I tried cleaning a small find with a soft toothbrush and water, which is what I always do.

Paige Murphy · 2026-03-12T06:25:05.056053+00:00

It was a piece of pottery from a dig in New Mexico, but the painted design just started to flake off. I learned that even basic methods can be wrong for some materials. Has anyone else had a simple cleaning technique backfire on a specific artifact type?

the_henry6mo ago

Yeah, stuff gets damaged but calling it "super fragile" feels like a stretch. Robinson.adam has a point that accidents happen, it's not like you used power tools. Sometimes the artifact was just already on its last legs.

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robinson.adam7mo ago

Honestly, @kelly.daniel might be right but stuff gets damaged all the time, it happens.

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kelly.daniel7mo ago

That New Mexico clay must be super fragile.

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