British Museum Technical Research Bulletin Volume 3

Although all 13 articles in the third volume of the British Museum Technical Research Bulletin present research conducted in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, the co-authors represent six of the eight curatorial departments in the Museum as well as other museums and universities in the UK and beyond.

Almost half the objects examined and conserved shed light on cultures from the ancient civilisations of Egypt, the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. Four articles present new findings on European gold coins, enamels, porcelain vessels and a rock crystal carving of a skull (although the last of these has sometimes erroneously been thought to be of ancient Mexican origin).

Treatment and analysis of a porcupine quillwork bag and Tahitian canoe sail show the value of detailed examination and conservation in revealing the hidden stories of objects – in these cases rare survivals of cultures changed irrevocably by contact with Europeans.

Finally, the volume is completed with a practical assessment of an issue faced by many institutions, how to deal with asbestos associated not with a building, but with the collection itself.

Contents: Sailing through history: conserving and researching a rare Tahitian canoe sail (Tara Hiquily, Jenny Newell, Monique Pullan, Nicole Rode and Arianna Bernucci)

Limoges painted enamels: evidence for specialist copper-smithing workshops (Susan La Niece, Stefan Rohrs, Dora Thornton and Antony Simpson)

Egyptian stelae from Malta (Jeremy Young, Marcel Maree, Caroline Cartwright and Andrew Middleton)

Analysis of a gold mancus of Coenwulf of Mercia and other comparable coins (Gareth Williams and Michael Cowell)

Early porcelain in seventeenth-century England: non-destructive examination of two jars from Burghley House (Michela Spataro, Nigel Meeks, Mavis Bimson, Aileen Dawson and Janet Ambers)

The manufacture of a small crystal skull purported to be from ancient Mexico (Margaret Sax and Nigel Meeks)

Assyrian colours: pigments on a neo-Assyrian relief of a parade horse (Giovanni Verri, Paul Collins, Janet Ambers, Tracey Sweek and St John Simpson)

A Great Lakes pouch: black-dyed skin with porcupine quillwork (Pippa Cruickshank, Vincent Daniels and Jonathan King)

Bronzes from the Sacred Animal Necropolis at Saqqara, Egypt: a study of the metals and corrosion (Quanyu Wang, He Huang and Fleur Shearman)

An unfinished Achaemenid sculpture from Persepolis (Tracey Sweek and St John Simpson)

Scientific investigation of pottery grinding bowls from the Archaic and Classical Eastern Mediterranean (Michela Spataro and Alexandra Villing)

Establishing best practice in asbestos removal: the management of unique Medieval floor tile assemblages (Maureen Mellor and Denise Ling)

The Middle Bronze Age furniture from Tomb P19 at Jericho: wood identification and conservation challenges (Caroline Cartwright, Clare Ward, Jonathan Tubb and Helene Delaunay)