Description: Lecture, three hours. General introduction to different types of organic materials used to produce cultural heritage: wood, bark, paper, bast fibers, grasses, skin and leather, hair and wool, quills and feathers, bone and ivory, plastics and composites. Relationship between composition (chemistry), processing, and properties of natural and manufactured materials using basic concepts from biology and chemistry. Structural stability and deterioration phenomena of these materials as found in cultural collections. Letter grading.

Units: 4.0