The hopeful reunion of the floating heads: the conservation of two textile fragments and their possible association with a third

AbstractThe article discusses the conservation and analyses of two excavated textile fragments from Egypt that belong to the Museum of Modern Greek Culture in Athens. The fragments entered a previous museum collection as part of a private donation in the nineteenth century and bibliographical sources suggested the two fragments once belonged to the same object, and are potentially associated with a third fragment belonging to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The analysis presented here further corroborates the hypothesis that the two fragments are associated, and provides solid evidence for any future comparison with the third fragment. Due to the poor condition of the two finds, radiocarbon analysis had to be repeated and, for the same reason, the conservation methodology followed for drying the fragments after wet cleaning had to be dramatically adapted, and in contrast to the normal procedures developed and embraced by the conservation community. Nevertheless, both analysis and conservation ...