Bone materials (bone, ivory, antler) are widely spread among museum objects, owing to their archaeological and artistic value, or because they served as raw material for art works. These materials play an important role among prehistoric remains belonging to the first materials exploited and transformed by humans. As biological materials, they have registered much information on the ways of life of ancient populations. Ancient bone materials are therefore key witnesses in the field of archaeology, paleontology, prehistory, art history, ethnology and museology.
In 2007, a research programme entitled “Improvement of conservation methods for archaeological bone material (ivory, bone and antler)” (ArBoCo) was initiated at the Laboratoire du Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (LC2RMF – UMR 171 CNRS), Paris, and financed by the French National Research Agency und the project number ANR-07-JCJC-0149 during 39 months.
The aims of the ArBoCo programme were:
– to enhance...
