Dotawo/content/article/fulcher.md

---
title: "The use and experience of painting materials in ancient and modern
Nubia"
authors: ["katefulcher.md"]
abstract: Homes in Nubia are decorated by their inhabitants, using materials from
the landscape around them. This has been the case for thousands of
years. Taking the ancient town of Amara West (c. 1250 BC -- 800 BC) and
the modern residents of its environs as a case study, the procurement
and application of painting materials and its social implications are
considered, using archaeological evidence and recently conducted
interviews. The ancient evidence includes paint on walls, pigments,
paint palettes, grindstones, and painted coffins, samples of which were
scientifically analysed to determine the pigments and binders used.
Twelve interviews were conducted via translator with modern residents
living near to Amara West about their use of paint in their houses,
including how they collected painting materials, when painting took
place, and who was responsible. Several paints were re-created using
tools and materials that were used by the ancient population in order to
experience the process and consider it from a sensory perspective.
Taking all of this evidence as inspiration, several fictional passages
have been added to attempt to imagine ancient events relating to paint
making and use.
keywords:
---

1\. Introduction

Ancient people used colour in their homes for many of the same reasons
as people do today -- to lighten walls, to highlight important areas, to
signal types of use of spaces, to proclaim status within the community.
The painting materials considered here are from the ancient town of
Amara West is situated between the second and third cataracts of the
Nile, and was inhabited from c. 1250 to 800 BC. It was founded by
ancient Egyptians in the reign of Seti I as one of a series of temple
towns in the region, in order to control local resources.[^1]
Excavations at Amara West were initiated by the Egypt Exploration
Society in 1939, and were revisited by the British Museum from 2008 to
2018. The EES seasons uncovered the temple and two town areas, including
a residence bearing inscriptions relating to two holders of the office
"Deputy of Kush", which indicates that the town was an administrative
centre of Kush (Upper Nubia).[^2] The British Museum excavations
focussed on the ancient town and discovered evidence for the preparation
and use of paint in white, red, yellow, black, blue, and green colours.

Certain features of the site suggest that it was inhabited by both
Egyptians and Nubians; graves at Amara West display a variety of forms,
including Nubian and Egyptian, and in some cases, a mix between the
two.[^3] Pottery assemblages from the settlement comprise between 1% and
10% Nubian vessels, typically cooking pots.[^4] Although the town
architecture is consistent with that found in contemporary Egyptian
settlements, an oval architectural feature at Amara West is more
consistent with Nubian architectural tradition.[^5]

There are many modern settlements in the area surrounding Amara West,
including the town of Abri on the opposite shoreline, and Ernetta
Island. The inhabitants of these towns and villages use both modern
paint, purchased at the market, and traditional pigments, gathered from
the landscape, to decorate their houses.

![Map of the Nile Valley showing locations of places mentioned
in text.](../static/images/fulcher/Figure 1.jpg "Map of the Nile Valley showing locations of places mentioned
in text.")

**~~Figure 1. Map of the Nile Valley showing locations of places mentioned
in text.~~**

2\. Ancient evidence

Paints and pigments were found from all areas of the town of Amara West,
in the form of lumps of raw pigment (red, yellow, blue), broken pottery
used as paint palettes (red, yellow, blue, green, black, and white),
paint applied on walls (red, yellow, blue, black, and white) (fig. 2),
and residue on grinding stones (red, yellow, green). There were two
cemeteries used by the town, both were in use over the course of the
town's history. Coffins were very fragmentary due to termite action;
painted plaster (white, black, red, yellow and blue) was found related
to coffin fragments in several tombs.

