Science

Subterms

    Latest story

    150 Shares99 Views

    ‘Outcasts’ Highlights the Scientific Contributions of Trailblazing Artist and Naturalist Mary Banning

    by

    Polyporus beattiei, Banning (late 1800s), watercolor on paper. All images courtesy of New York State Museum, Albany, shared with permission

    ‘Outcasts’ Highlights the Scientific Contributions of Trailblazing Artist and Naturalist Mary Banning

    July 28, 2025

    ArtHistoryIllustrationNatureScience

    Kate Mothes

    Share

    Pin

    Email

    Bookmark

    In the 1800s, mycology—the study of fungi—was a relatively new field, emerging around the same time as Enlightenment-era studies in botany and herbal medicine. Science and art converged in works like Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal, along with German naturalist Lorenz Oken’s seven-volume Allgemaine Naturgeschichte, consisting of more than 5,000 pages dedicated to classifying everything from beetles and fish to mushrooms and ferns.

    In the late 19th century in Maryland, Mary Elizabeth Banning (1822–1903) emerged as one of America’s first mycologists—and the first woman to describe a new fungus species to science. The self-taught artist and scientist is now the focus of a nature-centered exhibition at New York State Museum, Outcasts: Mary Banning’s World of Mushrooms. The show features 28 original watercolors and detailed records of various mushroom species from the unpublished manuscript of her book, The Fungi of Maryland. In fact, of the 175 species she documented, 23 of them were unknown to science at the time.

    Fistulina hepatica, Fr. (late 1800s), watercolor on paper

    Banning’s manuscript is dedicated to Charles H. Peck, whose role as New York State Botanist—and an enthusiastic mycologist—at the NYSM formed the foundation of a 30-year correspondence with Banning. As a woman in an almost entirely male field, who also lacked formal biology degrees, Banning was largely ostracized from professional proceedings at the time, but her work did not go unrecognized. Peck published some of her findings in the Annual Report in 1871, and he kept her manuscript in a drawer at NYSM, where it remained for more than nine decades.

    A handful of Banning and Peck’s letters are included in Outcasts, along with some of Peck’s lab equipment, mushroom specimens that Banning collected, and a dozen early 20th-century wax models of fungi from the NYSM Natural History Collection.

    Along with Banning’s vibrant illustrations, the exhibition introduces visitors to the mycological universe, including prehistoric specimens like Prototaxites. A fossilized example of the ancient life form was found in Orange County, New York. Around 420 to 370 million years ago, these unique organisms would have towered over the landscape at up to 26 feet high.

    Outcasts: Mary Banning’s World of Mushrooms continues through January 4 in Albany. Learn more and plan your visit on the museum’s website.

    Lactarius indigo, Schw. (1878), watercolor on paper

    Agaricus Americanus, Peck. (1879), watercolor on paper

    “Interpendencies” feature wall of ‘Outcasts: Mary Banning’s World of Mushrooms’

    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

    Hide advertising

    Save your favorite articles

    Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

    Receive members-only newsletter

    Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

    Join us today!

    $7/month

    $75/year

    Explore membership options

    Next article More

    More stories

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Thijs Biersteker’s Digital Sculptures Translate Climate Data into Urgent Calls to Action

      by

      “ORIGIN.” All images courtesy of Thijs Biersteker, shared with permission

      Thijs Biersteker’s Digital Sculptures Translate Climate Data into Urgent Calls to Action

      July 16, 2025

      ArtClimateDesignFoodNatureScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      An unassuming cacao tree in Indonesia has made a unique connection to a high-tech artwork in China. Thanks to multimedia digital artist Thijs Biersteker, “ORIGIN” is a sculpture — a “digital twin” — that reflects the elemental experiences of the tropical tree through pulses of light.

      “When it rains in Indonesia, you see the sap flow through the sculpture in real time,” the artist says. “When the air quality shifts, the flows respond. During a heatwave, the tree visibly struggles. This real-time installation reveals just how fragile the cacao supply chain has become.”

      A majority of cacao, the primary ingredient in chocolate, is cultivated in places that are also the most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis. Extreme weather, habitat destruction, and other issues also mean that global food resiliency is increasingly threatened.

      For Biersteker, data provides unique insights into changes on the ground, and through a recent collaboration with the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI), he devised a way to literally illuminate environmental impacts.

