Hygroscopicity of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood from Xiaobaijiao No.1 Shipwreck Related to Its Deterioration State

Waterlogged archaeological wood (WAW) artifacts, made of natural biodegradable polymers, are important parts of many precious cultural heritages. It is of great importance to understand the hygroscopic behavior of WAW in different deterioration states for the development of optimal drying processes and choices of safe storage in varying conditions. This was investigated in a case-study using two Hopea (Giam) and two Tectona (Teak) WAW samples collected from the Xiaobaijiao No.1 shipwreck. The deterioration state of WAW was evaluated by the maximum water content (MWC) method and by the cell morphological structure. Both Hopea and Tectona WAW could be classified into moderately and less decayed WAW. The hygroscopic behavior of moderately and less decayed WAW was then comparatively investigated using Dynamic Vapor Sorption (DVS) measurements alongside two sorption fitting models. Compositional analysis and hydroxyl accessibility measurements of WAW cell walls were shown to correlate with the hygroscopicity of WAW in different deterioration states. It was concluded that moderately decayed WAW possessed higher hygroscopicity and hysteresis than less decayed WAW because of the lower relative content of polysaccharides and the higher relative content of lignin, including the slow hydrolysis of O-acetyl groups of xylan and the partial breakage of β-O-4 interlinks, accompanied by an increased hydroxyl accessibility. This work helps in deciding on which consolidation measures are advised for shipwreck restauration, i.e., pretreatments with specific consolidates during wood drying, particularly for wooden artifacts displayed in museums.

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The measurement of maximum water content (MWC) on waterlogged archaeological wood: A comparison between three different methodologies

Journal of Cultural Heritage ◽

10.1016/j.culher.2017.10.005 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 51-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Nicola Macchioni ◽

Elisa Pecoraro ◽

Benedetto Pizzo

Keyword(s):

Water Content ◽

Archaeological Wood ◽

Waterlogged Archaeological Wood ◽

Maximum Water ◽

Maximum Water Content

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Synthesis and characterisation of lignin-like oligomers as a bio-inspired consolidant for waterlogged archaeological wood

Pure and Applied Chemistry ◽

10.1515/pac-2016-0814 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 88 (10-11) ◽

pp. 969-977 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Emily McHale ◽

Susan Braovac ◽

Calin C. Steindal ◽

Richard B. Gillis ◽

Gary G. Adams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nmr Spectroscopy ◽

Ethyl Acetate ◽

Cell Walls ◽

Water Soluble ◽

Wood Structure ◽

New Materials ◽

Archaeological Wood ◽

Waterlogged Archaeological Wood ◽

Maximum Water ◽

Maximum Water Content

AbstractThe development of new materials for the consolidation of waterlogged archaeological wood from sustainable sources is an important area of research, as the most widely used consolidant today is petroleum based. Ideally a new consolidant will interact with the existing wood structure, ensuring maximum compatibility. Lignin is often the major component remaining in archaeological wood, as it is less susceptible to degradation than holocellulose. Therefore, in order to maximise the potential for interaction with the wood cells, lignin-like oligomers have been synthesized from isoeugenol using a water soluble copper salen catalyst at pH 10, giving a weight average Mw of 1.6 kDa. Analysis by NMR spectroscopy has shown that the oligomers have a lignin-like structure with β-O-4′, β-β′ and β-5′ connections. A 10 w/w% solution of the oligomers in ethyl acetate was found to thoroughly penetrate 1 cm3 samples of waterlogged archaeological wood (density of 0.146 g/mL, maximum water content of 620%) after 14 days impregnation, as determined by FTIR spectroscopy. No impregnation material could be seen by SEM, suggesting that it coats the cell walls upon drying. This indicates that dehydrogenated polymers penetrate waterlogged archaeological wood well and have the potential to be developed into consolidants.

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Morphological Change of Dhaka City Over a Period of 55 Years: A Case Study of Two Wards

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners ◽

10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9554 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 30-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bayes Ahmed ◽

Muhammad Rakibul Hasan Raj ◽

KM Maniruzzaman

Keyword(s):

Urban Form ◽

Spatial Dynamics ◽

Morphological Structure ◽

General Interest ◽

Morphologic Change ◽

Dhaka City ◽

Territorial Expansion ◽

Physical Form ◽

The Many

Dhaka City has undergone radical changes in its physical form, not only by territorial expansion, but also through internal physical transformations over the last decades. These have created entirely new kinds of fabric. With these changes, the elements of urban form have changed. Plots and open spaces have been transformed into building areas, open squares into car parks, low land and water bodies into reclaimed built-up lands etc. This research has its general interest in the morphologic change of Dhaka City. It focuses on the spatial dynamics of urban growth of Dhaka over the last 55 years from 1952-2007. In the research, the transformation of urban form has been examined through space syntax. The aim behind using this technique is to describe aspects of relationships between the morphological structure of man-made environments and social structures and events. To conduct this research, Wards 49 and 72 of Dhaka City Corporation were selected as the study areas, of which Ward 72 is an indigenous and Ward 49 is a planned type of settlement. Being a planned residential area, the syntactic measures from this morphological analysis are showing quite unchanged and high values in all phases for Ward 49 and the physical characteristics of Ward 72 (Old Dhaka) still represent the past. The syntactic values are found to be higher for Ward 72 and than Ward 49. Higher values indicate that the street network is highly connective among each other. Time affects differently the layout of cities and the architecture of buildings. Of the many human creations, street systems are among the most resistant to change. This has been emphasized in this study, thereby facilitating the comparison of urban layouts across space and time. The interpretation of history in the light of quantitative accounts, as demonstrated in this study, will be of value to urban planners and urban designers for the future planning of modern Dhaka City.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9554 Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 30-38

