APPRAISAL OF THE OVERALL CONDITION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SILK FABRIC FRAGMENTS

Abstract

In order to preserve the cultural identity of a nation, it is imperious to take special care of the textile materials which are representative for a certain historical period. Environmental factors such as humidity, UV radiation, temperature, some enzymes and micro-organisms (bacteria and fungi) can cause serious damage to aged silk textiles, which could lead to the loss of the properties that make the said material historically valuable. To assess the level and type of degradation of archaeological silk samples, we used two types of analysis techniques. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the morphological modifications of the fibers and also the types of impurities present on the materials’ surface. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate the thermal behavior of the silk samples. The same analyzes were also performed on a reference unaged silk fabric sample for an easier and more accurate interpretation of the results from the archaeological samples. These methods are micro-destructive and do not require large amounts of sample, thus making them suitable for use especially in cases where very small amounts of sample are available or when the analyzed material is extracted from an important art piece. The evaluation of the state of deterioration of an archaeologic textile material is important for further restoration and determination of the optimum maintenance parameters.

Keywords

• SEM
• DSC
• silk
• fiber
• archaeology
• textile
• degradation