Scientific analyses identified the pigments and binders used at Amara
West.[^6] Yellow and red were both ochres, and could have been sourced
locally. Blue pigment was mostly Egyptian blue, manufactured using
copper, silica, and flux at a high temperature, which was probably
imported, as no evidence for local manufacture has been found. A second
blue was identified as riebeckite and was probably sourced from further
south, where sources of this rock are known.[^7] Whites were mainly
gypsum and calcite, the origin of which are not clear; white pigment
used in modern times and collected from the desert was found to be
dolomite, which was not found in the ancient town.[^8] Blacks were
carbon, easily obtainable by burning organic material, and bitumen,
obtained from the Dead Sea.[^9] Greens were chlorite (green earth),
probably local, and copper chloride, either a degradation product of
malachite or manufactured from copper.[^10] Very few contemporary
domestic sites are known from Egypt and even fewer from Nubia. From the
evidence we have it seems that ochres, Egyptian blue, carbon, and gypsum
plaster were commonly used materials.[^11] Riebeckite has not previously
been reported, and may have been a locally sourced blue(ish) pigment as
an alternative for Egyptian blue. Bitumen has been reported once
previously,[^12] but could have been under-identified from other sites.
Greens in Egypt are more commonly Egyptian green, and the range of
greens used is debated, but the identified palette seems to be
expanding.[^13]

Several of the paints from palettes, and plaster from the walls, were
analysed for carbohydrate. Of the seventeen samples analysed, eight
contained positive evidence of monosaccharides, indicating that plant
gum had been added to the pigment as a binder. Acacia trees, from which
gum Arabic can be harvested, grow in the local area, and were also
present in ancient times, as evidenced by plant remains from Amara
West.[^14]

![Fragment of painted wall plaster from house E13.7 at Amara
West (F5049c).](../static/images/fulcher/Figure 2.jpg "Fragment of painted wall plaster from house E13.7 at Amara
West (F5049c).")

**~~Figure 2. Fragment of painted wall plaster from house E13.7 at Amara
West (F5049c).~~**


3\. Ethnoarchaeology

Archaeological sites provide a huge amount of data about the tangible
remains but it can be difficult to interpret these in terms of the human
beings who created and used them. Interviews were conducted with the
populations local to Amara West, focussing on the collection of painting
materials, the method of preparation and application, and the people who
performed these actions. The interviews were intended to provide an
insight into human considerations, actions, and decisions in relation to
the painting of houses in the area.

Twelve interviews were conducted in January 2015 with residents in areas
near to Amara West, which is itself uninhabited. Interviews took place
in three locations (fig. 1): (1) Ernetta, an island in the Nile and
location of the expedition house, between Amara West and Abri, the local
town on the mainland; (2) Amara East, a village east / downstream of
Abri, on the opposite bank of the Nile from Amara West; and (3) the
large island of Sai, about 11km upstream of Amara West, which has
archaeological evidence of inhabitation broadly concurrent with Amara
West.[^15] The interviewees consisted of 10 women and 7 men, sometimes
interviewed singly and sometimes as a pair (either married couple or
mother and daughter). The interviewees were approached at random while
wandering around the areas mentioned looking for painted houses. The
majority were middle aged (35-55) as it was thought they would be the
most likely to have had experience in painting a house, with three older
(age unknown, 1 man and 2 women) and two younger participants (two women
in their mid 20s). It was hoped the older interviewees would remember
times before acrylic paint and plastic paintbrushes were available.

In all three locations, houses consisted of an outside wall, within
which stood the main house and several outbuildings, usually built of
courses of mud-brick (*jalus*), with some walls painted.[^16] The most
common colours were white, yellow, and red. Floors and some outside
walls were mud-plastered in a circular pattern (fig. 3).

Houses could be painted with *bomastic* (modern acrylic paint) or *gir*
(powdered rock). Before bombastic was available in the market, everyone
used *gir*, which was collected from the desert. Now *gir* may also be
purchased from the market. There was some consensus that yellow and
white gir were the best to use, and that the use of colour was a fairly
modern initiative (last 50 years). It was known that red *gir* could be
made by placing yellow *gir* on the fire, but red *gir* was not popular.
However, both red and yellow *bomastic* was commonly used. *Bomastic* is
affected by strong heat and light but the desert *gir* is not affected,
therefore *gir* was commonly used for the outside walls in the
courtyard, and bomastic for the interior (fig. 3). White gypsum is also
used, either in a thick paste to mend cracks, or as a thinner paint for
a decorative line around the top of a wall. This is always purchased
from the market.

