Archaeological Remains Rediscovered Using an Ultrasonic Cleaner

For the amateur archaeologist, the cleaning of archaeological artifacts is more often than not conducted by conventional means. Hand-washing and brushing often result in breakages and can be incredibly time consuming. However, in the last 50 years the field has moved ahead somewhat. In the middle of the last century biomedical laboratories needed a way of cleaning their precision equipment, and the ultrasonic cleaner was developed. Professional archaeologists at universities and research centers now routinely use ultrasonic cleaners as the first stage in the artifact washing process. Now you too can get your hands on this piece of kit and launch yourself into the ultrasonic age of archaeology. You won’t look back either, as the advantages of ultrasonic cleaning are many.

Ultrasonic cleaners can clean many artifacts at the same time and eliminate a large part of tedious manual washing. Remember the last time you came home from the field with a load of stuff and just wished it was clean already. An even more impressive feature of the ultrasonic cleaner, however, is its ability to clean objects with complex surfaces. Ultrasonic cleaners are perfect for dealing with artifacts with lots of hard-to-reach crevices, blind-holes and microscopic cracks. What’s more ultrasonic cleaning is extremely gentle, especially when compared to scrubbing artifacts with a brush; think more like a Jacuzzi than a pressure hose.

Another fundamental advantage of an ultrasonic cleaner over manually cleaning artifacts is the ability to process large quantities in bulk. This will be a godsend if you regularly come back from a hard days digging with more than your fair share of the finds. Ultrasonic cleaning appliances can vary widely in size. The smallest would probably take up no more room than a toaster, while large industrial units would be able to clean car parts or bigger.

The theory behind ultrasonic cleaners is relatively simple. They are designed to fire ultrasound through a liquid medium (usually soapy water) causing millions of microscopic bubbles to collapse on themselves sending out tiny shockwaves. Simply lower your artifacts into the ultrasonic cleaner and within minutes any dirt will have been blasted off. Ultrasonic cleaning is obviously not advisable for artifacts that don’t like to get wet, but for ceramics, coins and the like it’s an ideal solution.

If you’re serious about archaeology you’ll probably want to use chemical methods to complement the ultrasonic cleaning process. However, for the amateur archaeologist the ultrasonic cleaner presents a massive timesaver as well as a gentle yet effective bulk cleaning system.

To suit your specific needs, a range of sizes of ultrasonic cleaners are on the market at the moment. As I mentioned earlier, these can vary from the size of a toaster to ones big enough to clean artillery. What’s more, you won’t have to get a second mortgage to buy a home-use one; small bench-top models are relatively cheap. This all sounds great then, but you didn’t pass your ultrasonic physics degree. Not a problem. Modern ultrasonic cleaners are designed with the user in mind.