David,

Here are a few off the top of my head.

Vacuam packing means encapsulating an object (usually food) between two plastic sheets and evacuating the air  until it pulls tight over the form - then the plastic is heat sealed.

First concern would be whether the fragile bone could sustain the pressure when the plastic pulls tight over the artifact - and the pressure on it would be long-term. I would also worry about potential modification of the surface topology and information by such close and tight contact with plastic.

Second concern is the quality of the plastic - if it outgasses or had residual acids or decomposition products that could interact with the inherent moisture in the bone - then it is in very intimate contact with the bone surface with a large reaction surface.

Third concern is accessibility - an encapsulated bone would not be very accessible for close examination / measurement / sampling. And to remove it would involve physically cutting away the plastic till you break into the cavity around the artifact - the bone could well be damaged from attempts to remove it.

As in all things dealing with preservation / conservation I would suggest running some controlled tests before subjecting a whole collection to this technique.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator
Los Angeles, CA

On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 2:05 PM, David K. Wade <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello All!   I could use your assistance here....As an archaeology
repository, we
often receive recovered animal bone as part of an accession, in vast
quantities.
Often, these specimens are articulated and fragile.  We are visiting with
the idea
 of vacuum packing some of these items and are coming up with a long list
of
'pros', but very few 'cons'.  Can anyone offer up some insight to us what
we may
be overlooking?  It would be most appreciated!

Thanks.

David K. Wade
Billings Curation Center
Billings, Montana

www.mt.blm.gov/bcc

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