We recovered human hair from some graves during the excavation of a cemetery. I would now like to know what ambient conditions are best to for long term storage of these samples in order to ensure that bioarcheometric analyses will still be possible in future. Can anyone recommend specific storage containers? And at what temperature and degree of humidity should the samples be stored?
Hello Sandra,
the Reseachers of te Curt Engelhorn Archäometrriezentrum will help you.
Kindly
Joachim Neumaier
Hello Sandra, where is the cementery to be located in of which chronology is it ?
Regards
Joachim
Hi Joachim, thank you very much for your helpful suggestion on the CEZ. The samples are from a 19th ct cemetery from Basel (CH). Sandra
Hello Sandra,
What kind of bioarchaeometric testing are you considering, and is there any tissue associated with the hair?
Marianna
The best method depends on how many years you mean by "long term," whether (as Marianna notes) there is any tissue associated, and what level of prerogatives for, and types of, future "bioarchaeological" studies you are looking to preserve (is it mainly the preservation of possibly associated DNA that you're looking to preserve, any associated micro-organisms and micro-flora ... pollen ... parasites ... or just the hair itself)?
Hi Marianna and Bob
the burials were located in well drained sediments, so there is no tissue preservation beyond the hair itself. Ancient DNA as well as stable isotope analyses are certainly options to consider, but I was thinking more of the rapidly developing fields of proteomics and the scalp microbiome for individual and group characterization as well as identifying possible pathogen loads. And long term should in this case probably cover a span of years rather than weeks. Would freezing be preferable to controlled storage conditions commonly used for furs or textiles? Do you have any recommendations?
@ Sandra
... you likely will not find my advice /recommendations supported in any preservationist's or curator's manual, but if I were faced with your problem, I would store the hair specimens (carefully insured against humidity by inclusion of silica-gel desiccation packets) in air-tight glass containers (wide-mouthed Pyrex bottles or jars with clamp-on lids and Viton gaskets / seals), in which the air has been displaced (flushed-out) by argon before sealing. 100% pure argon gas is generally, ubiquitously and cheaply, available (every university will have cylinders of it ... if not readily available on loan from your physical sciences department, then just ask the maintenance department ... it is a common consumable for every modern arc-welder).
This method has several advantages ... not the least of which is establishing/maintaining the best preservation environment at the least expense ... AND being able to withdraw specimens at intervals for tests in the future with ease and, without affecting (significantly or negatively the preservation of) the remaining bulk.
Additionally, clear/colorless glass containers will provide the most ease /facility /efficiency in storing /monitoring /inventorying the specimens over long periods of time.
The glass containers should be stored in a cool-and-dark place (any light-tight /drawer /cabinet or /closet-shelf in an air-conditioned building would be adequate), but freezing would not be /necessary /advised or /advantageous.
PS - my recommendations are based-upon (adapted from) the method of preservation chosen for what may be the most cherished parchment document in the world ... the Constitution of the United States of America. It also is likely the best-protected, artifact in the world, having it's own bunker hundreds-of-feet underground into which the document will recede via an automatic elevator to survive any attack, even direct-hits by a nuclear warhead on the surface). Of course, this farthest step would not be necessary for your hair specimens ;)
Hi Bob
thank you for your detailed reply suggesting inert glass containers. Even though the hair samples cannot quite compete with the Constitution in terms of importance
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