Conservation between scientific methodology and laboratory application. An integrated approach to past and present challenges

King Tutankhamun’s 18th-dynasty tomb collection is expected to be displayed at the newly built Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. The collection is one of the earliest attempts at conser vation in modern terms, integrating a scientific approach to its long-term preservation and providing firsthand information about changes and developments in conservation practices from the time of its discovery in 1922 to the present day. One of the conservator’s main roles is to investigate the causes of the changes that occur in objects and to find a methodology to minimize these changes for future generations. Hence, understanding an object’s composite materials and past conservation treatments is necessary to develop a methodology for present-day conservation work. By examining four organic artifacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb—a hassock or “footstool” (Carter No. 034) and four textile objects (Carter No. 054f, 044t, 021cc, and 044r)—in four case studies, a hypothesis was put forward that present-day conservation decisions are integrated with those from the past. Such past decisions, in combination with the condition or state and scientific approach at the time, affect the object’s preservation and influ ence current conservation decision-making. The authors compared the similarities and differenc es between the four artifacts in the case studies and concluded that changes in conservation thinking and methodology had become part of each object’s characteristics, and that conservation decisions taken in the past had been integrated into the objects. Similarly, conservators need to be aware that present-day conservation decisions involving advanced scientific methods and laboratory applications also affect objects and must proceed with caution, i.e., remember that less is more and that challenging situations are also an integral part of conservation.