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Putrefying bacteria do not like acid conditions - nor, or course, do the bone minerals. It might be worth putting some garden lime into the soil, which should help to accelerate the decay of soft tissues and preserve the bone minerals.. Richard Wright On 18/02/2012 04:26, Pam Cross wrote: > > Hi François > > It may be a little late now depending on how long the material has been in > the ground and your inclinations, but if you want to hasten the process > quite a bit, you might want to skin and at least partially deflesh. We're > having good results using dermestid beetles to clean after defleshing. Smell is > pretty minimal if you deflesh fresh. > > Sue's response was quite amusing - I never thought about a combo flower > garden / sample cemetery...good idea. Be careful about drying in accessible > places - I lost a number of small bones to magpies and crows when I left them > on the balcony to dry in the sun. For final cleaning you can soak in > water, water with biological detergent and/or brush with a paste of H peroxide > (talc is fine to create the paste) to whiten. Don't soak in bleach it is > considered too destructive. > > cheers > Pam > > > Pamela J Cross > PhD researcher, Bioarchaeology > AGES, University of Bradford > BD7 1DP UK > p.j.cross (at) student.bradford.ac.uk > pajx (at) aol.com > _http://www.barc.brad.ac.uk/resstud_Cross.php_ > (http://www.barc.brad.ac.uk/resstud_Cross.php) > _http://bradford.academia.edu/PamCross_ > (http://bradford.academia.edu/PamCross) > > > > In a message dated 16/02/2012 20:55:38 GMT Standard Time, > [log in to unmask] writes: > > Hello all, > > I burried a decaying otter (Lontra canadensis) in order to get the bones > without having to deal with the nauseous smell. > > Does anyone know how much time you would typically wait before organic > soft tissues disappear ? One year, 2 years, ... ten years ? > > context: temperate environment (Iowa), clay to clayey sand, humid (flood > plain, ponds closeby), abundant vegetation (birches roots, tall grasses). > > Thanks for your help, > > François > > François Lanoë > Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle > [log in to unmask] > > > > >