Dr Christina Margariti

Dr Christina Margariti

EXPLORING THE APPLICATION ON INSTRUMENTAL ANALYSIS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF TEXTILES EXCAVATED IN GREECE

This thesis is one outcome of research aimed to raise the awareness of textiles excavated in Greece. The inherently sensitive nature of excavated textiles accounts for the rarity and poor condition of the finds, making them more often than not unidentifiable for the archaeologists, a conservation challenge and a puzzle for textile historians/curators. Conservators are often the intermediary between the objects they care for and the people for whom these objects are preserved. Analytical methods of investigation provide a means of increasing understanding of excavated textiles, and in this way enhance their conservation. Hence, it was decided to experiment with certain non-destructive, instrumental analytical methods of investigation, namely stereo, optical and electron microscopy, coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy, FTIR and Raman microscopy, and XRF spectroscopy, with the aim of material characterisation and identification. A survey through the Archives of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture revealed 65 different cases where textiles had been preserved in burial contexts.

Four different methods favorable for the preservation of textiles in Greece were identified and four finds representative of these conditions were selected and subjected to instrumental analysis. The finds are the main case study, ‘Argos’ (found in association with copper), and ‘Theva’ (found in a charred state), ‘Kalyvia’ (found impregnated with calcium salts) and ‘Nikaia’ (found in association with copper and in anoxic conditions). During this research three excavated textile finds, the location of which was unknown, were ‘discovered’. The outcomes of the experimentation formed the basis for the development of guidelines, designed to help archaeologists, conservators and textile historians/curators to understand and thereby conserve excavated textiles in Greece.