Scientists found out what exactly is depicted in the famous masterpiece in the ancient capital of ancient Egypt (photo)

The painting from ancient Egypt, which is more than 3300 thousand years old, depicts different types of birds flying or sitting against the backdrop of lush vegetation. According to Live Science, this piece of ancient Egyptian art is so well drawn that scientists have finally managed to decipher which bird species are depicted here nearly 100 years after this painting was discovered.

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From 1353 BC. Until 1336 BC Ancient Egypt was ruled by the pharaoh Akhenaten, the father of the famous pharaoh Tutankhamen. He carried out a religious reform and forced the Egyptians to worship a new god, Aton. The pharaoh named the new capital Akhetaten, the modern Egyptian city of Amarna, 300 km south of Cairo, in honor of this god.

In the city of Akhetaten, Pharaoh Akhenaten built his palace with a recreation room, which archaeologists call the “Green Room”. It is decorated with various frescoes that were first discovered and researched between 1923 and 1925.

In 1926, scientists tried to preserve these drawings with the help of special substances, but this had the opposite effect and the pictures, on the contrary, lost their color and darkened. But before that, copies of the paintings in this room were created, and these are the images that scientists from Oxford and Cambridge universities used for their research. The fact is that the originals have already been lost forever.

Scientists believe that the family of the pharaoh could relax in the room and enjoy the paintings depicting plants and birds. It was their realism that made it possible to observe real nature as it is. Scientists also believe that there are live plants in this room that add to the desired effect.

While previous studies have already examined the wildlife depicted in the murals, the new study was for the first time able to show which bird species were depicted in the paintings. By the way, some of them have unnatural traces.

According to Christopher Stimpson and Barry Kemp of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, authors of the new study, the following bird species were found in the images:

• rock pigeon (Columba livia);
• Little spotted kingfisher (Ceryle rudis);
• Common Shrike (Lanius collurio)
• White Wagtail (Motacilla alba).

Kingfisher and rock pigeon can be found in Egypt all year, while the other two species are migratory birds. The Shrike comes here from August to November, and the White Wagtail from October to April.

Scholars believe that the most likely explanation for why ancient artists chose to paint them is that they wanted to make it richer and more colorful.

The scientists also discovered that ancient artists applied unnatural markings on their tails to birds of the last two species, as they actually had no such thing. Researchers think the artists may have drawn these markings to indicate that both bird species visit Egypt only seasonally.

Focus He had already written that scientists have shown the original colors of the frescoes in Ancient Egypt’s most famous temple.

Moreover Focus He wrote that archaeologists have discovered rare artifacts from the Roman and Ptolemaic periods in Egypt.