Indian Pottery Sherds / Terracotta *How do I preserve them?/ID*

[indianajaune]

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new to Indian relics hunting and I have an urgent question to ask. I found 2 sherds of pottery/terracotta yesterday and I'm 100% sure they were made by Indians (dug in an old fire pit).

How do I preserve those sherds of pottery? I'm currently super afraid that within the next few days, they will start to be flaking/deteriorate. I dug them around 24 hours ago, I washed them underwater and brushed them gently with a toothbrush and that's it. So far, they are pretty sturdy and they don't crumble. How do I preserve them for the next 10 years without them deteriorating?

Ps. Any info regarding ID and dating would be appreciated!

Thanks so much for your help and you'll find pictures below

First piece of pottery

Front:


Back:


Second piece of pottery

Front:


Back:

 

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[PetesPockets55]

Can you give us a clue as to what part of the country these were found?

(They look similar to ones I've found in Fl.)

 

[indianajaune]

Found near NY

 

[monsterrack]

You don't have to do anything to them. They will stay in good shape after they are washed off. I have some that came out of the ground over 40 years ago and they look just like they did the day I found them.

 

[indianajaune]

You don't have to do anything to them. They will stay in good shape after they are washed off. I have some that came out of the ground over 40 years ago and they look just like they the day I found them.

Thanks for letting me know! Yeah I hope so too, so far so good but I'll monitor carefully if there are any cracks or things that change over time. What makes me afraid is that that the pottery was probably cooked under low temperature + freezing and thawing of the soil here could complicate the preservation of those sherds.

 

[smokeythecat]

The only other thing you can do is coat them in diluted Elmer's White glue and water. It is probably not necessary.

 

[newnan man]

We find lots of shard's here in Florida. I throw them in a pile in a certain spot in the yard. Monsterrack is correct, they've been there some over 20 years and are fine.