Wood under the lens: Unveiling ancient Egyptian heritage

Abstract

Studying wooden objects from ancient Egypt provides valuable insights into past economies, craftsmanship, and trade networks. However, traditional wood identification methods are often invasive, restricting research on fragile and museum-conserved items. Here, we present WoodScope, an interdisciplinary approach combining visual, macroscopic, and microscopic techniques to enhance the identification accuracy of ancient Egyptian wooden objects while preserving their integrity. Applied to 187 nearly 4000-year-old objects from diverse funerary contexts, WoodScope revealed significant links between material choices and cultural practices, including the first documented use of grape wood in a funerary cow model. This approach bridges preservation ethics, scientific precision and challenges related to object accessibility, offering a transformative framework for studying ancient wooden objects, advancing archaeological research, and informing conservation strategies for ancient Egypt’s cultural heritage.