A study for conservation of plant-based cultural properties : on the subject of straw sandals excavated at Goongnamji in Buyeo

초본류 문화재의 보존처리를 위한 연구 -부여 궁남지 출토 짚신을 대상으로-

Plant-based cultural assets using straw and grass as household goods of our people's have been used as indispensable tools for practical living for a very long time. However, only a limited number of artifacts were unearthed so far due to tile fragility of the material. For this reason, research on plant-based cultural properties had close to no progress, and the appropriateness of the PEG method, high-grade alcohol method, alcohol--ether-resin method, and Paraloid B-72 used in preserving plant-based cultural properties has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, this study examined the weight change rate by applying the methods of Primal MC-76 and vacuum freeze-drying used mostly as a earth-layer hardening material among PEG and acrylic resin, which are applied widely for preservation of waterlogged archaeological wood, as a means to preserve plant-based cultural properties along with the examination of the subject material, and an experiment was also performed on moisture absorption. The findings as a result were, first, the plant-based material being studied was found to be Typha (Typha orientalis Presl). Secondly, the weight change experiment applying $PEG\#400$ and $PEG\#4000$ confirmed a steady increase of weight if PEG -2Step is used for treatment. Third, in preserving all subject materials with soil, treatment with $PEG\#4000$, Primal MC-76, and vacuum freeze-drying showed that tile vacuum freeze-drying method resulted in the largest or $20\%$ reduction in weight, while Primal MC-76 resulted in $18\%$ and $PEG\#4000$ in $8\%$ of weight reduction. It was concluded that, considering the stability of soil measurement, this came to be because resin permeation was carried out along with tile drying process. Fourth, the weight changes were found to be around $10\%$ in various humidity conditions after the preservation treatment. The greatest weight change rate was seen in the case of $PEG\#4000$, particularly having chemicals gush out in a high humidity (RH $84\%$ or higher) environment. In the case of Primal MC-76 and vacuum freeze-drying methods, $6\~8\%$ weight changes were detected, and the lowest weight change was found in the case of the vacuum freeze-drying method. Fifth, as for color changes after treatment, blackening occurred most strongly with $PEG\#4000$, while Primal MC-76 and vacuum freeze-drying manifested colors closest to dry straw or grass. However, the texture of straw was not very evident in the case of Primal MC-76, due to a glossy surface, but vacuum freeze-drying was found to offer tile best result in terms of texture. Putting together the results of the above experiments, vacuum freeze-drying presented after being treated with PEG2-Step the most stabilized changes in weight, while it offered the smallest change in color as well.