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Dear all, Yes I totally agree that soil sampled for water flotation need to be processed along with the excavation or shortly afterwards especially as they are put in plastic bags on excavations –they could not be put in paper bags then as the soil is either wet or humid when it is excavated-. Here in Greece we have lost a very large number of samples just because this was not done, because mold starts forming in the bags and destroys a great deal. Humidity which is trapped too start disintegrating charred material too. Excavators here need to be told this all the time as they believe humid soil can be stored for the future….They need to be reminded that processed (water floated and dried very well) only can be stored indefinitely. It is of dual benefit; a) preserves organic material and b) reduces the amount to be stored. However, I believe like everybody including Helmut Kroll that paper bags are better than plastic as plastic stores humidity if the sample is not well dried. However, paper bags are rather fragile and get attacked by storage insects (plastic bags also disintegrate after several years). I believe and I have seen that sites which keep soil samples (or water floated dried samples) should keep them in cardboard boxes (such as shoe boxes). I have seen material stored like this and preserved immaculately since the 1950s….. Yes, I agree with Helmut Kroll that the word ‘archaeological’ should NEVER be used…..some countries do not like the words geological too….so words such as sedimentological, chemical analysis etc. is better. Best, Anaya From: The archaeobotany mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Helmut Kroll Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2015 8:51 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Long term archiving of bulk soil samples Dear all, The best method to store soil samples is to use solid wrapping paper bags. In these bags soil sample can dry and loose weight. Moist soil in plastic bags is awful. Wet soil with uncarbonized subfossil plant remains should be stored deep frozen. As Naomi said, the best thing is processing soil samples on the excavation. Processed samples with carbonized plant remains should be stored in paper bags. In sandwich bags, they are safe for decades. A small reference sample of unprocessed soil can be stored in solid paper bags, too. If you work in foreign countries: It is everywhere forbidden to export or import soil. Never say soil at the customs, always ‘scientific geological material’! Am 03.03.2015 um 20:45 schrieb Don O'Meara: Hey Hayley, I am in the process of preparing a report for some samples taken in 1998 and stored in a museum (Tullie House, Carlisle), until recently. They have already produced grains, hazelnut fragments and Neolithic pottery. Radiocarbon dates from ceramic residues and from the hazelnuts will allow us to date this previously only broadly dated site. I was looking into this a while back and material was sometimes accessioned in the 90s, depending on the curator, so it is very dependent on the personality of the head of the museum. One colleague told me he worked in a museum a few years ago where some unlabeled soil samples were kept in the hope that the paper work would turn up eventually. I don't think this will be the case in the future considering many museums won't even take material like animal bones without a fight! All the best, Don. On 3 March 2015 at 19:28, Hayley McParland <mailto:[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Dear Colleagues, I was wondering if any of you had come accross soil samples which had been archived in the long term. For example, there are samples which were consciously stored in York, UK, due to the potential of further analysis, spanning 30 years. As far as I am aware the majority of bulk sediment samples are either 100% processed (after specialist samples were taken out) with surplus disposed of, or retained by the commercial unit. Given the space constraints of most UK accessioning museums/institutions, I am not aware of other examples of unprocessed soil samples, or 'voucher' sampels of bulk soil samples material being deposited into an accessioning museum's archive. I was wondering, out of curiosity, if any of you had come accross the long term archiving of unprocessed bulk soil samples or vouchers of bulk soil samples by the accessioning museum in other locations? Best Wishes, Hayley -- Hayley McParland PhD Candidate BioArCh Department of Archaeology University of York Wentworth Way York North Yorkshire YO10 5DD -- Dr. Helmut Kroll Projensdorfer Str. 195 24106 Kiel Tel. 0431 334433 www.helmutkroll.de --- Αυτό το email είναι απαλλαγμένο από ιούς και κακόβουλο λογισμικό, επειδή είναι ενεργή η προστασία avast! Antivirus. http://www.avast.com