Microbial ecological approaches to elucidate the degradation mechanism of the murals in Ajanta Caves, India

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24501261
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural property science
• Research Institution: Independent Administrative Institution National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
• Principal Investigator: YOSHINORI Sato 独立行政法人国立文化財機構東京文化財研究所, その他部局等, 研究員 (50466645)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SHIMADZU Yoshiko 国立歴史民俗博物館, 大学共同利用機関等の部局等, 助教 (10523756) ; KIGAWA Rika 独立行政法人国立文化財機構東京文化財研究所, その他の部局等, その他 (40261119)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 微生物劣化 / 壁画保存 / インド・アジャンター石窟 / バイオフィルム / 黒色付着物質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Ajanta caves are located in the northern part of Maharashtra state, India, where there are beautiful and valuable mural paintings. One of the serious problems for conservation of the paintings is that the black substances (BS) spread on the paintings and degrade the paintings together with the under layer (mud plaster). This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of the degradation of the mural paintings which is caused by BS. Based on microbial and physicochemical analyses, it is revealed that the BS collected from the deteriorating murals were consisted of microbial biofilms and that content of plant fibers in the deteriorating mud plasters under the BS were lower than that of the robust mud plasters. From these result, it is considered that BS, being exactly microbial biofilms, were made from bat’s urine and excrement, and plant fiber (cellulose)-degrading microbes in the biofilm seem to be responsible for the degradation of mud plasters which support the mural paintings.

Free Research Field

文化財保存科学