Cork

Sandra Santesso <slsantesso [at] hotmail__com> writes

>In our lab there are over 100 pieces of archaeological cork,
>excavated from a waterlogged site.  They were excavated, wrapped wet
>in Aluminum foil, and frozen.  I would like to know if anyone has had
>success with PEG + freeze drying, or other treatments, to dry the
>pieces.

We have treated archaeological cork very successfully with the normal
2-stage PEG treatment (300 and 4000) followed by freeze-drying. The
only variation we found necessary was to anchor the bagged cork
pieces beneath the surface of the solution by means of nylon mesh
and bags of glass marbles.

Mandy Clydesdale
AOC Archaeology, The Schoolhouse, 4 Lochend Road
Edinburgh EH6 8BR
+44 131 555 4425
Fax: +44 131 555 4426


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:46
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 7, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-46-006
                                  ***