Hi everyone,
 
Many of you may know that underwater archaeologists desalt the pottery, etc.,
they remove from underwater wrecks by soaking them in fresh water for long
periods (weeks, months?). If this is not done, the crystallization of the
salt within the object damages it. There is a bronze-age wreck (talk about
being old) at a site called Uluburun off the western coast of Turkey which
was excavated by the Institute for Nautical Archaeology
(http://nautarch.tamu.edu/ina/quarter/ulub.htm). A German malacologist with
whom I have been exchanging e-mail tells me that some land snails were found
in the wreck and he was trying to get them identified with the hope of
figuring out the originating port of the ship. (However, it turns out that
some of these snails are also found on land adjacent to the ship wreck site,
hence they seem to be local contamination.)
 
He also told me that these shells were desalted after removal from the wreck,
but he didn't know why. First, I thought that was odd; after all, one does
not desalt marine shells. But then, I thought perhaps it was a good idea
considering the fact that these shells could be about 3000 yrs old (if they
are not recent contaminations). New shells are not very porous. But after the
animal dies, the protein within the shell probably disintegrates and perhaps,
even calcium begins to dissolve away, leaving behind a more porous structure
that absorbs sea water. When such an old shell is removed from the sea, it
may therefore be necessary to soak it in fresh water before drying it. I
suppose this would apply to both old marine and land shells. Does this make
sense? Any ideas?
 
A.