Characterization and simulation of water-degraded archaeological textiles: a review

Textiles recovered from marine, terrestrially wet, and frozen archaeological contexts are degraded primarily by microorganisms which have attacked and consumed material leaving the physical structure weakened. The type and extent of this damage vary for different fiber types especially between those of vegetable and animal origin. These variations place differing requirements upon the post-excavation conservation of this material. Appropriate conservation is dependent upon an assessment of the condition of the textile. There has been little study of how terrestrial wet and frozen burial contexts have altered the basic morphology and chemistry of natural fiber textiles. Neither has there been much study of how, through actualistic and laboratory experiments, these contexts modify the characteristics of never-buried textiles to provide comparative data with which to interpret the archaeological material. Relevant studies are scattered among several disciplines. A limited review is presented of two topics relevant to the assessment of water-degraded archaeological textiles: (1) studies of the characterization of natural fiber textiles degraded by microorganisms; and (2) methods and studies to simulate these degradation processes.