Charlotte Parent writes:
>I would love to hear from people who care for collections that include >archaeological foodstuff (bog butter?), or who have worked on excavations >where food was >found. What challenges did you face in the preservation of >archaeological dairy/food and how did you address them? Your ongoing storage plan relies on your preservation goals - in no particular order - will the dairy be regularly accessed by researchers or have samples taken? How important is it for you to keep the ceramic and dairy together, or exactly as it is now without disturbing the way it was placed in the vessel? Do you know whether the item was permanently frozen year round or was it in an upper layer which might possibly have undergone freeze-thaw? If so was it then mostly in wet or dry surroundings? Is your dairy exposed much to the air, or is just a small amount accessible through a narrow neck vessel? Within a freezer room, an organic object will continue to lose moisture. And, if you are needing to bring it out to room temperature to take samples or allow research, the transition to room temperature will need to be managed. We use plastic bags or film as a barrier to prevent condensation on the object which occurs immediately you take it out of the frozen store, and to reduce moisture loss while it is in storage. What type of plastics or barriers or oxygen reduction you choose will depend on your budget and how long you are proposing to store the object. In clear plastic, the object may be inspected or even partially studied in the freezer room without removing it. I would discuss this with your curator, and your research community, to determine the goals for preserving this object. And develop a back-up plan for what happens if/when the power fails and the freezer stops working. Feel free to contact me offline if you have further questions. Lizzie Meek Programme Manager Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand ________________________________________________________________ Caution The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the Antarctic Heritage Trust. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy, distribute or store this message or the information in it. If you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately and delete the message. ___________________________________________________________________ ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to consdistlist-le...@cool.conservation-us.org Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/