Conservation of archaeological turtle shell

This is a query on behalf of the National Archaeological Museum in
Thessaloniki, Greece.  Last year in the excavation of an ancient
cemetery site, archaeologists block-lifted a burial, presumably of a
young child which included a large turtle or tortoise shell.  It is
assumed that the human remains are covered or encased in the shell
itself.  At this point it is not known to what degree the shell has been
mineralized or infused with soluble mineral species though it is
unlikely to be "fossilized."  The lift is presently in the lab of the
National Museum and I've been asked to put out a request for any
information from conservators who have had to cope with the cleaning,
desalination and consolidation of such material or similar material.  To
date, the plan is to consolidate the tortoise/turtle shell in order to
fully micro-excavate the material.  Has anyone dealt with treatment of
sub fossil bones or shell?

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:74
                  Distributed: Thursday, March 9, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-74-001
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