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https://www.newscientist.com/article/2418921-wasabi-could-help-preserve-ancient-egyptian-papyrus-artefacts/>
"Wasabi vapours are potent enough to kill fungi growing on painted papyrus
fragments – all without damaging the fragile artefacts or altering the
appearance of their vivid colours.
The unique disinfecting strategy could help archaeologists and museums preserve
documents written on paper made from the papyrus plant, a material used for
thousands of years in ancient Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire. “The
bio-deterioration of papyri is a worldwide problem,” says Hanadi Saada at the
Grand Egyptian Museum in Egypt.
Fungus can damage delicate papyrus, but some disinfectants can be just as
harmful. So Saada and her colleagues are studying less harsh “green”
treatments. In this experiment, they mixed up a paste of wasabi – the popular
Japanese condiment derived from a plant related to horseradish and mustard –
and placed it on aluminium foil next to papyrus samples.
Instead of risking historical papyrus artefacts, the researchers prepared
replicas for the experiment. The modern papyrus samples were painted different
colours, such as red, yellow and blue, and then heated to 100°C (212°F) in an
oven for 120 days to simulate the natural ageing of papyrus over 1000 years.
Finally, they were exposed to several fungal species that are known to infest
archaeological papyri.
After three days, the wasabi treatment had eliminated the fungal contamination
without impacting the papyrus samples’ pigments. A follow-up check one month
later showed the same result."
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
