Preserve Or Not To Preserve

[oldlabelerman]

I've recently found a nice mammoth vertibrae and a tapir jaw with teeth intact. Do I need to preserve these so they don't fall apart? If so, what do I use and how do I use it? Should I also do this with my sharks teeth---bison and horse teeth" Thanks.

[Xiphactinus]

If they aren't cracking and falling apart, just leave them alone! Less is more when it comes to preserving fossils.

If they are falling apart, a consolidant such as dilute Vinac is best.

[oldlabelerman]

If they aren't cracking and falling apart, just leave them alone! Less is more when it comes to preserving fossils.

If they are falling apart, a consolidant such as dilute Vinac is best.

Thanks---they all seem solid but I've only had the vertibrae and jaw bone for a couple days. I washed them real good and letting them dry outside on the lanai. I'll just watch them.

[Auspex]

One line of thought is to cause them to dry very slowly (by covering them); rapid change can cause its own stresses.

[Harry Pristis]

If you value a vertebrate fossil (I exclude shark teeth here) -- and you want it to last -- consolidate it with a plastic.

You cannot reliably judge by eye what will happen to the bone after 2 years, or 5 years, or 15 years in your drawer. Bones with which you could drive nails when first collected may split after years in your drawer. Teeth, when thoroughly dry, may split. These splits cannot be repaired to the original condition because of distortion to the bone or dentin or cementum.

This may happen to any bone, so, if you're going to keep the bone, play the probabilities. Consolidate! Impregnation with plastic will prevent many later headaches (I'm not telling you to soak your head in consolidant). I am saying that there is nothing more disheartening to open a drawer and to find a prize specimen tooth split in two.

Trust the decades of museum experience.

[PrehistoricFlorida]

When in doubt, always preserve.