Archaeology Lab

How to Wash an Artifact

1) Take two or three small bags, or one large one from the “To Be Washed” box.

2) Get a partner, and share a basin between the two of you. Warm water is fine!

3) Get a screen from the drying rack. If there are no more screens, take some newspaper, next to the drying rack.

4) You and your partner should ALWAYS wash artifacts from the same bag in the same basin at the same time. NEVER wash artifacts from two different bags in the same basin at the same time. The bag that you’re washing should immediately be put in your screen or on top of your newspaper.

5) Pottery and lithics should be dipped in the water and gently scrubbed with a toothbrush. Brush the broken edges of pottery briskly—if the edges aren’t clean, gluing won’t work later.

6) Metal should never get wet—it should be scrubbed with a dry toothbrush. Water makes iron rust and copper corrode.

7) Shell should not get wet and shouldn’t be scrubbed, either. Lay it aside and remove all loose dirt by gently brushing with your fingers.

8) Limestone, whether in tin foil or in brown paper bags, should be dipped in the water and rubbed with your fingers gently—brushing it with a toothbrush will make it dissolve.

9) You should look at bone carefully—if it looks solid, you may dip it and brush it gently with a toothbrush. If it looks a little shaky, dip it and brush it with your fingers. If it’s a greasy smear of nastiness, leave it in its container, with the top opened—do NOT put in the water at all.

10) Everything in a tin foil bag has been purposefully separated from the other contents of the bag—if it’s one of the artifact types mentioned above, follow those directions. If it’s charcoal, ochre, limonite, or something else not mentioned above, just open the top of the tin foil packet and lay the packet in your screen. This is to let the artifacts dry out gently, so they don’t grow mold.

11) Anything in a film canister should be carefully opened and shown to Dr. Reber—she’ll help you out.

12) Artifacts, when washed, should be laid on your screen or newspaper, which has the identifying bag in or on it. If it’s newspaper, write the provenience information on it with a sharpie.

13) When you and your partner are done with the bag, the screen should be slid back into the drying rack. Ideally, there should be only one washed bag per screen. If you’re running out of room, see Dr. Reber and we will decide whether idealism is wise, given the situation.

14) Take your basin of dirty water, and throw it off the loading dock in the back of the lab. Do NOT pour it down the sink in the lab, as the drains are not silt trapped and will back up.

15) Go over to the appropriate site binder (Falling Springs or Smith Kitchen) and write your bag #, provenience information, the date and your initial under the “washed” column on the Master Lab form.

16) Start again, with fresh water, a new bag, and a new screen (hopefully).