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Abstract:

The new laboratory is housed in two adjacent Georgian houses close to the British Museum. The building houses a permanent staff of 17, 7 of whom are scientists. The laboratory has three principal functions. First, it maintains certain outside contacts with archaeologists, scientists, and members of museum organizations. Second, it carries on its own scientific work, directed to the examination of antiquities and to research in new methods of conservation. Third, it carries out the actual conservation and restoration of antiquities which present particular problems that cannot be dealt with by routine methods in the departmental workshops of the museum. The different laboratories are described, with emphasis on heating, lighting, ventilation, air purification, humidity control, and plumbing. The laboratory is designed for considerable flexibility of arrangement. Garry Thomson