I was cleaning a ceramic piece from a dig site all wrong for years

Last week at the Tucson field school, I was using a stiff brush on a painted pot sherd. My supervisor, Dr. Chen, walked over and said, 'You're scrubbing off the history.' She showed me how the brush was actually removing tiny bits of the original pigment. I switched to a soft brush and distilled water right then. Has anyone else had a basic cleaning method they had to unlearn?

3 comments

3 Comments

hernandez.gavin23d ago

My first dig in New Mexico taught me the same lesson with horsehair brushes. They're way too abrasive for most surface cleaning. I keep a pack of cheap makeup brushes in my kit now for anything delicate.

andrew_shah23d ago

Honestly, I used a stiff brush for years in Arizona and never lost a flake of paint. Maybe @hernandez.gavin and Dr. Chen are just too careful.

riley_gibson1923d ago

My field school in Utah had us use toothbrushes on adobe walls. Switched to soft artist brushes after the first week.