[Nhcoll-l] Skull and bone collection preservation

[Gali Beiner]

Hi Joosep,

Here at NNHC-HUJI we, too, number the bones in our skeletal collection.
However, we do not number them by writing directly on the bone - this
creates situations where mistakes can't be corrected in a good way and
where changes in the numbering system (which may, and do, occur in many
collections over the years) result in writing a new number alongside a
pre-existing one - or pre-existing ones in plural! - rather than taking off
the old number (which is preserved in the relevant specimen record in the
catalogue book and in the database).

Instead, we apply a film of Paraloid B72 (dissolved in acetone) to the bone
and write on the film - not on the bone itself. Thus, it is possible to
remove or correct numbers. PB72 is a well-known material in conservation
and is supposed to be durable and stable enough to be of good use in
numbering specimens. Yes, all this still requires a lot of work, but this
is part of making sure that skeletal parts do not get mixed up, while
taking into consideration any changes that may happen in the future.

Gali



On Mon, Jun 20, 2022 at 2:13 PM Joosep Sarapuu <
Joosep.Sarapuu at loodusmuuseum.ee> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
>
>
> I have question about skull and postcranial bone collection and what is
> the best way to preserve and mark them.
>
>
>
> What kind of practices you use to preserve skulls and postcranial bones?
> Right now we just have them in plastic bag or/and in boxes. Is this fine
> for them?
>
>
>
> And is there a better way to mark separate bones or the only way to mark
> them with their ID is just to write ID for every little bone that we have
> for this specimen. Right now we have a basically full skeleton of a seal
> and there are a lot of small bones and it would take a lot of time to mark
> these all, that is why i asked maybe there is a way to make this thing
> easier.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Joosep Sarapuu
>
> Estonian Museum of Natural History
>
>
>
> [image: banner_Läänemeri]
>
>
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-- 
Gali Beiner (ACR)
Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
National Natural History Collections
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Fax. 972-2-6585785
*gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>*

*https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en <https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en>*
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