Identifying textiles and leather
Fragile organic survivals.
Textiles rarely survive except in waterlogged, arid, or metal-salt-preserved conditions. Weave, fibre, and dye are recorded under magnification — thread count and spin direction (S or Z twist) are the standard first observations.
The commonest survival is invisible at first: mineral-preserved textile, where corrosion from a brooch or buckle has replaced the cloth that touched it. Check the corrosion on metal finds for the ghost of a weave before any cleaning.
Leather cracks and shrinks; tooling and stitch holes reveal the original object, and shoes are the classic waterlogged find. Keep wet leather wet until a conservator advises otherwise — uncontrolled drying is destruction.
Both materials want stable, cool, dark storage. Record weave or grain, dimensions, and every stitch hole and seam; the construction details are the identification.