Marc,
I am also responding to Ken Ames, but thought that some of the basic
considerations might be of value to the list.

Since the site was moist (from time to time) the leather would not be
alum tawed (tawed skins, as well as vellum/parchment, would have
dissolved over the time scale indicated); tanned leather will survive
moist burial for a considerable time, but may have lost (through
leaching) some tannin.

If the leather has not already been dried out, it should be allowed to
slowly dry out.  Oils can be applied while this is happening to retain
some measure of flexibility.  Otherwise, it is entirely possible that the
leather will dry out to a hard, horny, distorted shadow of it's former self.

The pH of the dirt associated with the artifact will play an important
part in the conservation of the piece.  There are a lot of details
governing the appropriate conservation of leather, and the information
required is not contained in the posting below.

Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Lab
Portland, OR
[log in to unmask]

On Wed, 13 Sep 1995, Marc Kodack wrote:

> The following is being posted for Ken Ames who is not a
> member of Museum-L. Please reply directly to Ken at
> [log in to unmask] Thanks.
>
>
> This past summer, we recovered pieces of leather from moist
> (not dry, not water logged, but seasonally moist) deposits.  It
> is likely the leather is approximately 150 to 250 years old.
> Does any one have suggestions about how to stabilize it so
> it doesn't rot -- chemical treatments etc.
>
> Ken Ames
>
> Received: from TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU by tamvm1.tamu.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2)
>    with BSMTP id 8753; Thu, 07 Sep 95 17:44:12 CDT
> Received: from TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@TAMVM1) by TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU
>  (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 3212; Wed, 6 Sep 1995 14:36:56 -0500
> Date:         Wed, 6 Sep 1995 12:36:46 -0700
> Reply-To:     Kenneth Ames <[log in to unmask]>
> Sender:       Archaeology List <[log in to unmask]>
> From:         Kenneth Ames <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      Leather and shoring
> To:           Multiple recipients of list ARCH-L <[log in to unmask]>
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ----------------------
-
> Sender:       Archaeology List <[log in to unmask]>
> Poster:       Kenneth Ames <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      Leather and shoring
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>
> This past summer, we recovered pieces of leather from moist (not dry, not
> water logged, but seasonally moist) deposits.  It is likely the leather
> is approximaltly 150 to 250 years old. Does any one have suggestions
> about how to stabilize it so it doesn't rot -- chemical treatments etc.
>
> For those of you who responded to my enquiry about shoring, the movable
> hydraulic shoring worked well, though it is a pain to work around,
> particularly in a 2 x 2m unit -- it is a much lesser problem in a long
> trench.  Ken Ames
>