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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Using Archival Japanese Paper and Thermoplastic Resins to Prepare Fossils for Storage, Display, Transport, and Radiography
Published on: November 14, 2025
[Portable antiquities: transporation, ruins, and communications in nineteenth-century archeology]
1Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Museo de La Plata/Acervo Histórico, Paseo del Bosque, s/n, 1900-La Plata, Argentina. podgorny@mail.retina.ar
Abstract:
The article addresses an issue in nineteenth-century archeology: the transformation of ancient American ruins into scientific evidence. It focuses specifically on the case of Palenque, a city discovered in the jungle in the late eighteenth century. The archeological exploration of this find, which occurred shortly after Central American and Mexican independence, entailed efforts to make these ruins portable. The article analyzes some of the means devised and used in their transportation.
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