OCCURRENCE OF FUNGI ON SOME DETERIORATED ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MATERIALS AND THEIR CONTROLLING BY ECOFRIENDLY PRODUCTS

Abstract

Tuna el-Gabel's excavations represent a model of the Egyptian excavation's nature, in terms ofvariations and fluctuations in degrees of humidity and temperature throughout the year. Theexcavations contain various types of antiquities which are made from different organic andinorganic materials belong to different Egyptian eras, especially the Ptolemaic era. Theseconditions have an impact on finding a certain kind of fungus damage, which passively affectsthe antiquities in the excavations. This research presents a practical study meant to determineand define the fungi existed in the organic and inorganic antiquities in Tuna el- Gabel'sexcavations. Six samples were taken from different Archaeological objects from which 24fungal strains representing 10 genera were isolated. The identified fungal isolates ; Aspergillusniger, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus humicola, Fusarium moniliforme,Chaetomium indicum, Helminthosporium sativum, Alternaria tenuis and Rhizopus sp.Comparative study using different types of fungicides and natural products on the isolatedfungal species suggested that the complete inhibition of tested fungal species was performedwith lower concentration of clove oil, which is harmless to humans, (0.75%) than the fungicides.