ASSESSMENT OF PROTEASE IN CLEANING OF BAT BLOOD PATCHES FROM ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WALL PAINTINGS AND SURFACE INSCRIPTIONS

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Wall paintings in ancient Egyptian tombs and temples, suffer many forms of damage. Proteinbased patches is the most dangerous aspect which results from bats' wastes. These wastes are bat blood patches that cover large areas on the surface of wall paintings. The blood patches caused distorting of the surface of Egyptian paintings, drawings and inscriptions. The aim of the present research is to clean and remove these patches using an enzyme suitable for protein digestion. A variety of different analyses were used to evaluate the use of the protease enzyme in the cleaning and removal of blood patches. The study is conducted using the infrared absorption to assess the stability of the organic medium used before and after cleaning. The study also mad use of scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy to determine the state of the surfaces of the wall paintings before and after cleaning, atomic absorption, elemental analysis units, examined by color change, to evaluate the effect of colored materials by enzyme cleaning. The results of the study confirmed the effectiveness of protease enzyme in the removal of these protein-based bat blood patches.