Bläckborttagning från ben med hjälp av geler En kvantitativ studie för bläckborttagning på björnbäcken och björnkranium från Naturhistoriska riksmuseet

Sammanfattning: This bachelor's thesis has investigated four different hydrogels loaded in different solvents efficiency to remove unknown ink from four pelvic bones and one skull from five bear individuals that belongs to The Swedish Museum of Natural History. The experimental part of the thesis consists of an FTIR analysis together with microscopy and macroscopy analysis of the ink on the bear skeletons, as well as some tests of different gel-solvent combinations on a moose skull. The purpose of the thesis was to generate knowledge about ink removal on skeletons and thereby reduce the knowledge gap within the subject. Hopefully, the essay’s results, conclusion and the practical methods can contribute to further development of the tested methods. The study's conclusions was: ● The following gel and solvent combinations were the two combinations that produced the best results for ink removal for the study's bear skeletons: 1) HWR dry gel loaded in vol/vol isopropanol and distilled water. 2) Gellan Gum loaded in toluene. ● The method can most likely be used on skeletons from other vertebrates, as ink removal could be performed on the study's moose skull and three out of four bear pelvises. ● FTIR could not be used to reliably identify the chemical composition of the ink. Other conclusions that can be drawn from the study are the following: ● Established methods for ink removal on skeletons are lacking. ● Cleaning tests using traditional cleaning methods should be compared with gels to see which will give a better result from an aesthetic perspective for ink removal on skeleton. ● For the most reliable results for the identification of the components of the ink, at least two methods of analysis such as FTIR in combination with GC-MS and RAMAN should be used