Evaluation of Deterioration Degree of Archaeological Wood from Luoyang Canal No. 1 Ancient Ship

Abstract

This study provides a detailed investigation of archaeological wood samples from the Luoyang Canal No. 1 site, focusing on wood species identification, physical properties, mechanical property analyses, and morphological examination. The identified wood species, belonging to the Ulmus genus, exhibited a 43% decline in compressive strength in waterlogged environments. Further, the wood exhibited increased moisture content, higher porosity, reduced basic density, and elevated shrinkage rates, indicating a mild level of degradation. X-ray diffraction was employed for the observation of cellulose structure, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) demonstrated significant removal of cellulose and hemicellulose components. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding wood degradation mechanisms to evaluate structural integrity and durability in guiding the development of effective preservation strategies for archaeological wood artifacts. Continued research and conservation are crucial to deepen our knowledge of wood deterioration processes and enhance the implementation of preservation techniques.

Consolidation and Dehydration Effects of Mildly Degraded Wood from Luoyang Canal No. 1 Ancient Ship

“…wrecks from the Luoyang Canal No. 1 ancient ship (Figure 1a) [33] were cut into 90 pieces measuring 30 × 30 × 10 mm (longitudinal direction × tangential direction × radial direction) for experiments. The objects were classified as mildly degraded with an average maximum moisture content of 212.03 ± 28.33% and a basic density of 0.396 ± 0.015 g/cm 3 [34].…”

“…MTMS, on the other hand, primarily forms a siloxane network on the surface, which might not contribute as significantly to weight gain [42,43]. For comparison, with severely degraded wood, the WPG values could reach approximately 200% after consolidation [46][47][48][49][50][51][52], whereas this rate is obviously lower in Table 1, primarily because the specimens used were only mildly degraded [33].…”

“…Ulmus samples from the mildly degraded ancient ship of Luoyang Canal No. 1 were employed [33] using various drying methods. Statistical analyses were also involved in evaluating the effectiveness of both the consolidation and dehydration processes.…”