Freezing would be bad as water expands when it freezes, causing damage 
to the artifact.

I am not a professional archaeologist, so take anything I say with a 
huge grain of salt, but I have always seen "wet" items kept in water 
until they can be professionally stabilized.

Mark Branstner wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> As you all know, lots of leather is recovered from nineteenth and earlyt 
> twentieth century sites e.g., shoe leather, harness, etc.  OK, generally 
> speaking, if its just fragments or scraps, I have just  put it in paper 
> bags and let it dry for later processing or curation. However, let's say 
> I recover a leather or cloth artifact that  seems worthy of more 
> extensive long-term storage, curation, restoration or whatever.  What 
> are reocmmendations for short to medium-term storage of something like a 
> damp or waterlogged shoe.  Sealed container? Refrigeration? Freezing?  
> Thinking about coming out of the field, stabilizing, and holding for 
> further work ...  Comments or suggestions.   Thanks in advance.
>