The short-term degradation of cellulosic pulp in lake water and peat soil: A multi-analytical study from the micro to the molecular level

Cellulosic pulp was analysed after two and five years of natural ageing in two different burial environments - lake water and peat soil - in order to investigate the chemical and structural changes undergone by the material. This research is part of a monitoring program developed in the archaeological site of Biskupin, whose final aim is to estimate the best re-burial conditions for an in situ conservation of archaeological wood. We applied SEM, FT-IR, XRD and Py-GC/MS with thermally assisted silylation using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) to obtain broad information on cellulosic pulp degradation.