That time I was cleaning pottery shards with dish soap for years

I've been volunteering at a local dig site near Carlisle for about 8 years now. Last month a visiting archaeologist from the British Museum watched me scrub a piece of Roman Samian ware and she just cringed. She explained that the dish soap I was using leaves a residue that can mess with future chemical analysis of the clay. I felt pretty silly because I'd been doing that since I started, thinking I was being thorough. Has anyone else had a similar moment where a pro pointed out a basic mistake you were making?

2 comments

2 Comments

nelson.gavin2d agoTop Commenter

Dish soap's a sneaky one because it feels like you're doing the right thing. A conservator I worked with up near Hadrian's Wall switched us to using just distilled water and a soft brush for most stuff, and if something's really caked on, a tiny bit of mild detergent that's pH neutral. She said even the 'gentle' dish soaps have degreasers and fragrances that can mess with dating methods down the line. Maybe try picking up some deionized water from a hardware store next time, it's cheap and won't leave anything behind. Saved me from making the same mistake after I got a similar lecture.

riley_king161d ago

Yeah, the "feels like you're doing the right thing" bit hit me hard. I used to think any soap was fine as long as you rinsed it well, but now I'm grabbing distilled water from the hardware store next time.