preservation of archeological specimens

[darkknight]

hi,

just got a question on preservation of archeological specimens.what chemical is used to preserve old earthern utensils & old idols just dug out of the ground??? oh yeah!! & what do u do in the C-14 dating test. does it harm the specimen???

 

[dcguffey]

This is a shot in the dark, but what I think I have seen on the Discovery channel is a process by which the article is wrapped in a "non-stick" material (Tyvek?)and a strange sort of liquid polystyrene is then poured half-way into a box. The wrapped article is placed on the now gelatenous polystyrene and the box is then filled the rest of the way. Once the polystyrene cures, you have a stryo box with the article perfectly supported in the middle.

I believe the carbon dating process is destructive, but only requires a very, very, very small sample.