      The artist is particularly interested in the relationship between data and nature, especially our scientific understanding of climate change and how it affects biodiversity, food, and habitats. Hooking up sensors to a specimen at ICCRI’s research site in Java, Bierksteker created a translucent, sculptural mirror of the tree, which is currently installed at Zaishui Art Museum in the city of Rizhao, Shandong Province.

      Another work, “WITHER,” in collaboration with UNICEF, comprises a tropical installation with flickering leaves representing rainforest loss. Each flicker symbolizes 128 square meters of deforestation, based on data from Amazon rainforest watch groups. And “ECONTINUUM,” a collaboration with Stefano Mancuso, invites us into a kind of “conversation” occurring between tree roots in a twinkling digital composition. The work nods to recent scientific discoveries that suggest trees communicate with one another via their intricate subterranean systems to provide or request nutrients or warn others of dangers like disease or infestations.

      “WITHER”

      For “ORIGIN,” the live cacao tree in Java transmits information, its digital copy animating with fluctuating light. “This mirrors the role of the institutions behind it: making the invisible visible and reconnecting people with the systems that feed them,” Biersteker says in a statement. “It is where data begins to speak to the imagination and where data-driven art becomes a new language for change.”

      Explore more on Bierksteker’s website and Instagram. If you enjoy pieces that explore the intersection of data and nature, you’ll also like Marshmallow Laser Feast’s “Of the Oak” installation at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

      Details of cacao tree in Java and “ORIGIN”

      Detail of “ORIGIN”

      Detail of “ECONTINUUM”

      Detail of “ORIGIN”

      Detail of “ORIGIN”

      “WITHER”

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 188 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      In ‘Of the Oak,’ a Magnificent Tree at Kew Gardens Gets an Immersive ‘Digital Double’

      by

      All images courtesy of Marshmallow Laser Feast, courtesy of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, shared with permission

      In ‘Of the Oak,’ a Magnificent Tree at Kew Gardens Gets an Immersive ‘Digital Double’

      May 30, 2025

      ArtDesignNatureScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      “We believe in the power of stories to tickle senses and shift perceptions,” says Marshmallow Laser Feast, an experiential artist collective merging art, extended reality (XR), and film into large-scale, immersive exhibitions.

      MLF’s latest work, Of the Oak, situates a monumental, six-meter-tall, double-sided video of the titular tree in London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The piece focuses on the garden’s Lucombe oak, portraying a “digital double” using real-world data.

      Photo by Barney Steel

      MLF collaborated with researchers from Kew to create a vibrant, scientific rendering, blending advanced technologies with artistic imagery. The team stitched together thousands of images, used LiDAR to map the tree’s form with laser pulses, CT-scanned soil samples, employed ground-penetrating radar to trace the root system, and recorded a series of 24-hour soundtracks.

      “Of the Oak is a celebration for the oak tree as a living monument of vital ecological relationships and species interdependence,” MLF says. “It is an invitation to witness the oak as a keystone in the web of life, majestic and unassuming, stretching its branches skyward and its roots deep into the soil, embodying both quiet strength and boundless generosity.”

      Visitors can access a stunning digital field guide on their phones or via desktop from anywhere, featuring a series of meditations that “tune into the invisible bond between humans and trees.” The app also includes an interactive species guide highlighting the diverse range of birds, insects, fungi, and other inhabitants that rely on oak trees for survival.

      Of the Oak continues at Kew through September 28. Marshmallow Laser Feast is also currently presenting an immersive, seven-room exhibition titled YOU:MATTER at the National Science and Media Museum as part of Bradford 2025 U.K. City of Culture. See more projects on the collective’s website.

      Photo by Sandra Ciampon

      Photo by Barney Steel

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Explore an Incredible 108-Gigapixel Scan of Johannes Vermeer’s Most Famous Painting

      by

      All images courtesy of Hirox, Tuur, and The Mauritshuis

      Explore an Incredible 108-Gigapixel Scan of Johannes Vermeer’s Most Famous Painting

      May 5, 2025

      ArtPhotographyScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      One of the inimitable joys of visiting an art museum is being able to view paintings up close—to see their textures, frames, and the way the surface interacts with the light. But even if you had the opportunity to step past security wires and get within inches of an original canvas, you’d still never be able to see the work quite like the new, 108-gigapixel scan of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665).

      The Mauritshuis has documented its most famous acquisition in unprecedented detail with the help of lens company Hirox, which has produced a video microscope capable of capturing the tiniest speck of paint with astonishing clarity. The outfit was also involved in an earlier reproduction of the same painting, creating an image composed of 10 billion pixels.

