Initial Survey to Fungal Deterioration of Archaeological Linen Textiles in Sohag National Museum

Abo Elmaaref, Mahmoud; Marouf, Mohamed; Mohamed, Wael S.; Abdel Wahab, Walaa A.

doi:10.21608/arcs.2020.44500.1008

Initial Survey to Fungal Deterioration of Archaeological Linen Textiles in Sohag National Museum

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ conservation department, Faculty of archaaology, Sohag university,Egypt

² Conservation Department, Faculty of Archeology, Sohag University, Egypt

³ Polymers Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

⁴ Department of Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

10.21608/arcs.2020.44500.1008

Abstract

Microorganisms are one of the most dangerous damage factors that threaten archaeological cellulosic textiles such as cotton and linen. This research presents a detailed study of the effect of fungi that have been isolated from the display and storage environment of Sohag National Museum on the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of archaeological linen textiles. The study used the potato Dextrose Agar, PDA. Nutritional medium in conducting microbial surveys of the museum display and storage environment; the result of the survey was the presence of three fungal strains, Aspergillus flavus, Trichoderma sp. and Penicillium duclauxii, which dominated the display and storage atmosphere in the museum. The study evaluated the effect of these fungal strains on the linen textiles. Measurement of mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation), change of color using the CIE Lab system and the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used for the evaluation process. The results of this study found that the most dangerous fungal strain that affect both mechanical, physical properties and chemical composition was strain of Aspergillus flavus.

Highlights

The dominant fungi isolated and identified from the display and storage atmosphere in the Sohag National Museum were Aspergillus flavus, Trichoderma sp., and Penicillium duclauxii.
The identified fungi affected the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of archaeological linen textiles.
The most dangerous fungal strains affect all properties studied was Aspergillus flavus.

Keywords