Mike, The storage environment should be as close as possible to the burial conditons: if found on a wet site, keep archaeological bone hydrated, if dry, keep dry. Keep washing to an absolute minimal if at all. And house in archival containers with some RH buffering to reduce environmental fluctuations in the microenvironment. This is quite easily done within polyethylene bags or containers. Don't consolidate or do any chemical treatments if any analysis is likely to be done, either now or in the future, as these can impair the ability to derive information from these orgnaic artifacts. Find the excellent reference "A Field Guide for Archaeological Conservation" by Catherine Sease, UCLA Press. Cheers! Dave David Harvey Conservator Los Angeles, California USA On 1/19/06, Mike Warren <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > What are the best ways to preserve animal bone fragments found in > pre-historic > Indian archaeological sites. > Thank you. > >========================================================= > >Important Subscriber Information: > > > >The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ > . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending > a > one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the > message should read "help" (without the quotes). > > > >If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff > Museum-L" (without the quotes). > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message > to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" > (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff > Museum-L" (without the quotes). > ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).