Either men or women can travel into the desert to collect *gir*. Several
locations were mentioned often connected with a certain colour of *gir*,
and it was also said that usually one travelled to near the place known
for *gir* and asked around as to the best place to dig. Often donkeys
are taken to help carry the *gir* back, and one woman mentioned carrying
it in her scarf. The people who collected it may then be open to selling
some of it to their neighbours.

The *gir* is prepared by placing a lump of it into a container of water
and variously leaving it to settle, straining off the gritty bits with a
scarf or sieve, or giving it a stir with a hand. A traditionally made
sieve was described by one man as being made from muslin-type material
that is stretched taut over a frame and glued in place using starch from
*helba* seeds (fenugreek). Sometimes gum Arabic is added, this can be
bought from the market or picked off a tree.

Most interviewees stated that men were responsible for painting with
modern acrylic paint and women for the mudplastering and *gir*. However,
there seemed to be some leeway, with men helping to apply *gir* in
hard-to-reach areas. Either could use gypsum. Men could be paid for
their painting work, but the suggestion of paying someone to apply *gir*
was met with derision. Most of the time it is the family who paints the
house, but neighbours might help if it is a big job. When the plaster
and/or *gir* is renewed, the women and girls of the neighbourhood get
together and paint each house in turn, going from one to the other as a
group. It is very social with chatting and laughing. If it doesn't rain,
they repaint approximately every 2 to 4 years. At times of celebration
also they might renew the *gir*.

Girls watch and learn from their older female relatives how to do the
mud-plastering and gir. They start contributing to the mud-plastering at
about the age of 15, but the painting is easy and they could begin
younger. There was no upper age limit, the only limitation being
physical ability to take part. Using modern acrylic paints appeared to
have very little importance or social cache, they were just a useful
material for painting. However, mudplastering and applying *gir* was
described as more socially embedded and more gendered. This was a skill
that was passed down the generations, and had social activities attached
to it that linked the family and their house into the community.

These days everyone uses plastic brushes bought from the market to apply
paint, but several interviewees remembered their older relatives using a
piece of leather with the hair still attached to paint the *gir* onto
the walls, or a sheep's tail. One family poured *gir* over the walls
from a teapot.

![House of one of the respondents. Interior (left) painted in
red and yellow bombastic; exterior (right) mud plastered in a circular
pattern and painted with yellow gir.](../static/images/fulcher/Figure 3.jpg "House of one of the respondents. Interior (left) painted in
red and yellow bombastic; exterior (right) mud plastered in a circular
pattern and painted with yellow gir.")

**~~Figure 3. House of one of the respondents. Interior (left) painted in
red and yellow bombastic; exterior (right) mud plastered in a circular
pattern and painted with yellow gir.~~**

4\. Re-construction of ancient painting materials

Various raw materials need to be collected and processed to make paint,
and ancillary materials are also needed, for example, paintbrushes,
grinding stones, and palettes. Information gleaned from the
archaeological evidence and ethnographic interviews was combined to
inform the types of materials and processes that were required.

The first material to obtain in order to make paint is the raw pigment
itself. The exact location of the ancient sources of pigment is not
known; the white rock that was collected for this experiment was one of
the sources of *gir* used today by local inhabitants for painting their
houses. It took 25 minutes to walk there from Amara West across the
desert. Facing north from Amara West the land dips into the
paleochannel, which early in the history of the town would have been
flowing with water and would have required a boat to cross, but which
within one generation had become dry for much of the year. Beyond this
the land rises to Cemetery D. A person or group heading north would
either have to walk through or around the cemetery. Either way, they see
from the town side, and then pass by, three pyramids each standing to a
height of 10 metres. Perhaps more importantly to these people, there
would also be the graves of their own ancestors, which they may have
visited regularly to lay offerings and ask favours.[^17] As the people
moved away from the town and the cemetery, the noises of life, of
animals, of work and play, would have faded away, and been replaced by
the quiet of the desert. They may have set out early on their journey,
to avoid the heat of the day. In which case the sun would have only just
been rising as they made their way to the top of the escarpment that
then drops away into the desert. In modern times there is almost no
vegetation visible but when Amara West was inhabited the landscape would
have been less dry and desolate than it is today. The desert is
scattered with archaeological remains,[^18] the inhabitants of Amara
West would have been familiar with this evidence of previous
inhabitants; this was not a virgin site, the area already had a history.
During the New Kingdom some of the historic buildings may have still
have been standing, providing oases of shelter.[^19] The current
residents of the area are familiar with the archaeological remains
around them, and often visit them for a picnic.

