{"pk":63445,"title":"<!--StartFragment-->The Use and Experience of Painting Materials in Ancient and Modern Nubia<!--EndFragment-->","subtitle":null,"abstract":"<p><!--StartFragment--></p>\n<pre class=\"a-b-r-La\" style='display: block; font-family: \"Courier New\", Courier, monospace, arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;'>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 their 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 with 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.</pre>\n<p><!--EndFragment--></p>","language":"eng","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial  4.0","short_name":"CC BY-NC 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\n\nNonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.\n\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"Ancient Nubia"},{"word":"paint"},{"word":"colour"},{"word":"ethnography"},{"word":"Sudan"}],"section":"Articles","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hd559jb","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Kate","middle_name":"","last_name":"Fulcher","name_suffix":"","institution":"University College, London","department":"Institute of Archaeology"}],"date_submitted":"2026-02-26T17:19:17.925812Z","date_accepted":"2026-02-26T17:19:55.130739Z","date_published":"2026-02-26T16:20:00Z","render_galley":{"label":"The Use and Experience of Painting Materials in Ancient and Modern Nubia","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/dotawo/article/63445/galley/48878/download/"},"galleys":[{"label":"The Use and Experience of Painting Materials in Ancient and Modern Nubia","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/dotawo/article/63445/galley/48878/download/"}]}