Consolidation Methods for Copper Alloy Finds

Copper alloy finds are the most common group of metal finds after iron artifacts in archaeological excavations. It constitutes the primary group of finds that should be preserved in excavation or museum storage. The minerals that make up the copper alloy tend to turn into minerals after remaining underground for a long time, and this situation is called deterioration. The deterioration that copper alloy artifacts are exposed to underground environment increases from the moment they are brought to the atmosphere. It is possible to control deteriorations by consolidation. After consolidation, the conditions of the preservative environmental conditions where the find is stored must be provided. In this review, some studies on consolidation and their comparisons are included. These studies covered benzotriazole (BTA), wax coatings, AMT (2-amino-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole), aminotriazole (ATA), bi triazole (Bita) and acrylic resin.