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Description:
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The research of this work describes the degradation and conservation of
archaeological hair fibers . Chapter I will be a brief overview , with Chapter II following
with a literary review and definition of terms . Chapter III focuses on research centered
on the structure of hair fibers and their physical and chemical attributes . It will also
focus on the archaeological and historical evidence of hair fiber use by humans . This
research will help form the backbone of the paper and experiments performed .
The next chapter focuses on the degradation of hair fibers in different
environments . Hair fibers left in underwater , open air , burial , and arid environments are
monitored for degree of degradation and brittleness . The hair fiber types used are four
commonly found hair fibers types : coarse wool , fine wool , mohair , and human hair .
After deposition , conservation using silicone oil treatment is tested on the
degraded hair fibers . When silicone oil treatment proves to be a viable conservation
method , the technique is then be applied to two artifacts . The two artifacts used are a
Victorian era watch fob made from human hair and hair fibers mixed with tar from the
excavation of Kittern in Bulgaria .
Chapter VII deals with the conclusions of the experiments as a whole . The
degradation of the fibers in different environmental conditions show that burial in acidic sandy clay is the most detrimental to hair fibers , while hair fibers from arid , dry
environments are brittle , but well preserved aesthetically . The silicone oil treatments are
shown to be viable treatment methods with positive results for all of the fibers tested ,
including two artifacts , a Victorian watch fob made from human hair fibers and hair
fibers mixed with a tar -like substance from the shipwreck Kittern in Bulgaria . |