While some details are stylized, scientists believe this is an effort by ancient artists to distinguish migratory birds from native species.
Archaeologists discovered the painting nearly a century ago, still adorning the walls of a palace in the Amarna archaeological site—the ancient capital of Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, located 300 kilometers south of present-day Cairo. Previous studies have explored the “identity” of the depicted animals, but the newly published research marks the first time scientists have identified the birds featured in the painting.
Most of the birds in the artwork are rock pigeons (scientific name Columba livia), but scientists also recognized a pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis), a red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), and a white wagtail (Motacilla alba).
In the image, birds (a) and (b) are both rock pigeons – (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art).
The research team examined a replica of the famous painting and utilized ornithological studies to accurately identify the birds in the artwork. Their findings were published in the journal Antiquity on December 15.
The room depicted in the painting has been specially named by archaeologists as “The Blue Room”, featuring a scenery that includes a water pond filled with lotus flowers, bordered by bulrushes, where numerous birds rest in tranquil surroundings. According to the researchers, the realistic depiction was likely intended to help royal family members relax, similar to how modern people hang landscape paintings in their homes.
The scientists also suggest that the room may have contained scented water and live music to enhance the restorative ambiance of the painted space.
The Famous Blue Room
Between 1353-1336 BCE, Pharaoh Akhenaten (father of King Tutankhamun) ruled Egypt. He transformed the country’s religion by centralizing worship activities around the sun god Aten. He ordered the construction of the capital Akhetaten (now known as Amarna) and built a palace for the royal family.
This area was forgotten over time until the Egyptian Exploration Society excavated the palace between 1923 and 1925. By then, the wall paintings in the Blue Room had almost faded due to the passage of time and harsh climate. Egyptologist Nina de Garis Davies painstakingly documented the remaining fragments on the walls.
To date, all that remains are the replicas created by Nina de Garis Davies, as the original painting no longer exists.
The two individuals (g) and (h) are the red-backed shrike and white wagtail respectively – (Photo: Lehava Kiryat Shmona Pikiwiki Israel).
“The only way to preserve the paintings was to bury the room in sand once again,” said Professor Barry Kemp from the University of Cambridge. “The archaeologists of that time did not choose this method for fear that local people would damage them, but it seems their fears were unfounded.”
In 1926, attempts to restore the painting backfired, causing the ancient masterpiece to fade to an irretrievable state. Modern researchers have had to rely on the copies drawn by de Garis Davies to identify the birds depicted in the painting.
The two identified species, the rock pigeon and the pied kingfisher, are present year-round in Egypt, but some depicted birds are migratory. In their scientific report, the researchers note that “the red-backed shrike typically migrates to Egypt in the fall, between August and November,” while the white wagtail “usually migrates [to Egypt] from October to April.”
The wall masterpiece depicts several rock pigeons, although they do not typically inhabit swampy areas, preferring to nest on barren cliffs. According to experts, the ancient artists may have included them to enliven the painting.
Moreover, the Egyptian artists added details to the white wagtail and red-backed shrike, such as triangular tails, features that do not exist on these birds. It is believed that the ancient artists had a specific intention in depicting these birds as coming from elsewhere.
Regardless, the ancient Egyptian artists created a painting that almost accurately depicts the birds and vegetation present in ancient Egypt. “I believe the paintings in the Blue Room are indeed exceptional even when compared to ancient Egyptian art, and they exemplify how closely [the artists] observed the natural world,” said Christopher Stimpson, an honorary professor at the University of Oxford.