      This high-tech collaboration brings a 17th-century masterpiece to life with an interactive site inviting visitors to examine every micro detail. The new image is more than ten times as large as its predecessor—108 gigapixels translates to 108 billion pixels. A standard computer screen ranges from around four to six million pixels in its entirety. As Kottke notes, the resolution is very high, too, at 1.3 microns per pixel. (A millimeter is 1,000 microns.)

      Hirox, in tandem with a company called Tuur, produced a beautiful video and virtual tour. A three-dimensional tool for exploring the topography of the surface highlights Vermeer’s mastery of light, like reflections in the sitter’s eyes, the folds of her head scarf, and the minimal dabs of white paint on the titular pearl.

      This virtual exploration offers art historians and enthusiasts alike a chance to experience “Girl with a Peal Earring” like never before, regardless of where you are. But if you’re in The Hague, it’s also on view in the permanent collection of The Mauritshuis.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Next article More

    • 175 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      ‘Little Beasts’ Is a First-of-Its-Kind Museum Collaboration Reveling in Art and the Natural World

      by

      Jacopo Ligozzi, “A Groundhog or Marmot with a Branch of Plums”. (1605), brush with brown and black wash, point of the brush with black and brown ink and white gouache, and watercolor, over traces of graphite on burnished paper, sheet: 13 x 16 5/8 inches. All images courtesy of The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., shared with permission

      ‘Little Beasts’ Is a First-of-Its-Kind Museum Collaboration Reveling in Art and the Natural World

      March 21, 2025

      ArtHistoryNatureScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      During the 16th and 17th centuries, major developments in colonial expansion, trade, and scientific technology spurred a fervor for studying the natural world. Previously unknown or overlooked species were documented with unprecedented precision, and artists captured countless varieties of flora and fauna in paintings, prints, and encyclopedic volumes.

      Marking a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World pairs nearly 75 prints, drawings, and paintings with around 60 objects from the NMNH collection.

      Jan van Kessel the Elder, “Insects and a Sprig of Rosemary” (1653), oil on panel, 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches

      “In major cities like Antwerp, artists such as Joris and Jacob Hoefnagel and Jan van Kessel created highly detailed drawings, prints, and paintings of these insects, animals, and other beestjes, or ‘little beasts’ in Dutch,” says the National Gallery of Art. “Their works inspired generations of artists and naturalists, fueling the burgeoning science of natural history.”

      Natural history has been a focus for scholars since ancient times, albeit early commentary was a bit more wide-ranging than its definition today. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire is Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, which consists of 37 books divided into 10 volumes and covers everything from astronomy to zoology and mineralogy to art.

      Studying the natural world in ancient and early modern times was predominantly a philosophical pursuit until a discernible change during the Renaissance. By the 16th century, attitudes had shifted. The humanist learning tradition, centered on literature and the arts, began to give way to more advanced explanations for natural objects, describing their types and transformations and grouping them into classes.

      Private collections played a fundamental role in founding many natural history archives. The popularity of Wunderkammers, or “rooms of wonder,” transformed a pastime of the wealthy into exercises in scholarly prestige. By the late 17th century, more rigorous and formalized classification systems emerged as the philosophical component waned.

      Wenceslaus Hollar, “Shell (Murex brandaris)” (c. 1645), etching on laid paper, plate: 3 3/4 x 5 3/8 inches

      Throughout this time, artists like Albrecht Dürer, Clara Peeters, and Wenceslaus Hollar created works that responded to new discoveries. From biologically accurate renderings of shells and insects to playful compositions that employ animals and plants as decorative motifs, paintings and prints were often the only means by which the public could see newly discovered species.

      “Art and science have been closely aligned throughout the 175-year history of the Smithsonian,” says Kirk Johnson, director of the NMNH. “Even today, researchers at the National Museum of Natural History depend on scientific illustrators to bring clarity and understanding to the specimens they study.”

      Little Beasts opens on May 18 and continues through November 2 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Find more on the museum’s website.

