A preliminary study on using enzymes in cleaning archaeological wood

► I tested the effect of three types of enzymes on two types of archaeological wood. ► I examine changes in the archaeological wood samples before and after enzymatic treatment. ► The lipase and protease enzymes were more effective than the amylase enzyme in cleaning the wood surface. ► The enzyme residues were remaining on the cell walls of archaeological wood. ► No dramatic changes are observed before and after enzymatic cleaning.