Deterioration and Conservation of Ancient Writing Supports

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit research contributions to this Special Issue, titled ‘Deterioration and Conservation of Ancient Writing Supports’.

Writing supports, in their dual role of artefacts resulting from the society and time that produced them, but also in their being an essential, sometimes unique, instrument of the tradition of a text or document, pose complex conservative challenges. Their multi-material nature forces the conservator to take a targeted and dedicated action based on different substrates with the awareness that the deterioration of the object does not only involve the loss of a product of human ingenuity but also, especially, of the text of which this is the vehicle.

The conservation of writing supports cannot therefore be exempt from the search for new methodologies, techniques, and materials effective in their purpose without, however, constituting a further deterioration factor, always considering the purpose for which they were produced: to be enjoyed and, therefore, specifically, to be read.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect studies (original research articles, case studies, and review papers) to provide insights about the characterization of materials and techniques of ancient writing supports, researching their preservation and restoration practices, or about the characterization of the deterioration processes in which they may incur. This Special Issue aims to act as a reference for scholars and conservators in finding solutions to some of the most widespread conservation challenges.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Conservation and restoration practices for writing supports (such as papyrus, paper, and parchment);
• Characterization of the deterioration processes of written heritage;
• Analysis of material peculiarities, manufacturing processes, and use over time of writing supports;
• Diagnostic methodologies for written heritage.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Cristina Cicero
Dr. Monia Vadrucci
Dr. Silvia Bottura Scardina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• ancient writing supports
• deterioration processes
• preservation and restoration practices
• papyri
• ancient paper
• parchment