The route to the rock sources would have been known, and younger people
would have learnt the route by accompanying more experienced people on
the journey. On arrival at the source, they would have dug out the
pigment. Ceramic containers are heavy, so perhaps they used bags,
baskets, or scarves. Modern people use large metal cans (*sofiha*, fig.
4), thobes (a woman's wrap around garment) or scarves. To dig they may
have mainly used their hands, or small metal or stone tools. A piece of
flat stone picked up in the desert would make an effective shovel and
obviate the need to carry a tool from the town and back.

![Sofiha can containing gir.](../static/images/fulcher/Figure 4.jpg "Sofiha can containing gir.")

**~~Figure 4. Sofiha can containing gir.~~**

Alongside the raw materials, a set of tools is also required. A grinding
stone of some sort is needed, and this either means sourcing a schist
rock from the desert or finding one that has been previously been used.
Another tool required is a hammerstone. The Nile bank at the local town
across the river (Abri) is a shingle beach from where it is a simple
task to pick up various smooth hand-sized rocks. A large stash of such
rocks was excavated behind the front door of one of the houses at Amara
West, possibly a cache of useful tools.

The most numerous paint-related finds from Amara West are ceramic
palettes that hold paint. These palettes are also known from other
ancient Egyptian sites, thus it seems that this was common practice
[^20]. Ceramic sherds would have been easy to obtain, and may even have
been created for the purpose by deliberate breakage. The palettes
function better when damp because it prevents the water soaking straight
into them when it is added to the pigment powder, so they may have been
soaked in water before use.

Experimentation with the application of paint led to the conclusion that
a paintbrush would have been a necessary item, and many brushes are
known from ancient Egypt that suggest these were commonly used items,
for example Metropolitan Museum of Art 17.190.1967 (fig. 5), said to be
made of "palm fibres". Experimentation was undertaken with various local
plant resources to attempt to manufacture a paintbrush. The most success
was had with the fruit bearing branches of the date palm. These can be
snapped into shorter lengths, and are made up of many thin strands that
naturally hold together well, but at the broken end can be beaten with a
hammerstone to create bristles. A brush manufactured in this way holds
paint well and is easy to manipulate. Many brushes can be made from one
branch, and this is one way in which similar paintbrushes may have been
made by the people of Amara West. Regardless of the origin of the
fibres, the process highlights the importance of preparation of the
brushes before the use of paint. My interviews with modern residents
suggested that brushes based on animal parts might also have been an
option. Again, these would have taken some preparation, for example the
removal of a tail, or acquiring a piece of skin with wool attached after
an animal had been slaughtered. Soft tissue animal products would be
very unlikely to survive in the archaeological record.

![Ancient Egyptian paintbrush dating to the New Kingdom. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.](../static/images/fulcher/Figure 5.jpg "Ancient Egyptian paintbrush dating to the New Kingdom. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.")

**~~Figure 5. Ancient Egyptian paintbrush dating to the New Kingdom. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.~~**


To create paint, pigments were ground on a grinding stone similar in
size to those most commonly found at Amara West. Grinding the raw
pigments to create pigment powders initially seems to be a simple task,
but there are some important considerations. The location chosen for the
grinding is important, even in a light breeze the pigment powders will
blow away, wasting all the effort that has gone into collecting and
grinding the pigment. A sheltered area is best, or a very still day. On
a small grindstone (as is typical at Amara West), only a small amount of
pigment can be ground at one time. If more pigment is added the powder
starts falling off the edge of the grindstone, and it becomes impossible
to achieve a good particle size because the build-up of powder prevents
the particles from being crushed between the grindstone and the
hammerstone. Therefore, the powdered pigment has to be regularly
decanted to another vessel if any sizeable amount is to be ground (fig.
6). There is a strong sensory experience to grinding. The choice of
hammerstone is based on how the stone fits in the hand, how the fingers
curl around it, and how the weight feels when it is brought down. The
arm muscle quickly begins to ache, and small injuries to the grinding
hand would have been hard to avoid.

