Attention on archaeological textiles is quite recent in Italy and, it must be said, there is a lack of literature on the subject. In the past, most of the treatments regarded human mummies while Egyptian Animal mummies have been often looked after by conservator from other fields of conservation, with lack of experience and care, often using methodologies which were too aggressive or the wrong materials for cleaning and/or supporting ancient textiles and organic materials.

The idea of “minimum intervention” is now widely accepted as the best approach to archaeological textiles in order to preserve both the artifact and all the technical information relating to its original function, production technologies and provenance. But different problems often have to be faced which require different solutions, not always staying on the side of minimum intervention.

My presentation will focus on different cases –history, ranging from cats and dogs, to crocodile, bull and birds, which belong to the main collection in Italy: Turin, Bologna and Naples. The choice of methods of cleaning and support has been determined not only by the weakness of the artifact but also by its dimensions, the presence of different materials (textile, vegetable fibres, organic remains, ecc) and the future “museum life” of each artifact. Special attention has been paid to mechanical support to avoid as much as possible invasive treatments and to allow study and full access and a safe and correct hand ling.