dakota415•25d agoProlific Poster

That stat about how fast woven fabrics decay in wet soil really got me

I always assumed ancient cloth just rotted away completely within a few decades. Then I read a study from the University of Leicester that said wool and linen can survive for thousands of years if the soil is waterlogged and low in oxygen. They found fragments from the Bronze Age that still showed the original weave pattern. So now I look at muddy bogs way differently when I'm out hiking. Has anyone else had their mind blown by a preservation fact like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt_mitchell2624d agoMost Upvoted

I read peat bogs can preserve butter too, not just cloth.

jenny4725d ago

oh the waterlogged thing is no joke. i used to hike a boggy area near my grandparents farm and one time found a piece of old wool cloth sticking out of a muddy bank. turned out to be from the 1700s based on the weave pattern and a local historian dated it. if it had been in regular dirt it woulda been gone in a few years but that cold wet muck preserved it perfectly.

cole_baker24d ago

Honestly, imagine being that piece of cloth and thinking you're finally going to decompose in peace after a few hundred years, but then some hiker pulls you out like "Surprise, you're a historical artifact now." Ngl, that's a raw deal for the fabric. Tbh, I'd be annoyed if I'd been chilling in a bog for centuries and someone dragged me into the spotlight.