[Nhcoll-l] [External] Identifying and removing sealant/varnish from fragile bone fragments

[Tacker, Christopher]

Hi, Dakota,

You can probably ID the sealant using Attenuated Total Reflectance infrared spectroscopy. The bone or fragment is held against a diamond for analysis. Or if you have just the sealant, you place the powder on the diamond.

This is only good if you have an idea what was used originally so you can compare several samples with your unknown.

The place to look at ASU for ATR IR is Materials Science, or maybe chemistry.

Feel free to contact me directly if you need to.

Cheers,
Chris Tacker

Chris Tacker, Ph.D., P.G.
Research Curator of Geology
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
11 West Jones St. | Raleigh, NC  27601

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Dakota Rowsey <drowsey at asu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2023 1:39:00 PM
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Subject: [External] [Nhcoll-l] Identifying and removing sealant/varnish from fragile bone fragments

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Hello,

I am looking to safely remove varnish from an approximately 1 sq cm bone fragment without compromising the integrity of the bone itself. The fragment was collected in the 60s and has likely been unused since that time, so I suspect the varnish/sealant was applied shortly after the fragment was collected. I'm most interested in just dissolving the sealant but if doing so without compromising the bone requires identifying what kind of sealant was used, tips on identifying that would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dakota

--
Dakota M. Rowsey, Ph.D. (he/his)
Vertebrate Collections Manager
Portal Manager, Consortium of Small Vertebrate Collections
Arizona State University Natural History Collections
734 W Alameda Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85282
(480)727-5870

I acknowledge that I reside and work on the ancestral territories of the Akimel O'odham (Pima) and Piipaash (Maricopa) Indian Communities and am grateful for their care of the Salt River Valley that enables me to live and work here.
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