A fascinating insight into the damage that insects inflict on wood in archaeology. Examples are taken from various parts of the planet and there is a good description of the damage inflicted on the wood in KV63 in the Valley of the Kings. Here's a short extract:
One of the most exciting archaeological discoveries, announced in 2006, was the discovery of the first new tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter since found Tutankhamun in 1922. Dr Otto Schaden, working in the area of another tomb, came across the vertical shaft, and it was named KV63, the sixty third tomb found in the valley, Tutankhamun’s being KV62.
The tomb turned out to be a cache of material associated with mummification and other aspects of burial; clearly it was thought inappropriate to throw such materials away. The dryness of the tomb had preserved rare organic finds such as pillows and mats, but initial interest focused on 7 wooden coffins, some with beautiful painted faces. On closer inspection, termites had attacked all but two, so that in places it was the decoration that was holding the object together. This is a conservation nightmare, and stabilising these objects so that they can be removed from the tomb to lab, usually in pieces, is a slow and painstaking task. It has been suggested that the termites may have arrived from workmen’s huts constructed by later tomb builders, - the same huts that hid this, and Tutankhamun’s tomb, for over 3000 years.
See the above for the full story.
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