The influence of soil environment on the degradation of archaeological leather

Leather objects, found in archaeological excavations, survive in a specific environment. This leather material is very delicate and only little is known about the mechanism of its (bio)degradation in a soil environment. The main goal of this study was to clarify how leather is affected by a soil environment and why archaeological leathers have their typical properties. We tested the influence of the soil (bio)degradation processes on the mechanical properties, colour difference, morphological changes, possible absorption of additional inorganic components from soil and changes of the leather composition. The microbial activity of the soil was also analysed.