| by Eleonora Giglione | When addressing the preservation of textiles, a common prejudice emerges: that fabric, being biodegradable, cannot endure like “durable” materials such as marble or bronze. This view stems from a factual observation: most ancient textiles have not survived because organisms, light, humidity, and oxidation degrade them more rapidly than stone. Yet material history shows that, under favorable conditions, textile artifacts can survive for millennia and provide analytical evidence comparable to that of a sarcophagus or a relief. The Tarkhan Dress, a linen garment found in Egypt and dated between 3482 and 3102 BCE, preserved at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London, is considered the…