Assessment of Commonly Used Cleaning Methods on the Anatomical Structure of Archaeological Wood

This study was conducted to diagnose and evaluate the effect of commonly used cleaning methods in Egypt on the anatomical structure of archaeological wood samples. Beech wood samples, which were taken from anonymous mashrabia, have been cleaned mechanically and chemically, then a scanning electron microscope (SEM) study was undertaken, to monitor any significant structural changes in wood samples due to cleaning processes. SEM data, however, show that cleaning procedures, both mechanical and chemical, affect the anatomical structure of wood, and do not achieve the best result. The main problem is that the effect of reagents cannot be easily removed from the wood structure. Ethyl alcohol proved to have the minimal effect on the wood structure in this study.