Dominique Navarro penciling the Taharqa Gate on photo enlargement at the Small Amun Temple in Medinet Habu

We'd like to draw your attention to yet another important case study, written by guest author and Epigraphic Survey artist, Dominique Navarro. In the past couple of years, Dominique has been working on the documentation of a gate immediately to the north of the small Amun Temple Kushite pylon at Medinet Habu, built in the time of Taharqa.

Referred to as “Taharqa Gate,” the structure would have served as a gateway entrance to the Small Temple during the reign of the ancient Egyptian Twenty-fifth Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa (690 BC to 664 BC), and credited to him despite all cartouches (names of the king) being thoroughly destroyed by vigilant ancient hackers.

Along with such rigorous hacking, the sandstone monument has suffered thousands of years of deterioration from wind, sand, water (humidity, moisture, and occasional rain), ancient religious graffiti, pilgrim or fertility gouges (scrapings of the walls for good luck), and the devastating disintegration from soluble salt in a high water table rapidly destroying the integrity of its bottom-most blocks, and leaving the entire monument vulnerable and contorting, the western wall especially askew in a precarious tilt under the weight of its heavy lintel. Modern climate change and tourism also have taken their toll, as with all the monuments.

If you'd like to read Dominique's article that is not only a worthwhile addition to our case study collection but essentially an introduction to the unique way she handles digital inking using Wacom's Intuos Pro, follow this link.

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