Journal of Archaeological Science 117 (2020) 105137 Available online 20 April 2020 0305-4403/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Using spinel chemistry to characterise archaeological steatite found in the wall paintings of Tell el-Dab c a, Egypt Tobias Skowronek a, b, * , Andreas Hauptmann a , Constance von Rüden c a German Mining Museum, Herner Straße 45, 44787, Bochum, Germany b The Faculty of Geosciences, Ruhr University Bochum, Universit€ atsstraße 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany c Institute for Archaeological Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum, Am Bergbaumuseum 31, 44791, Bochum, Germany ABSTRACT In the Aegean-type wall paintings of Tell el-Dab c a, Egypt, steatite was used as a constituent of the white colour. Previous research has revealed that the use of talc as a pigment can be considered as an important marker of Aegean craft traditions. In this case study it is therefore of primary importance to trace back the origin of this particular mineral and rock, especially since it can be found in several locations in the Mediterranean including Egypt, Crete and Cyprus. While there is still no generally valid strategy to assign archaeological objects made from this particular material to a specifc steatite deposit, the physio-chemical characterisation of the latter mostly relies on the measurement of Rare Earth Elements (REE’s) or other methods focusing on the chemical composition of the whole rock. In this paper, a new way to determine steatite origin is presented using electron microprobe characterisation of spinels inside the steatite matrix. Those tracer minerals can not only be the source of information concerning the formation of steatite but their core composition can in some cases also refect the primary composition of the precursor ultramafc rock. This method focuses on the geotectonical history and genesis of the protolith rather than on steatite’s chemical composition. The results reveal the spinels to have similar characteristics to those of supra-subduction ophiolites in the Egyptian Central Eastern Desert. We suggest a correlation between gold and steatite exploitation and thus the use of local raw materials for the creation of the Aegean-type paintings. 1. Introduction Steatite was found to be the leading component of the white paint used in the 15th century BC Aegean-type wall paintings, excavated in c Ezbet Helmi/Tell el-Dab c a in the eastern Nile delta, Egypt (Von Rueden and Skowronek, 2018), (Fig. 1). These paintings have been found in palatial context dating back to the 18th Dynasty, probably the time of Hatshepsut and Thutmoses III (Bietak, 1992, 1994, 2000; Kutschera et al., 2012; contra H€ ofmayer, 2015, 2019). Reconstructed scenes so far depict for instance bull leaping-scenes (Bietak and Palyvou, 2000; Bietak et al., 2007), large and small scale griffns and hunting scenes (Morgan, 2010; Becker, 2018), the representation of architectural features (Jungfeisch, 2016) and large scale human and animal fgures in relief (von Rüden, 2015) all having parallels in the Aegean (Evans, 1921; Bietak et al., 2007; Bietak and Palyvou, 2000). Other Aegean style paintings have been found at Hattusha, Anatolia (Bittel et al., 1957; Niemeier, 2008; Jungfeisch, 2013; von Rüden and Jungfeisch, 2017), Qatna, Syria (Pf€ alzner and von Rüden, 2008; von Rüden, 2011; Pf€ alzner, 2013), Alalakh, Anatolia (Woolley, 1953; Nie- meier and Niemeier, 2000; Von Rüden, 2019) and Tel Kabri, Israel (Niemeier and Niemeier, 2002; Cline et al., 2011) making Aegean style paintings an eastern Mediterranean phenomenon (Niemeier and Nie- meier, 2000; Bietak, 2007; von Rueden, 2013, 2017, 2018). In order to understand the emergence of those paintings, the concept of the „traveling artisan“ has been suggested (Woolley, 1953; Niemeier, 1991; Shaw, 1995; Niemeier and Niemeier, 1998; see also Zaccagnini, 1983 for a general discussion of traveling artists in the Near East). Von Rüden (2013, 2017, 2019, von Rüden and Jungfeisch, 2017) recently criticised the latter concept without taking into consideration the different local appropriations and perceptions of the paintings. Scientifc analyses of the paintings at Tell el-Dab c a have been carried out by Brysbaert (2002, 2007a) who presented scientifc plaster and pigment analysis and found the plaster to consist of crushed seashells, indicating a frst material feature related to the Aegean (Brysbaert, 2007b). While research on the composition of pigments and plasters at Tell el-Dab c a is still preliminary, we concentrate here on another feature that has recently been shown to be an Aegean practice: the use of talc as a pigment (Von Rueden and Skowronek, 2018). We have shown that talc appeared in the wall paintings of Tell el-Dab c a as a constituent of white decorations and in a separate plaster layer just underneath the coloured painting surface, highlighting the fact that talc has never been attested to be used as a pigment in Egypt. Microscopic investigation of the talc * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: tobias.skowronek@bergbaumuseum.de (T. Skowronek), Andreas.hauptmann@bergbaumuseum.de (A. Hauptmann), Constance.vonRueden@ rub.de (C. von Rüden). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105137 Received 12 November 2019; Received in revised form 18 March 2020; Accepted 23 March 2020