![Grinding red ochre on a small grindstone. Left - Piece of red
ochre to be ground. Right -- after grinding, pigment has spilled onto
the floor and there is no working space left on the grindstone.](../static/images/fulcher/Figure 6.jpg "Grinding red ochre on a small grindstone. Left - Piece of red
ochre to be ground. Right -- after grinding, pigment has spilled onto
the floor and there is no working space left on the grindstone.")

**~~Figure6. Grinding red ochre on a small grindstone. Left - Piece of red
ochre to be ground. Right -- after grinding, pigment has spilled onto
the floor and there is no working space left on the grindstone.~~**


Modern interviewees said that girls learnt to plaster and paint from
their mothers by joining in with the plastering and painting process
from their early teens. We could imagine the grinding of pigments to
form part of a learning process for younger members of the family or
neighbourhood, perhaps taking turns at grinding, perhaps just watching
and listening. This may have been the time that memories were passed on,
both collective memories that describe the ways in which paint must be
prepared, and why, and more personal ones of previous times that paint
has been made, the people that made it, and what happened to them. In
this way, the painting of the houses could be used as a community event,
using the painting activity as an opportunity to share both the physical
activity and the memories associated with it. Having that communal
memory, and connecting the decoration of the house to it, transforms
that house into a home that is deeply embedded in a neighbourhood
community.

During the process of gathering tools, mixing, and painting, people
would have been unavailable to perform their normal tasks, so the whole
process may have been accomplished in a group, with one or more people
painting and others forming a support network, preparing food, looking
after children and animals and perhaps taking part as a social event.
Painting may have taken place at particular life events or particular
times of year and the painting process could have been integrated with
these celebrations. The interviews indicated that it was desirable to
schedule redecoration of the house around important events, even if this
did not always transpire in reality.

The experiential study has demonstrated that the preparation of paints
and the execution of painting was not a simple process. Many materials
had to be gathered, traded, manufactured, and processed, taking time,
effort, and planning. There would have been many people involved, both
directly and tangentially, and therefore social interactions. The
performance of all these actions would have been culturally regulated,
including gestures, songs, timings, and the status of the actors within
the society. This has also been noted in the decoration of the ancient
site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, and the centrality of house-based
activities for relationships has been studied in the Andes.[^21]^,^[^22]
Peripheral objects and tasks to the ones focussed on here probably
included cooking food (requiring food, pots, fire, utensils), travelling
by donkey or boat, making bags or baskets, producing items to trade,
meeting and trading with other people, collecting water, minding animals
and children, and cleaning. The task of painting was part of a much
wider interconnected taskscape, the "spatiotemporal layout of activity
at a site"[^23].

5\. Narratives

The archaeological evidence, information gathered from interviews, and
experience of collecting materials and making paint have been combined
to create a fictional passage which imagines what the ancient experience
of paint creation may have been. To a certain extent, all archaeology is
storytelling, since the "truth" can never be known for certain; all
archaeological reporting uses a narrative form of some sort, some of
which have become institutionalised and are therefore hardly recognised
as storytelling [^24]. The aim of this fictional section is to
demonstrate how important the intangible aspects of the production of
paint may have been to its creation, and to add life to the
archaeological record, to "people the past" [^25].

