Archaeological basket

Artemis BonaDea is kindly letting me use her email capabilities to ask
this question of the telecommunications audience.  We have uncovered a
5400 year old spruce root basket from a creek.  I have removed the dirt
surrounding the basket and it is currently sitting in distilled water.
We are constructing a special container so that it will fit into our
refrigerator.  My question is: what next?  Do we treat this object with
PEG, if so, what experience do people have with various concentrations?
What about freeze-dry options?  Do you pre-treat with PEG?  Does anyone
know of a good freeze-dry operator that they would recommend?  (We are
limited to one taxidermist who lives about 400 miles away with no road
connection, so if we use this treatment, we must pack the basket for
transport somewhere.  Or should we leave it in water for as long as
possible?

Artemis will forward messages to me

Helen Alten
State Conservator
Alaska State Museum (a non-on-line institution)
395 Whittier Street
Juneau, AK 99801
907-465-4806
Fax:  907-465-2976.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:26
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 12, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-26-007
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