristic of the samples contributes to the body of knowledge on the composition of these masonry mortars and their structure, while at the same time encouraging further research on a greater number of samples.

This paper describes the conservation actions taken at the excavation site in Old Dongola, in northern Sudan. In
connection with the decision to create on that area the archaeological park, it was necessary to perform works to
secure discovered objects and preparing them to explore. The work done in the 2013 season included the
construction of a barrier protecting against sand and fencing in area of the future park as well as preparation to
make the building of the Throne Room available for visitors.