A safely green treatment of bio-deteriorated painted archaeological papyri by Wasabi

Wasabi has been displayed substantial fungicidal behavior for the disinfection of bio-deteriorated non-painted archaeological papyri. Therefore, in this study for the first time the interference of Wasabi with different pigments of painted papyrus has been studied. Microbiological, mechanical, physical and chemical evaluations were carried out using various spectroscopic, tensile tester and microscopic tools. Wasabi vapors treatment for 72hs (2.5%) has eradicated the microbial growth of all the examined infected painted and non-painted papyri with inhibition efficiency of 100%. The tensile strength of the treated papyri recorded enhancement by 26%, while maintained the color of painted and non-painted papyri without any noticeable change (ΔE < 1). Moreover, surface morphology of treated papyri has been evaluated and there was no change recorded. Additionally, FT-IR and EDX analyses revealed negligible chemical changes were attained. Interestingly, upon long term treatment evaluation, which has been conducted based on the artificial aging of approximately 100 years, the papyrus samples remained unchanged. Therefore, this study presents a green and cost-effective conservation approach for long-term preservation of painted archaeological papyri.