Had a pottery expert tell me I was cleaning Roman shards all wrong

I've been digging at a site near Bath for about 3 years now, just volunteer stuff. Last month a visiting archaeologist from the British Museum saw me scrubbing some samian ware fragments with a toothbrush and water. She stopped me and said I was actually damaging the surface by removing the micro layers of soil that hold chemical clues. Now I only use a soft dry brush and a bamboo pick for stubborn spots. Has anyone else had to change their whole cleaning method after getting called out by a specialist?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor_butler5025d ago

Yeah, that bit about "losing the chemical data" really stuck with me too... It's funny how we think scrubbing something clean is the right way to do things, but sometimes you're just stripping away all the useful stuff. I've noticed this same pattern everywhere, like how people obsess over pressure washing their old brick walls or stone patios, and then wonder why the mortar starts falling apart. Or even with cooking, how everyone wants to wash all the seasoning off a cast iron pan because it looks dirty. Sometimes the grime and the layers are actually what hold everything together, you know?

anthony_wells26d ago

I used to scrub everything clean too but she's right about losing the chemical data.