Testing for Gums, Starches and Mucilages in Artifacts with O-toluidine (original) (raw)
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Starch-rich plants have played an important role in human evolution and societal development. Collected, grown, and consumed to support ever-increasing populations, such plants are integral to understanding past human diets. With the advent of starch granule analysis, plant resources that were invisible in the archaeological record can now be revealed in the cracks and crevices of artifacts. Widespread application of this technique, however, has stalled due to a lack of rigorous and standardized protocols. For example, taxonomic identification of starch granules using consistent diagnostic characteristics is still a challenge as there are no comprehensive surveys across important (i.e., dietary) plant taxa, especially at the levels of families, genera, and species. This study provides characteristics for identifying starch granules of seven major North American plant families (Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Fagaceae, Liliaceae, Pinaceae, Poaceae, and Solanaceae) based on systematic, morph...
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This article presents results on the use of a new material as a solidifying agent and/or color-fixing agent. A special polysaccharide material extracted from the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) was tested on historical materials and modern papers. An old book from the 18th century was chosen as historical material. From the mentioned book 42 pages were taken, on which a conservation and restoration pretreatment was performed before applying the polysaccharide material: sampling, fiber analysis, dry cleaning, ink solubility, pH test, thickness measurement and wet cleaning. The paper sheets provided for the test were divided into 4 groups, 3 of which were treated with gel and one left untreated as a reference. The division into groups is not only due to the different method of application, but also due to the process of gel extraction. The effect of the treatment was analyzed using FTIR-ATR. To test the mucilage as color-fixing agent 2 samples were prepared using watercolor...