Corrosion encrustation of Chinese Shang Dynasty bronze implements (ca. 1300 B.C.) include pseudomorphs after silk filaments, yarn and fabric, composed of the copper minerals malachite, cuprite and tenorite, To understand the geochemical relations among protein-fiber (silk) degradation, bronze corrosion, and pseudomorph formation in the waters permeating archaeological sites, a series of laboratory experiments was devised to simulate the chemical attack of aerated ground waters upon silk buried in contact with bronze. Experimental oxidation (by aeration) of aqueous systems containing silk fabric, both with and without metallic copper, demonstrates the effect of silk oxidation and hydrolysis and of copper oxidation on the immediate geochemical environment (determined by monitoring pH, redox potential (Eh), and (Cu2+)) and, in some experiments, incipient copper mineralization of the silk. Results of the experiments are plotted as Eh-pH traces on Eh-pH diagrams of copper oxide and carbonate minerals. The diagrams and superposed experimental traces permit the interpretation of the geochemical conditions producing specific mineral associations of pseudomorphs after silk, which are often observed on bronzed artifacts from different cultures. These same techniques are being extended to interpretation of geochemical development of mineral pseudomorphs after other materials associated with metals, such as pseudomorphs after cellulosic fibers and feathers on copper artifacts from prehistoric Indian sites of the southeastern United States.