Analysis of fabrics obtained during the archeological excavation sites in Israel

The aim of this work is to determine the type of material in the given unknown fabric which was excavated from the various archeological sites in Israel using advanced material technology. The four fabrics that were obtained appeared as fragmentary and very degraded textiles. Therefore, we established the treatment method for these fabrics that would be most suitable to deal with the analysis and identification of the material they are made. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analysis were used to confirm the material in the fabric samples. Upon detailed analysis it was concluded that all the fabrics are composed either of the synthetic materials such as nylon 6, polyester, and polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The developed method and analysis present herein has the advantages of being rapid and effective for identification of the fabrics and can be applied to varieties of archeological fabrics.