Biodeterioration of Wooden Cultural Heritage Organisms and Decay Mec
Since prehistoric times and throughout the course of human evolution, wood has been an integral part of all civilizations. Wooden Cultural Heritage can be found worldwide, providing valuable information on the social and economic context of human history.
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Biodeterioration of Wooden Cultural Heritage Organisms and Decay Mechanisms in Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems
Biodeterioration of Wooden Cultural Heritage
Anastasia Pournou
Biodeterioration of Wooden Cultural Heritage Organisms and Decay Mechanisms in Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems
Anastasia Pournou Dept. of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art University of West Attica Athens, Greece
ISBN 978-3-030-46503-2 ISBN 978-3-030-46504-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46504-9
(eBook)
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To Kalliope Paliatsara and to George Pournos
Preface
Everything is impermanent. Greek philosopher Heraclitus, wrote 2500 years ago “πάντα ῥεĩ ” in his study “About Nature”, implying that everything flows and nothing stands still. Wood is a remarkable material, which unfortunately cannot escape the concept of “becoming”. Wooden Cultural Heritage, although unique to each civilization that has created or utilised it, has constituted a legacy of sociocultural and economic value for all humanity. However, in ecological terms, it is simply dead organic matter that will inevitably be broken down by decomposers. Wood biodeterioration involves complex physical and chemical processes induced by organisms that disaggregate it, as part of a nutrient cycle. Thus, wood is not truly lost and Antoine Lavoisier saying “nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed” also appears to apply to wood which recycles within the biosphere. This book was inspired by the impermanence of the matter and the transformation of wood, and it is devoted to all who fight to preserve it in a losing battle against nature. Wood s
