Dentist's drill for cleaning inscriptions on ossuaries

I thought this note may be of interest to List members. Dr. Ari
Greenspan just helped the Israel Antiquities Authority last week to
clean inscriptions on ancient ossuaries with his dentist tools. This
note from the Epigraphical Museum of Athens appearing in Kathimerini
now caught my eye.

   "The Epigraphical Museum in Athens, the only one of its kind, has
    a rich collection of inscriptions ranging from the early
    historic to the Early Christian era: 13,510 inscriptions, most
    of them written in Greek. They record resolutions, laws,
    letters, tax lists and financial accounts that indicate
    organization and planning, such as the account of expenses for
    the construction of the chryselephantine statue of Athena by
    Pheidias.  The museum at 1 Tositsa Street in downtown Athens is
    little known to the general public, but is highly valued by
    specialists and researchers, as well as schoolchildren and fans
    of deciphering.... Each inscription is accompanied by a
    translation and some helpful comments...."

Here is the key sentence:

   "Surgical implements and planes that use ultrasound remove cement
    additions, a neutral soap on paper pulp cleans away
    encrustations, and a dentist's drill performs wonders in the
    hands of the experts who revamp the inscriptions before they
    emerge from storage. All that goes on in the busy conservation
    workshop under the direction of museum sculptor Stergios
    Tzenekas."

Barnea Levi Selavan
Foundation Stone
Jerusalem


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:17
                  Distributed: Saturday, July 21, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-17-002
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