METHODS FOR THE SCIENTIFIC TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF SURFACE OF ANCIENT COPPER OBJECTS: AN OVERVIEW

Metals objects have played such an important role to evaluate the information about the civilization and past culture in Archaeological Sciences. The ancient metal objects necessarily come from the archaeological record deliberately buried in the ground either for safe-keeping or as part of ritual offerings to the gods. As a result of their antiquity and the corrosion that affects most metals buried in soils, archaeological objects are both fragile and susceptible to accelerated deterioration once removed from the relative stability of the ground. This makes archaeological objects of any material, difficult to preserve and conserve.This paper focus to report the previously reported methods of cleaning and preservation of ancient copper objects for the new students of conservation field. Corrosion processes, signs and causes of active corrosion on the surface of copper objects with chemical, electrochemical and plasma methods for cleaning of the copper objects are discussed in this study. Plasma and electrochemical methods for cleaning of the objects were most desirable by conservator. Poly vinyl acetate (PVC) and Paraliod B-72 are most suitable for protective layer for the preservative treatment of on the exterior surface of copper objects.