      Clara Peeters, “Still Life with Flowers Surrounded by Insects and a Snail” (c. 1610), oil on copper,
      overall: 6 9/16 x 5 5/16 inches; framed: 10 x 9 x 1 1/2 inches

      Robert Hooke, “Micrographia: or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. / With observations and inquiries thereupon” (1665), bound volume with etched illustrations height (foldout illustrations significantly larger): 12 3/16 inches

      Jan van Kessel the Elder, “Artist’s Name in Insects and Reptiles [bottom center]” (1658), oil on copper, overall: 5 5/8 x 7 1/2 inches; framed: 9 7/8 x 12 1/8 inches

      Jan van Kessel the Elder, “Noah’s Family Assembling Animals Before the Ark” (c. 1660), oil on panel, overall: 25 3/4 x 37 3/16 inches; framed: 32 3/4 x 44 1/4 inches

      An Elephant Beetle (Megasoma e. elephas) from the Department of Entomology collections at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History

      Wenceslaus Hollar, “Two Butterflies, a Wasp, and a Moth” (1646), etching on laid paper, plate: 3 3/16 x 4 3/4 inches; sheet: 3 1/4 x 4 13/16 inches

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Next article More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      Mandy Barker’s Cyanotypes Revive a Pioneering Botanist’s Book to Warn About Synthetic Debris

      by

      Jersey boxers (Gigartina sunday). All images from ‘Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Imperfections’ by Mandy Barker, published by GOST Books. All images © Mandy Barker, courtesy of the author and GOST, shared with permission

      Mandy Barker’s Cyanotypes Revive a Pioneering Botanist’s Book to Warn About Synthetic Debris

      March 18, 2025

      ArtBooksClimateNatureScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      “In 2012, I found a piece of material in a rock pool that changed my life,” artist Mandy Barker says. “Mistaking this moving piece of cloth for seaweed started the recovery of synthetic clothing from around the coastline of Britain for the next ten years.”

      Barker is known for her photographic practice that takes a deep dive into marine debris. Her work has been featured in publications like National Geographic, The Guardian, VOGUE, and many more. Often collaborating with scientists to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the earth’s oceans, she eloquently highlights its harmful impacts on marine habitats, wildlife, and all of us who depend on the ocean for sustenance.

      Patterned blouse (Laminaria materia)

      Forthcoming from GOST Books, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Imperfections surveys the unexpected and out-of-place along British shores. At first glance, each specimen appears like a fragment of a leaf or a scatter of organic material, but upon closer inspection, the subjects of Barker’s images reveal details of unraveled polyester or scraps of nylon tights.

      Barker hopes to raise awareness of the damaging effects of fast fashion, synthetic clothing, and the increasing amounts of microfibers in the oceans. The fashion industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and container ships combined and is also the second-largest consumer of water, requiring about 2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pair of jeans.

      Barker’s new book is composed as an homage to the work of trailblazing botanist and photographer Anna Atkins (1799-1871), who is thought to be the first woman to take a photograph and the first person to publish a book containing photographic illustrations. Her 1843 study, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, employed blue photograms to illustrate photosynthetic organisms and seaweeds.

      Barker’s work serves as a kind of sibling or sequel to Atkins’ pioneering publication, presented in a similar style with handwritten names in Latin beneath each specimen.

      Coat lining (Dichloria vestis)

      In their updated versions, the titles take Atkins’ scientific names as a starting point and tweak them just slightly to conjure references to clothing or the human body. In the plate titled “Dichloris vestis,” for example, Barker draws on a real type of algae Atkins catalogued, Dichloria viridis, but “vestis” is instead a tongue-in-cheek reference to outerwear, often made of polyester or other synthetic materials. “Conferva tibia,” which portrays frayed tights, employs the Latin word for “leg.”

      From John o’ Groats at the northernmost tip of Great Britain to Land’s End at its southernmost, Barker recovered specimens of clothing from more than 120 beaches. Her finds, ranging from parkas to wigs to sports jerseys, were pulled from the sand, tide pools, or directly from the sea. In Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Imperfections, Barker looks to the past to better understand how our actions in the present have both immediate impacts and will shape the future of the climate crisis.

      Find your copy on GOST’s online store, where signed editions are also available, and explore more of Barker’s work on her website and Instagram.

      Nylon tights (Conferva tibia)

      Shawl (Odonthalia amiculum), shown on a spread from ‘Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Imperfections’ by Mandy Barker

      Jacket lining (Rhodomenia ignotus)

      Fishnet tights (Chylocladia funda)

      Two Blouses (Asperococcus indusium)

      Synthetic fur hood (Myrionema Palliolum)

      Lining (with algae) (Grateloupia intra)

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 200 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in Pompeii

      by

      Overview of a large fresco inside an excavated banquet gall in Pompeii. Image courtesy of Parco Archeologico di Pompei

      Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in Pompeii

      March 4, 2025

      ArtHistoryScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., the enormous explosion buried the city of Pompeii in an astonishing 19 meters of ash and debris. (A recent study concludes that in the neighboring town of Herculaneum, the blast was so intense that it vitrified a young man’s brain.) Since excavations of the area began in 1748, discovery after discovery has revealed lavish, poignant, and complex details about what life was like nearly 2,000 years ago in the Roman port town.