*I got up earlier than usual this morning because today we are going to
fetch paint-rock from the pit in the desert and we need to leave before
the sun rises. The younger children are staying with my sister, but I'm
taking the older two with me, and it's Menet's first time. She's excited
and gets up without complaining, despite the early morning chill. We
each take a cloak and then head to the edge of the village where we are
meeting Waset with the donkey and her children. Yesterday we filled a
waterskin and put some bread aside, and now we tie all this plus several
empty baskets onto the donkey, and as the light touches the sky we set
off towards the cemetery. In the cemetery we stop for a while to visit
our ancestors and leave small food offerings. The children run around
chasing each other. We pass the boulders that mark the edge of our daily
surroundings and look out into the desert. It's important to start the
journey facing the right direction so we take a couple of minutes to
discuss the landmarks we need to notice, and then we set off into the
desert. As we walk on, the wind picks up and we all wrap our heads in
our cloaks to keep the sand out of our eyes and ears. I think about the
previous journeys I have made to fetch paint-rock and the events that
have led to these painting days: marriage, a new house, a new baby. This
journey is to collect paint-rock for the coming festival. We also
thought it was a good time to take the older children to the desert pit
to show them the paint-rock and how they will have to collect their own
painting materials when their turn comes. As we reach the place the wind
dies down and we can talk again. The children look around for rocks to
use as shovels, and we find some that were used last time and left in a
pile at the side of the pit. We sit to eat a little and drink some water
while we tell stories of the last trip, who was there, and where we dug.
Then we point to where we need to dig. The youngest digs first and fills
a basket with the chunks of coloured rock. There are songs to sing while
we dig, which remind us of the other times, and of the people who were
here with us. Now it is getting hot and digging is hard work, we chide
the children and the songs help us finish the work. When we have filled
all of the containers, we sit again, and now the flies have come out and
they buzz around us. We head back with the sun getting hotter and hotter
and pull our cloaks over our heads. There is no wind at all and we can
all talk easily. We point out landmarks we need to know to find our way
across the desert. Eventually we can see the pyramids in the cemetery.
They grow larger on the horizon and then I can hear the workmen in the
cemetery swearing and joking and swinging their hammers. We wearily head
into the village, and people greet us on our return. They call out to us
or stop for a chat. Some people who couldn't come on the journey ask if
they can have some of the paint-rock in return for a contribution to the
party.*

*I have gathered the rocks and tree gum, and the day has come when the
rock must be ground to a powder. It will take a whole day, so I have
asked the neighbours on both sides to join me, and my sister is here
too. We will take turns grinding the powder, watching the children, and
cooking. Because we have gathered, we are making some special food. I
remember my mother making the paint for my sister's house and the smells
of the stew she made, and the taste of the special breads. I suggest we
make these foods and my sister agrees but the others have their own
special foods that they want to make, so we end up with a lot of food!
We find a quiet, sheltered corner of the house to grind the rock, where
the wind won't reach it, and as we finish each grind, we place the
powder into the basket my mother gave to me for holding the powder. We
each grind until the ache in our hand becomes unbearable, then the next
person takes a turn. As we work alongside each other we chat and sing
songs that remind us of other times when we have been grinding paint and
the events that led to those times and the people involved. People
passing the doorway can smell our food and come in to say hello and talk
about the reason for the paint and to taste the food. We give each
visitor a bread to take with them. Some of them share their memories of
special food with us and some give us advice on the grinding, and how
much plant gum to add. Menet sits by me as I grind and asks questions.
After she has watched for a while she asks to take a turn. I show her
how to hold the hammerstone, the amount of rock to use, and the correct
way to pound the rock. It quickly starts to hurt her hand so I send her
to take water to the animals. When the basket is full, we can stop
grinding. We sing a song of celebration and relief, cover the basket,
and put the ground rock aside for another day.*

