EnEAp - Endangered Earthen Architecture project. New Challenges in the Conservation and Restoration Practices of Archaeological Earthen Masonries in Western Asia.

PI: Luca Volpi

Conservation of archaeological earthen architectures (i.e. mudbricks) is a challenging task. Earthen architectures deteriorate in a short period of time once exposed to weathering and other decay agents. Their conservation is one of the crucial points of every cultural heritage programme where earthen architectures are attested, and it also has ethical and philosophical issues. Selected area of the project is Western Asia, a region in which the use of earthen masonries was substantial due to the climatic and environmental conditions of the area and still is. The project is intended to investigate the possibilities of enhancing the durability and strength of mudbricks against weathering and other decay agents using stabilising materials that are sustainable, green, and ecologically friendly, testing both the use of eco-friendly components with a low environmental impact (e.g., nanoparticles of clay) and components originating from recycled materials. Tests on mudbricks (both replicas and archaeological) will estimate the compatibility and applicability of these materials for the conservation process of mudbricks, together with their efficacy based on petrographic, chemical, mineralogical, mechanical and hydrographic tests. The research is completed by a comparative analysis of the conservation and restoration practices on a regional basis, with the use of satellite environmental and climatic data. The research is conceived as an analytic work only. The application in situ of the obtained results as well as their development on a large scale are beyond the limits of the proposal.