For museums its a different story.  We must glue to produce vessels for exhibition.  Sure, they take up more space in storage, but it clearly shows that we can reconstruct the smallest pieces into what they once were, and each sherd retains its provenience.  The shelf life of a B72 glued vessel is about 10 years, then they tend to degrade and fail.  Volunteers then clean (acetone) and re-glue the vessels.

Years ago, I remember an SHA conference where a pottery historian showed image after image of whole Carolina stoneware.  In the middle of the talk, he stopped and apologized that "we could break them into sherds in our minds if it made us feel more comfortable."  But, I tend to look at the sherds in my mind as a vessel, not as parts.

Bob Genheimer
George Rieveschl Curator of Archaeology
Cincinnati Museum Center
1301 Western Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45203
513-455-7161


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Carol
Serr
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 5:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: To glue or not to glue, that is the question...


That's what we do too, since 'it's all about as few boxes as possible on
the shelf' (since they cost $600 ea. to curate).  :o)
Besides, I get enough dirty looks from the Higher Power if I am 'caught'
spending ('wasting') time co-mending pieces; permanently gluing would be
out of the question (and way out of budget).   But, obviously
universities, and such...probably have the luxury of volunteer/student
labor...and such...so may not have the money issue.

Now...what kind of tape do you use?  :o)

Ah hem...God made the bits?  Or do you mean...as in particles of sand
and clay...etc.?  Ha ha.

PS.  Really didn't mean to send my comment to Nate, to the whole List
yest. Oops.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: praetzellis [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 3:10 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: To glue or not to glue, that is the question...
>
>
>Shockingly enough, we don't glue stuff back together!
>We tape things temporarily for photos and to get MNIs, then we 
>pull em appart when we're done. It uses up less space in the box.
>
>Offhand, I can't really think of a reason to glue stuff -- 
>even for exhibit purposes -- it just encourages artifact 
>fetishism. I prefer the stuff in bits the way God made it.
>
>Adrian Praetzellis
>Sonoma State University
>


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