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Even Visually Intact Cell Walls in Waterlogged Archaeological Wood Are Chemically Deteriorated and Mechanically Fragile: A Case of a 170 Year-Old Shipwreck

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules25051113 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (5) ◽

pp. 1113 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Liuyang Han ◽

Xingling Tian ◽

Tobias Keplinger ◽

Haibin Zhou ◽

Ren Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Wall ◽

Cell Walls ◽

Intact Cell ◽

Nitrogen Adsorption ◽

Wet Chemistry ◽

Archaeological Wood ◽

Waterlogged Archaeological Wood ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Crystallite Structure ◽

Cell Wall Mechanics

Structural and chemical deterioration and its impact on cell wall mechanics were investigated for visually intact cell walls (VICWs) in waterlogged archaeological wood (WAW). Cell wall mechanical properties were examined by nanoindentation without prior embedding. WAW showed more than 25% decrease of both hardness and elastic modulus. Changes of cell wall composition, cellulose crystallite structure and porosity were investigated by ATR-FTIR imaging, Raman imaging, wet chemistry, 13C-solid state NMR, pyrolysis-GC/MS, wide angle X-ray scattering, and N2 nitrogen adsorption. VICWs in WAW possessed a cleavage of carboxyl in side chains of xylan, a serious loss of polysaccharides, and a partial breakage of β-O-4 interlinks in lignin. This was accompanied by a higher amount of mesopores in cell walls. Even VICWs in WAW were severely deteriorated at the nanoscale with impact on mechanics, which has strong implications for the conservation of archaeological shipwrecks.

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New trials in the consolidation of waterlogged archaeological wood with different acetone-carried products

Journal of Archaeological Science ◽

10.1016/j.jas.2011.06.012 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 38 (11) ◽

pp. 2957-2967 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Gianna Giachi ◽

Chiara Capretti ◽

Ines D. Donato ◽

Nicola Macchioni ◽

Benedetto Pizzo

Keyword(s):

Archaeological Wood ◽

Waterlogged Archaeological Wood

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Prospects for the utilization of the endogenous enzymes in sorghum malt in the hydrolysis of starch: Case study with utilization of breadfruit starch for ethanol production

Food Biotechnology ◽

10.1080/08905439409549878 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 8 (2-3) ◽

pp. 243-255 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

B. O. Solomon ◽

S. K. Layokun ◽

A. O. Idowu ◽

M. O. Ilori

Keyword(s):

Ethanol Production ◽

Sorghum Malt ◽

Hydrolysis Of ◽

Endogenous Enzymes

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Identification of Bacteria from Waterlogged Archaeological Wood

Heritage Microbiology and Science ◽

10.1039/9781847558633-00151 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 151-155

Keyword(s):

Archaeological Wood ◽

Waterlogged Archaeological Wood ◽

Identification Of Bacteria

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The new towns in the Agro Pontino: a literature review and critical bibliography

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20196308003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 63 ◽

pp. 08003

Author(s):

Emanuela Margione

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Morphological Structure ◽

Capital City ◽

Medium Size ◽

Historical Period ◽

Urban Centre ◽

New Towns ◽

Reclamation Project ◽

The Relationship

This literature review intends to focus on how the settlements system of the Agro Pontino, newly designed in a geographic area contiguous to the capital city and directly connected to the integral reclamation project elaborated by the agricultural economist Arrigo Serpieri starting from 1923, is narrated. The reclamation of the Agro Pontino is one of the most important territorial transformations carried out by Fascism under direct public control. Also, this case study is particularly significant due to the relationship between the capital city, Rome, as large urban centre, the new medium size cities, villages and the morphological structure of agricultural holdings, into a historical context where the concept of agricultural property is defined. Today we have an enormous number of books, paper and documents written in different historical period that can help us to understand the evolution of the Italian new towns but at the same time the large number of these materials can also make it difficult for understanding the project and its meaning through time. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to explain how to prepare a critical bibliography able to show the evolution of the reclamation project and the construction of new towns and the changing of its meaning over time. Also, thanks to this bibliography it’s possible to extract the main issues related to the Italian case study: the relationship between the existing landscape and the network of roads; the relationship between the plans for villages, towns and the architectural features of the new settlements, and finally, the role of public buildings as a system of public facilities promoting new behaviour patterns, and their bold modernist architecture symbolized the conquest of the land.

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Essential Oils as Alternative Biocides for the Preservation of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms8122015 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 2015

Author(s):

Federica Antonelli ◽

Marco Bartolini ◽

Marie-Laure Plissonnier ◽

Alfonso Esposito ◽

Giulia Galotta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Essential Oils ◽

Inhibitory Concentration ◽

Treated Wood ◽

Biological Degradation ◽

Archaeological Wood ◽

Waterlogged Archaeological Wood ◽

Materials Used ◽

And Storage ◽

Generation Sequencing

Waterlogged archaeological wood is exposed to a high risk of biological degradation during the post-excavation phases of storage and restoration. For this reason, often biocides must be used to preserve wooden remains. In the present work three essential oils (cinnamon, wild thyme, and common thyme) were tested as possible alternative biocides to use in the preservation of waterlogged archaeological wood. The oils were first tested in vitro to establish the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and to evaluate the biocidal activity on selected fungal strains. Then, the established MIC was applied on waterlogged archaeological wood samples and during an actual restoration treatment. The effectiveness of the oils was evaluated through cultural analyses, ATP quantification, and next-generation sequencing. The results showed that the oils caused a significant decrease in the vitality of fungal mycelia grown in vitro and of the microbiota present in treated wood and storage water. Furthermore, an influence on the composition of the bacterial communities of treated wood samples was observed. Although further tests are needed to evaluate interferences with the materials used during restoration procedures, essential oils could be considered as a possible alternative to the currently used biocide.

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