PARAFFIN: AN ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL ALTERNATIVE FOR BONE CONSERVATION

Fragile bone materials are ubiquitous in archaeological museum and forensic settings. Although there are many chemical and industrial options for conservation, these may adversely affect the bone objects undergoing preservative treatment. Here, paraffin is explored as a biologically friendly alternative to bone material conservation. Modern domestic pig ribs were subjected to paraffin treatment and then to isotopic analysis to quantify and investigate the chemical effects of paraffin. Although the results showed that paraffin had a limited impact, the sample size proved too small to display the definitive parameters of paraffin’s effects. The results were nevertheless compelling enough to warrant more research with a greater sample size.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Luksha, Victoria E.

• Alfred Lucas
• artifacts
• Bone conservation
• chicken bones
• conservation
• conservation experiment
• isotopic analysis
• paraffin
• pig bones
• preservation

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/731

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1750