Back on July 3rd Sally Shelton wrote a thoughtful piece
     on NOT putting artifacts in plastic bags.  Ms. Shelton
     attributed this to a course on "anoxic enclosures and
     microenvironments" she'd recently taken.

     We have a dim institutional memory of a conservator
     telling us that sealing archeologically derived clam
     shell into air tight plastic bags promoted "Bight's
     Disease," a rather scaly, lichen-like growth.  So we
     punched holes in all the plastic bags which held shell
     where the shell wasn't so small as to fall out of the
     hole.

     Does anyone out there know anything about Bight's
     Disease, shell, and bags?  A reference I could read, an
     expert I could contact, anything would be appreciated.

     TIA  Chris Dill

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C. L. Dill, Museum Director
State Historical Society of North Dakota
612 East Boulevard
Bismarck  ND  58505-0830
P: (701)328-2666
F: (701)328-3710
E:  [log in to unmask]
Visit our Web site at: http://www.state.nd.us/hist/
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