*I start the painting by applying a layer of white plaster to the whole
wall. It is thick so I use my hand. I mix the plaster with some water
and plant gum in a large pot and stir it with my hand, then I take a
lump and smear it onto the mudbrick wall. I continue until the whole
wall is covered, and there are splashes of white plaster over the floor
and over me too. My oldest daughter helps me with the lower sections of
the wall; it's her first time so she makes a mess but I quickly smooth
it over. This way of applying the plaster takes practice to get it
smooth enough to paint on. It doesn't take long to cover the whole wall.
Then we leave it to dry while going about our normal tasks. The whole
house smells damp while it is drying and I light the fire earlier than
normal in the evening to get rid of the damp feeling. After two days I
am sure it is dry and we can paint the colour. I have prepared red and
yellow ground rock, and some charcoal that I ground to make black. Blue
is not for us. So I'll stick with the normal colours. My husband mixes
the ground charcoal with a little water in a piece of broken pot and
paints a thin line of black around the wall. I mix red and water and
paint the area above the line. He uses a brush we made from palm last
time we dried the palm branches; mine is a bigger brush, made with
grasses from the river bank that I gathered when the moon was small and
then dried on the roof until the moon was full again. When we are done,
we invite the family over to admire our work and we share food that they
have brought with them. We sing together and play music. We go to bed
late, but before we go to sleep, we speak to our ancestors and ask that
all will be well in this house now we have painted the walls.*

*For the first few days after the painting, every time I enter the room
I am again surprised at the change in colour and the way it makes the
room feel different from before. Then after a while I get used to it.
Menet says it makes her shy of her elders, the room feels more formal.
When neighbours come into the room they behave differently from before,
they do not sit so casually on the floor but stay by the doorway and
wait to be invited in. But I remember how this goes; the paint is fresh
and this will last for a little while, yet soon they will be back to
their normal selves and gradually the paint will crack and the room will
still feel different from before, but not so newly painted. My husband
is pleased with the effect the paint has had. Soon it will be somebody
else's turn and we will have the chance to help them and share their
food.*

6\. Conclusion

Combining archaeological evidence, interviews of the current inhabitants
of the area, and a re-creation of painting materials, allowed the
experiences and activities of ancient people to be imagined. The
re-creation highlighted the wide range of tasks that would have
surrounded the creation and application of paint, and how this would
have been embedded in the landscape, and the lives of the ancient
people. Each task had associations with others (for example, pottery
used for palettes), that were interconnected across a taskscape. The
creation of paint should not be viewed as an isolated event, but rather
as one of many processes that were taking place within the village that
each impacted on the other, and on the lives of the people around it,
and their associates, their relationships, and their memories. The
application of paint to a house individualises the space to make it
unique to the people who there, and communicates to others in the
neighbourhood the social standing and aspirations of the family. Through
this communication, the family situates themselves in the community. The
way a house is laid out and decorated could be referred to as a
homescape, the way the space is manipulated by the addition of colour
(and other elements) to curate the house into a home within a community.

Acknowledgements

Research was conducted during a Collaborative Doctoral Award at UCL and
the British Museum, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council
(Grant 1350956). The samples were excavated as part of fieldwork of the
British Museum Amara West Project, funded by the Qatar-Sudan
Archaeological Project, Leverhulme Trust, and British Academy.

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**Images available here:**
<https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnQUQ06LWl5ygpFpxGL_Y3uMI9k7fQ?e=BtO2CH>

[^1]: Spencer, "Building on New Ground: The Foundation of a Colonial
    Town at Amara West."

[^2]: [Spencer]{.smallcaps}, *Amara West I: The Architectural Report.
    EES Excavation Memoir 63*.

[^3]: [Binder]{.smallcaps}, "The New Kingdom Tombs at Amara West:
    Funerary Perspectives on Nubian -- Egyptian Interactions."

[^4]: [Spataro]{.smallcaps}, [Millet]{.smallcaps}, and
    [Spencer]{.smallcaps}, "The New Kingdom Settlement of Amara West
    (Nubia, Sudan): Mineralogical and Chemical Investigation of the
    Ceramics."

[^5]: [Spencer]{.smallcaps}, "Nubian Architecture in an Egyptian Town?
    Building E12.11 at Amara West."