      When Vesuvius buried everything, the ash provided an extraordinarily protective covering for delicate frescos and structures, like an expansive fresco recently excavated in a banquet hall that “sheds light on the mysteries of Dionysus in the classical world,” says a statement from Italy’s Ministry of Culture.

      Image courtesy of Parco Archeologico di Pompei

      The large-scale painted frieze archaeologists are calling “house of Thiasos” shows the procession of Dionysus, god of wine, along with satyrs and bacchantes—also known as maenads—who are portrayed simultaneously as dancers and hunters.

      In the center of the composition, a woman is accompanied by Silenus, an elderly companion and tutor to Dionysus, holding a torch. The woman “indicates that she is an initiand,” the Ministry of Culture says, “a mortal woman who through a nocturnal ritual is about to be initiated into the mysteries of Dionysus, the god who dies and is reborn and who promises the same to his followers.”

      Spanning three walls of a building—the fourth had been open to a garden—in the so-called Regio IX district, the painting depicts a frieze known as a “megalography,” derived from the Greek for “large painting” and comprising a cycle of paintings with nearly life-size figures. Archaeologists date the fresco to around 40 to 30 B.C.E., nearly 100 years old already by the time Vesuvius erupted.

      Archaeologies typically categorize Roman and Pompeiian painting into four chronological periods or styles: incrustation (structural), architectural, ornamental, and intricate. Each style adapted elements of the previous period to generate new motifs and trends.

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      The new banquet hall example is thought to be indicative of the second style in which figures or tableaux are framed within faux architectural niches and trompe-l’œil compositions. Curiously for art historians, all of the figures are depicted on pedestals “as if they were statues,” the Ministry of Culture says, “while at the same time their movements, complexion, and clothing make them appear very alive.”

      Investigations into the Regio IX district, which covers approximately 3,200 square meters, began two years ago. So far, the excavation of the entirely buried block has revealed two atrium houses—already partially explored in the 19th century—plus two workshop houses, some residential rooms of a large domus, a black hall with scenes from the Trojan saga, and a shrine with a rare blue background. More than 50 new rooms have been identified, and there is plenty more yet to uncover.

      As archaeologists gradually chip away at the ancient pile of volcanic detritus, new finds like a food stand and a primitive pizza continue to awe and inspire our understanding of ancient Roman life. The site is open for public visits, and you can explore more on the Archaeological Park of Pompeii’s website.

      Image courtesy of Parco Archeologico di Pompei

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Photo by Agnese Sbaffi and Emanuele Antonio Minerva, courtesy of Ministero della Cultura

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 150 Shares179 Views

      in Art

      In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician

      by

      All images courtesy of Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra, shared with permission

      In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician

      January 15, 2025

      ArtHistoryScience

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife—also called Duat, among other names—was a mystical realm overseen by the god Osiris, who personified rebirth and life after death. But entry to Duat was anything but guaranteed; when a person died, their spirit traveled across vast, challenging terrain and deposited them at the Hall of Final Judgment, where their heart was weighed against a feather from Ma’at, the goddess of justice and truth.

      In preparation for the afterlife, royals, dignitaries, and the wealthy elite constructed great tombs. The most elaborate among them were painted with ornamental murals that shared one’s accomplishments, packed with artwork and riches to demonstrate each individual’s status and accompany them to Duat.

      Expansive ancient necropolises complemented large cities, where society’s upper crust commissioned tombs, temples, and pyramids. For the capital of Memphis, the final resting place was typically Saqqara, which contains some of Egypt’s oldest monuments, some of which date back to the First Dynasty around 5,000 years ago.

      Scholars continue to unfurl millennia-old mysteries as archaeological excavations carry on in Saqqara. And sometimes, as researchers from the Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra (MAFS) recently found out, marvelous and unexpected discoveries still emerge from the sand.

