Based on a series of tests and computer models, a properly treated artifact might last more than 200 years before it needs another treatment. There seems very little risk to most artifacts, even though the process is technically irreversible. A second chemical, called a cross-linker, binds the polymers, and these linked chains hold the object tightly together and protect it. The genesis of silicone conservation was the pirate lair of Port Royal, Jamaica, much of which slipped into the sea during a 1692 earthquake. There, preserved under the shallow Caribbean waters, was an archaeologist s dream an entire city frozen in time.
Seawater is a wonderful place to store organic artifacts.
In the atmosphere, the highly reactive oxygen of the air combines with elements in organic material, breaking the original chemical bonds and changing the material s structure. This typically leads to disintegration and destruction. But items that are buried under the silt and mud of the seafloor are often preserved in an almost oxygen-free environment. Jr. Silicone conservation, developed over the past five years, links long chemical chains throughout and around an artifact, holding together and protecting its surface. The secret ingredient is long molecules called polymers formed around the element silicon, which was made famous by its use in microchips.