[^6]: [Fulcher]{.smallcaps}, *Painting Amara West: The Technology and
    Experience of Colour in New Kingdom Nubia. British Museum
    Publications on Egypt and Sudan 13*; [Fulcher]{.smallcaps} et al.,
    "Multi-Scale Characterization of Unusual Green and Blue Pigments
    from the Pharaonic Town of Amara West, Nubia";
    [Fulcher]{.smallcaps}, [Stacey]{.smallcaps}, and
    [Spencer]{.smallcaps}, "Bitumen from the Dead Sea in Early Iron Age
    Nubia."

[^7]: [Fulcher]{.smallcaps} et al., "Multi-Scale Characterization of
    Unusual Green and Blue Pigments from the Pharaonic Town of Amara
    West, Nubia."

[^8]: [Fulcher]{.smallcaps}, *Painting Amara West: The Technology and
    Experience of Colour in New Kingdom Nubia. British Museum
    Publications on Egypt and Sudan 13*, p. 43.

[^9]: [Fulcher]{.smallcaps}, [Stacey]{.smallcaps}, and
    [Spencer]{.smallcaps}, "Bitumen from the Dead Sea in Early Iron Age
    Nubia."

[^10]: [Fulcher]{.smallcaps} et al., "Multi-Scale Characterization of
    Unusual Green and Blue Pigments from the Pharaonic Town of Amara
    West, Nubia."

[^11]: [Fulcher]{.smallcaps} and [Budka]{.smallcaps}, "Pigments,
    incense, and bitumen from Sai."

[^12]: [Siddell]{.smallcaps}, "Appendix 6: Analysis of Pigments from the
    Gurob Ship-Cart Model**".**

[^13]: [Lacovara]{.smallcaps} and [Winkels]{.smallcaps}, "Malqata: The
    painted palace".

[^14]: [Cartwright]{.smallcaps} and [Ryan]{.smallcaps},
    "Archaeobotanical Research at Amara West in New Kingdom Nubia."

[^15]: [Budka]{.smallcaps}, "Life in the New Kingdom Town of Sai Island:
    Some New Perspectives."

[^16]: [Dalton]{.smallcaps}, "Reconstructing Lived Experiences of
    Domestic Space at Amara West: Some Preliminary Interpretations of
    Ancient Floor Deposits Using Ethnoarchaeological and
    Micromorphological Analyses"; [Wenzel]{.smallcaps}, *House
    Decoration in Nubia*.

[^17]: [Binder]{.smallcaps}, "The New Kingdom Tombs at Amara West:
    Funerary Perspectives on Nubian -- Egyptian Interactions," p. 604.

[^18]: [Stevens]{.smallcaps} and [Garnett]{.smallcaps}, "Surveying the
    Pharaonic Desert Hinterland of Amara West."

[^19]: Ibid.

[^20]: [Pagès]{.smallcaps}-[Camagna]{.smallcaps} and [Raue]{.smallcaps},
    "Coloured Materials Used in Elephantine: Evolution and Continuity
    from the Old Kingdom to the Roman Period"; [Kemp]{.smallcaps} and
    [Stevens]{.smallcaps}, *Busy Lives at Amarna: Excavations in the
    Main City (Grid 12 and the House of Ranefer, N49.18). Volume I.*.

[^21]: [Çamurcuoğlu]{.smallcaps}, *The Wall Paintings of Çatalhöyük
    (Turkey)*, pp. 240-246.

[^22]: [Leinaweaver]{.smallcaps}, "Raising the roof in the transnational
    Andes: building houses, forging kinship."

[^23]: [Ingold]{.smallcaps}, "Taking taskscape to task" pp. 26;
    [Ingold]{.smallcaps}, \"The Temporality of the Landscape.\"

[^24]: [Joyce]{.smallcaps}, "Introducing the First Voice";
    [Majewski]{.smallcaps}, "We Are All Storytellers: Comments on
    Storytelling, Science, and Historical Archaeology";
    [Pluciennik]{.smallcaps}, "Archaeological Narratives and Other Ways
    of Telling."

[^25]: [Mickel]{.smallcaps}, "Archaeologists as Authors and the Stories
    of Sites"; [Tringham]{.smallcaps}, "Households with Faces: The
    Challenge of Gender in Prehistoric Architectural Remains."