Artifact or information? Articulating the conflicts in conserving archaeological textiles

AbstractThis paper explores issues involved in the conservation of archaeological textiles by articulating often unstated conflicts in preserving both the object and the information it contains. Three main areas of conflict are identified: defining the term ‘archaeological textiles’; preserving both the artifact and the information it may yield; and conflicts in ethics and practice. Varying approaches to treatment are illustrated by case studies, including a seventeenth-century linen doublet and textile fragments excavated from first-century sites at Masada, Israel.