Egyptian papyri discovered by Champollion reveal new secrets thanks to X-rays from the Grenoble synchrotron

2023-04-30 10:57:59

Fragments of papyrus unearthed by the famous Egyptologist have been analyzed by a team of physics researchers. Thanks to the synchrotron’s ultra-powerful X-ray, they were able to decipher its mysteries, without damaging the samples.

He was the first to unlock the secret of hieroglyphs, in 1822, by dint of patience.
Two centuries after Jean-François Champollion’s discovery, technology is still working to reveal the mysteries of ancient Egypt.

Thanks to its ultra-powerful X-ray, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) based in Grenoble (Isère), has recently made new discoveries on the papyri preserved since 2017 at the Champollion house.

France 3 Alpes / G. Ragris / F. Céroni / T. Huynh

X-ray papyri

It is a civilization born more than 5,000 years ago. And yet, even today pharaohs and goddesses continue to arouse the curiosity of scientists. This is the case of Pierre-Olivier Autran, a young researcher in physics, author of an article recently published in the very serious review Scientific Reports. He studied the structure of the papyri.

Thanks to the synchrotron’s X-ray, which has a particle accelerator ten times more powerful than the usual X-rays, he was able to decipher its mysteries, without damaging the fragments kept by the Champollion museum. “We manage to find the recipe that was used at the time, the composition of these pigments, there are several colors of the Egyptian palette”, explains the researcher.

His recently published thesis also sheds light on the making of these papyri. They would be composed of three layers, with probably the work of several scribes. “We observe the successive superposition of a preparatory drawing, then of different colors and at the end of a carbon black line which allows to underline the beauty of these fragments”, further details Pierre-Olivier Autran.

The papyri being analyzed at the Grenoble synchrotron (France 3 Alps)

The Champollion house

More than 2000 years later, we therefore know a little more about these papyri brought back by Champollion during his unique field research campaign, a campaign which was of great help to him in deciphering the writing of hieroglyphs. “With this study, we have the impression of reliving the manufacture of papyri and learning more about the work of Jean-François Champollion. It is a set of data that today makes it possible to restore this collection to the public”, rejoices Caroline Dugand, curator of the Champollion museum.

These papyri, which date from the Ptolemaic period (from 323 to 30 BCE), come from the Champollion house, in Vif in Isère. The museum, housed in the family property of the Champollions, presents reconstituted spaces, personal objects and work notes which plunge the visitor into the intellectual effervescence of the beginning of the 19th century.

The site is also a reference in the field of Egyptology. In 2017, he received papyrus fragments used by the famous Egyptologist. “They were precisely in this envelope which bears this inscription ‘Egyptian papyri found in your grandfather’s belongings'”, further reports the curator.

A new research program is launched for the next four years. It will allow to advance the work of the restorers and to learn even more about this sacred writing from ancient Egypt.

The Champollion museum presents until October 30, 2023 the exhibition “A deciphered site” which traces the work of the Champollion brothers.

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