There is very little published information about the conservation of paper
found on archaeology sites. Paper, especially paper mass-produced from wood
pulp in the 19th and 20th century, is unstable even at ambient conditions.
Survival during burial is very rare.
  In the December 1994 issue of the IIC-Canadian Group Bulletin (Vol. 19,
No. 4, pp.22-23), Sandi Sauer published a short article describing the
treatment of newspaper found in on two sites: the O'Keefe Ranch and
Bakerville, British Columbia.  She was able to clean and separate the
sheets with water, using Saran Wrap to support the sheets. The paper was
dried between blotters, however she mentioned that if she were to do it
again, she would sandwich the paper between two sheets of Remay or
Hollytex, which are unwoven polyester fabrics used by conservators to
support paper and other fragile artifacts during washing. They allow
liquids to pass through, and will keep paper from sticking to blotters
during drying. A weight such as a glass sheet over the blotters will keep
the paper from curling.  And yes, it is OK to wash paper if it is in
reasonably good condition. The trick is to get the technique right, use
clean, filtered water ( a Britta filter is fine) and do not even
contemplate using chemicals, detergents, etc.
   If you were to find paper, and it survived excavation, your best bet
would be to find a paper conservator for advice.  The main difficulties are
evaluating its condition, and the length of time involved in cleaning and
separating pages - Sandi mentioned that "if you don't have a steady hand
and unlimited patience, get someone else to deal with your fragile
artifacts."
   The good preservation of printing on charred paper that  Daniel
Weiskotten mentioned is due to the fact that the ink  was probably carbon
black, and wouldn't be damaged by fire. If you found charred documents that
your really want to keep, there is a technique that can preserve them -
coating with Parylene, a polymer that is deposited on the paper in a vacuum
chamber,  from a vapour, not a solution.  This requires specialized
equipment and experience in carrying out the treatment, but it is very
effective in preserving extremely fragile material.  At the Canadian
Conservation Institute, we have done extensive testing on the application
of Parylene to various substrates. It is a controversial treatment in
conservation, but certainly has its uses. We have worked on forsenic cases
with the RCMP and Transportation Saftey Board to preserve charred
documents.  There are facilities in the US that can do Parylene coating. If
you had a situation that you think warranted such a treatment,   please
contact me off-line and I can supply the information.
 
Regards,
Judy Logan
Senior Conservator, Archaeology
Conservation Processes and Materials Research
Canadian Conservation Institute
1030 Innes Road
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0M5
 
tel:  613 998-3721    fax:  613 998-4721   e-mail: [log in to unmask]