Cleaning pre-Columbian ceramics

Jerry Fahey <jfahey [at] siue__edu> writes

>I'm preparing some small (3 to 7 inch) pre-Columbian ceramic figures
>for a display. Some people refer to them as "flats". I was wondering
>what would be the best way to clean them.

I would first ask if that dirt must be removed.  Soil from the
burial deposit is a significant part of any archaeological artifact.
I do not know if these are recently excavated, or long separated
from any controlled excavation.  If they have no excavation context,
the soil remains are even more critical for their site attribution.

Howard Wellman
Lead Conservator
JPPM / MAC Lab
10515 Mackall Rd
St. Leonard, MD  20685
410-586-8577


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:56
                Distributed: Thursday, February 14, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-56-002
                                  ***