      During the 2024 season, as the team excavated near a mastaba—a large-scale, rectangular, flat-roofed tomb—they discovered a number of smaller burials, including a “kiln” tomb. Also known as “oven” tombs, these burials are “made of raw bricks that are characterized by their vaulted ceiling,” says a statement from MAFS. “They are built several meters below the ground, and the only way to access them is through the burial shaft, always placed to the north of the entrance.”

      Typically, kiln tombs are “fairly simple mud brick monuments, sometimes with limestone walls, and even less often decorations,” MAFS says. Today, they are also often empty as a result of looting throughout the centuries. But instead of a basic, unadorned room, the team found vibrant wall paintings commemorating a doctor who died around 4,000 years ago.

      Archaeologists uncovered a stone tablet bearing the doctor’s name, Tetinebefou, near the entrance. A stele is a stone slab featuring text, imagery, or both, and in ancient Egypt, a false door stele represented a portal for the deceased’s spirit pass through into the afterlife. As researchers explored farther, the physician’s name was represented in other locations, confirming it to be his tomb.

      As reported in Live Science, Tetinebefou was known as a “dean of the palace physicians,” with inscriptions referring to him also as “conjurer of the goddess Serqet,” who was associated with protection from scorpion stings. He was also prescribed the titles of “director of medicinal plants” and “chief dentist,” both of which are unusual designations in ancient Egypt. It’s unclear which pharaoh he may have served, but MAFS’s lead Egyptologist Philippe Collombert suggests Tetinebefou may have worked under Pepi II, who reigned between approximately 2246 and 2152 B.C.E.

      Inside the tomb, relief carvings of urns, furniture, hieroglyphs, and garments are complemented by colorful patterns and richly textured ceiling. At some point in the past, the doctor’s tomb had indeed been looted, and only tiny fragments of objects remained. The decorations, however, mark an exceptional discovery.

      A documentary slated for 2026, directed by Frédéric Wilner, will take a deeper dive into the details of this excavation. In the meantime, explore more on the MAFS website.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in Art

      An Ancient Peruvian Site Reveals a Remarkable Painted Throne Room

      by

      All images courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, shared with permission

      An Ancient Peruvian Site Reveals a Remarkable Painted Throne Room

      September 25, 2024

      Art History Science

      Kate Mothes

      Share

      Pin

      Email

      Bookmark

      Between about 350 and 850 C.E., a society known as the Moche thrived in the coastal valleys of northern Peru. Pañamarca, in the Nepeña Valley, is the southernmost center of the Moche culture and the site of a remarkable series of recent archaeological discoveries, including the latest: a monumental pillared hall with vibrantly painted walls.

      The Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca, founded in 2018, is a collaboration between Peruvian and U.S. archaeologists, art historians, and conservators. Its research and digs are supported by the National Geographic Society, the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University, and the Avenir Conservation Center at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

      This year, archaeologists uncovered a pillared room containing evidence of its use by a high-status female leader. Scenes depict the powerful woman receiving visitors in procession or seated upon a throne.

      “Scholars will debate whether the woman painted on the walls of the throne room is human or mythical (a priestess, goddess, or queen),” researchers say. “But the physical evidence of the throne, including the erosion to its back support and the recovery of greenstone beads, fine threads, and even human hair, make clear that it was occupied by a real living person—and the evidence all points to a seventh-century woman leader of Pañamarca.”

      The figure portrayed on the walls is associated with the crescent moon, the sea and its creatures, and the fiber arts. Additional murals uncovered this past July reveal a scene of an entire workshop of women spinning and weaving, along with a retinue of men carrying textiles and the leader’s crown—which includes her braids.

      Lisa Trever, professor of art history at Columbia University, says, “Pañamarca continues to surprise us, not only for the ceaseless creativity of its painters but also because their works are overturning our expectations of gender roles in the ancient Moche world.”

      The colorful wall paintings of Pañamarca were first recorded in the 1950s, depicting battles between supernatural beings, priests, warriors in procession, a unique two-faced man, and ceremonial activities.

      “Moche archaeology is well known for its rich, elite tombs, impressive architecture and artworks, and elaborate religious artifacts and imagery,” says a project statement. Atop a granite hill, the site consists of a stepped adobe platform, two lower platforms, a walled plaza, and a number of other structures.

      Dig deeper on the Pañamarca project’s website and Instagram.

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

      Hide advertising

      Save your favorite articles

      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

      Receive members-only newsletter

      Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms

      Join us today!

      $7/month

      $75/year

      Explore membership options

      Previous articleNext article More