El Blog de Ana Vazquez Hoys

Una vez más, hay que desaprender, como yo decía hace años en el programa de radio La Linterna de la SER.Entre otras cosas, porque el mundo antiguo es fascinante, cambiante, desconocido, sorprendente. Y la Historia puede cambiar de un día para otro.

Basta con que aparezca un nuevo documento. O varíe en algo uno ya conocido.

Tal es el caso de famoso busto de Nefertiti. No era normal tanta belleza.¿O si?…

El caso está ahí, sosprendiendo a todos. Pero por mucho que sea falso o verdadero, tenga imperfecciones o nefertiti fuese gorda o fea, me da lo mismo: El busto es MARAVILLOSO.

In this undated photo composite released Tuesday, March 31, 2009 by the Radiological Society of North America, the bust of Nefertiti is shown. Researchers in Germany have used a modern medical procedure to uncover a secret within one of ancient Egypt’s most treasured artworks _ the bust of Nefertiti has two faces.

The differences between the faces, though slight _ creases at the corners of the mouth, a bump on the nose of the stone version _ suggest to Dr. Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin’s Charite hospital and medical school, that someone expressly ordered the adjustments between stone and stucco when royal sculptors immortalized the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten 3,300 years ago.

PATRICK McGROARTY

Associated Press Writer

Published: March 31, 2009

Berlin - Researchers in Germany have used a modern medical procedure to uncover a secret within one of ancient Egypt’s most treasured artworks — the bust of Nefertiti has two faces.

A team led by Dr. Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin’s Charite hospital and medical school, discovered a detailed stone carving that differs from the external stucco face when they performed a computed tomography, or CT, scan on the bust.

The findings, published Tuesday in the monthly journal Radiology, are the first to show that the stone core of the statue is a highly detailed sculpture of the queen, Huppertz said.

“Until we did this scan, how deep the stucco was and whether a second face was underneath it was unknown,” he said. “The hypothesis was that the stone underneath was just a support.”

The differences between the faces, though slight — creases at the corners of the mouth, a bump on the nose of the stone version — suggest to Huppertz that someone expressly ordered the adjustments between stone and stucco when royal sculptors immortalized the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten 3,300 years ago.

“Changes were made, but some of them are positive, others are negative,” Huppertz said.

John H. Taylor, a curator for Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum in London, said the scan raises interesting questions about why the features were adjusted — but that answers will probably remain elusive.

“One could deduce that the final version was considered in some way more acceptable than the ‘hidden’ one, though caution is needed in attempting to explain the significance of these changes,” Taylor wrote in an e-mail.

The bust underwent a similar CT scan in 1992. But the more primitive scanner used then only generated cross sections of the statue every 5 millimeters — not enough detail, Huppertz said, to reveal the subtlety of the carving hidden just 1-2 millimeters under the stucco.

Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt discovered the bust in 1912 and added it to Berlin’s Egyptian collection on Museum Island, a cluster of five neoclassical art halls that make up one of the city’s most familiar landmarks.

Currently on display at the Altes Museum, the bust will move next door when the Neues Museum reopens in October after a lengthy restoration by British architect David Chipperfield.

In 2007, Wildung denied a request from Egypt’s antiquities chief to borrow the bust for an exhibition, saying it was too fragile to transport. Huppertz said the results of his scan added credence to that claim.

Taylor, the British Museum curator, said the better understanding of the bust’s structure will also help preserve it.

“The findings are particularly significant for the information they shed on the constructional process and the subsurface condition of the bust, which will be of value in ensuring its long-term survival in good condition” Taylor said.

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On the Net:

http://radiology.rsnajnls.org

We don’t get the National Geographic Channel on our TV, but apparently last night on the show Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty they used a Siemens 64 slice CT scanner to reveal the contents of the bust shown here…

The bust of Nefertiti stored at Berlin’s Altes Museum, is one of the most renowned works of ancient Egyptian sculpture. Fifteen years ago, a computed tomography (CT) scan of the bust revealed that a second structure was hidden inside. This structure was presumed to be a cast of the subject’s face, but the image resolution was too poor to be conclusive. With recent advances in CT scanning, researchers called for a repeat scan to document the structure within the bust. Results of the scan, which was conducted using a Siemens Medical Solutions (www.usa.siemens.com/medical) SOMATOM® Sensation 64-Slice CT, are included in a National Geographic Channel special that will premiere tonight

“I have always been interested in the secret carried inside that bust. But it is also very difficult and hazardous to examine ancient artifacts without damaging them,” said Prof. Dietrich Wildung, director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.

With the help of one of Siemens’ highest resolution CT scanners, Prof. Wildung and Alexander Huppertz, MD, head of the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, as well as the National Geographic team, were able to X-ray the bust without damaging it.

“Our technology is intended to improve the medical care of patients around the world. However, we are happy to contribute to efforts that explain the mysteries of archaeology,” said Bernd Montag, president, Siemens Medical Solutions, Computed Tomography. “We scanned the mummy of Tutankhamen two years ago and we are now helping with another ancient Egyptian treasure.”

Researchers who conducted the original CT scan of Nefertiti assumed that the bust’s limestone core would more accurately approximate the subject’s face. After the facial mold was cast, the limestone core was coated with plaster and painted. Prof. Wildung said that the portrait on the coat of plaster is not very representative and that the bust itself is of greater value in determining the features of the subject.

Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty, premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel, check local listings for more information.

Espero que mi novela se publique algún dia y sabreis por qué….

Tags: busto nefertiti, cambios, cambios en egipto antiguo, face nefertiti, new look