| Description |
Products of metal corrosion, such as that of copper, iron, lead, silver, have the capacity to preserve remains of otherwise perishable organic materials which are placed in a vicinity of a metal object when the corrosion progresses. A proper archaeological find may occur in three different forms: (1) a relic to a proper organic matrix (e.g. wood), (2) an original object altered by a process of mineralization (pseudomorph), and (3) an imprint to object's exterior surface formed in growing corrosion layer. While investigating items associated with the Early Bronze Age, it has been discovered that upon the surface of copper and bronze artifacts one may recover various residuals of wood, textile, strings, plants, insects, human skin, included human fingerprints etc. As further revealed, these finds cannot be considered exceptional; on contrary, the occurrence for their formation is very likely, and the presence of organic substances, indeed, initiates the process in which thick corrosion layers, i.e. a wild patina, grow upon an object surface. Prior to be detectable on regular basis and applied for archaeological purposes, these valuable discoveries require conservator's goal-directed and detailed inspections of corrosion products, appropriate manipulation, treatment, and conservation included. Consequently, the copper corrosion layers may function as a unique "carrier of relic of the past"; a medium which once applied in methodologically more integral context might enable to re-visit and re-evaluate several concerns associated with analyses of paleoenvironment, materialoriented aspects of the human life and ultimately human somatic features and human behavior.
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