Wasabi Can Be Used as Ecofriendly Preservation Tool for the Ancient Knowledge Contained on Papyrus
Papyrus was the premier writing material of the ancients, and an international team of researchers has discovered that wasabi, the spicy green goop you get with your sushi, can save ancient papyrus manuscripts from fungal contamination.
Papyrus is made from the crushed stems of the Cyprus papyrus plant, and because it’s only one step removed from a plant, the papyrus, and the pigments contained upon it, can be eaten away by fungal microbes.
Papyruses contain all manner of ancient wisdom, including the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Will of Naunakhte, treatises on medicine and surgery, the only extant copy of the Greek playwright Menander, many different Biblical sections, Book V and VI of Homer’s Illiad, and the Vision of Dorotheus, one of the earliest examples of Christian hexametric poem, just to name a handful.
“The bio-deterioration of papyri is a worldwide problem,” lead author Hanadi Saada, a researcher at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Egypt, tells New Scientist.
Archivists are not helpless against such bio-deterioration, but chemical agents used have their issues, such as toxicity for humans and objects, damage and disruption of ancient pigments, and not providing a future guarantee against such contamination.
In their study, the team created papyrus sheets and baked them in the oven to simulate years of weathering. Next, they exposed the papyrus to microscopic fungi commonly found on ancient scrolls.
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Gradually mixing water and wasabi until it reached a “dumpling-like state” they hung the papyrus in such a way as to ensure the fumes from the wasabi lump could cover the whole scroll.
After three days, the contamination had been cleared without a trace remaining. All the pigments and other physical characteristics of the papyrus remained undisturbed, and something within the wasabi vapors increased the scroll’s textile strength.
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Smithsonian reports that other fungal disinfectants damaged the pigments almost as much as the fungi did.
Plus, once the wasabi mixture has been used to save ancient knowledge, it provides the perfect excuse to order a yummy box of take-out sushi.
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