潮湿环境下古象牙的现场提取与保护——以三星堆遗址三号坑出土象牙为例

2020年10月,三星堆遗址新发现祭祀坑正式启动考古发掘工作。随着发掘工作的推进,大量象牙相继出土。由于长期埋藏于潮湿的地下环境,象牙基本处于饱水状态,保存状况较差。为了使象牙保持相对稳定的状态,在考古发掘现场针对不同象牙的发掘情况,采用高分子绷带进行固形处理,然后整体提取回实验室清理。清理完成的象牙,经过保湿杀菌处理后存放至低温高湿专用库房。三星堆遗址三号祭祀坑出土象牙的成功提取与保护,表明医用高分子绷带具有超越石膏提取法的应用优势,对类似出土遗物的现场保护工作有一定的借鉴作用。

Extraction and Field Preservation of Ancient Elephant Tusks in a Damp Environment:A Case Study of Elephant Tusks Unearthed from the No.3 Sacrificial Pit of Sanxingdui Site

In October 2020, archaeological excavation at the newly discovered sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui site officially kicked off. As the excavation proceeds, a large number of elephant tusks have been unearthed, which are basically in a water-saturated state and poorly preserved as they have been buried in a damp underground environment for long. In order to keep them in a relatively stable state, the tusks are fixed with polymer bandages and extracted in whole for further laboratory sorting. The cleared up tusks are stored in a dedicated warehouse with low temperature and high humidity after moisturizing and sterilization. The successful extraction and preservation of elephant tusks unearthed in the No. 3 sacrificial pit of Sanxingdui site shows that medical polymer bandage has an application advantage over the gypsum extraction method, which is of reference value for field preservation of similar unearthed relics.