Christos Karydis, Artemios Oikonomou & Alexander Konstantas
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 19, No 1, (2019), pp. 133-142
Abstract
The monastery of St. John the Theologian in Patmos, which dates back to the 11th century, is today a major spiritual and artistic entity in the Mediterranean archaeological, ecclesiastical and cultural history. Since 1999, the monastery has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, which demonstrates its historical significance. The monastery preserves and holds a significant number of works of great archaeological, ethnographical and historical value which have not been studied systematically. In particular, the archaeological textiles, which were recently donated by Mr. Albert- Jean Antonelli and kept in the monastery, have not attracted the interest and special attention of the scientific community (historians, archaeologists, conservators) and the literature is scarce. The monastery keeps 84 Coptic textiles: (82 Coptic textile fragments, one large tunic and one large tapestry fragment) which date between the 4th and 7th centuries A.D. This paper will briefly present the unpublished Coptic textile collection focusing on the paradoxical ways of display methods with incompatible materials and the application of scientific techniques to identify the fiber structure and the dyes used, via FTIR, SEM, OM and SEM methods.
Conclusions
This study presents for the first time to the scientific community the so important collection of Coptic textiles of St. John Monastery in Patmos providing valuable information regarding its state of preservation through the systematic documentation of the previous un-orthodox display methods. According to the detailed research, using various microscopic methods, we were able to identify and document previous alterations such as inappropriate adhesives, staples, unorthodox alterations etc., that will cause eventually further damage to the Coptic textiles. Therefore, it is of great importance that immediate action/treatment should be applied to remove the previous alterations. Furthermore, there is a need for proper storage and display cases for these materials according to the current conservation and museological practices.
Furthermore, detailed documentation of the deterioration agents and recording at a macro-scale was undertaken using high-resolution stereomicroscopic and microscopic (USB) methods providing information regarding the decoration, weaving patterns, condition (stains, tears) and past conservation treatments on the textiles which are all recorded.
Moreover, through the application of three different analytical techniques (μFTIR, μRaman and SERS) we were able to identify the dyes used on these textiles. In particular, we identified madder, indigo, granule (kermes) and weld which are common for this type of textiles. Finally, through the application of SARS technique, we managed to avoid the fluorescence phenomenon and enhance the Raman spectra so as to make the particular peaks more visible and more identifiable.
