ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Sealed away: revealing ‘relics’ in Egyptian bronze votive boxes through Neutron-Imaging

Abstract: This project concerns Ancient Egyptian bronze containers, known as relic-boxes. Believed to contain the mummified body of the creature represented on the box, they form a significant material expression of the animal cult which flourished in Egypt during the 1st millennium BC. The proposed experiment would investigate with neutron imaging the content of six still sealed leaded bronze boxes, topped with figures of lizard, cobra and eel, and, dated to the 7th-4th century BC. Recent X-ray CT-scans have determined the presence of material in most, though the identification of the content remains limited due to the high attenuation of X-rays from the leaded bronze cases. Neutrons can easily penetrate dense materials and are very sensitive to organic matter, making neutron imaging the ideal method to reveal the boxes’ sacred content.

Principal Investigator: Dr Aurélia Masson-Berghoff
Experimenter: Ms Laura Perucchetti
Local Contact: Dr Winfried Kockelmann
Experimenter: Dr Anna Fedrigo
Experimenter: Dr Daniel O'Flynn
Experimenter: Mr Mark Haswell
Experimenter: Miss Caroline Barton

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1910562

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1910562

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Aurélia Masson-Berghoff et al; (2019): Sealed away: revealing ‘relics’ in Egyptian bronze votive boxes through Neutron-Imaging, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1910562

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.