Folia archeologica 23.

Ferenc Fülep – György Duma: Examinations of the Wall Paintings in the Cella Trichora of Pécs

CELLA TRICHORA OF PÉCS 21 I Fig. 4. 1

5. with gray paint 16. with brownish-gray paint Group С : Fragments of the painting with figures found during the excavations of 1922: 17. fragment of nimbus, 18. fragment of finger, hand, 19. fragment of an eye, face, 20. fragment with inscription, 21. fragment of pleats of garment. The colour of the plaster fragments is white, occasionally with a pinkish, and exceptionally with a yellowish hue. Upon a slight mechanical effect the majority of the samples can be easily broken and the resulting surface is always coarse. In most cases the shape of grains can be clearly observed in the breakage. In the upper layer of red colour (samples 1, 2, 3) grains of barley (Hordeum sp.) could be clearly recognized (Fig. 2). Similar grains were found in several fragments; but on the basis of the shape the species of barley cannot be exactly defined. Besides the grains, straw and other plant remnants could be often observed in the plaster materials (Figs, j-4-j). For a further analysis of the plaster materials containing plant remnants we had carried out microscopic investigations. Samples, cut from the plaster materials and bonded with synthetic resin and polished, when only slightly magnified, the pits where the grains, chaff and straw are still there, can be seen ( Fig. 6). The mineralogical and penological tests