Some years ago, researchers from Eurac Research stepped into the storage rooms of the National Archaeological Museum of La Paz in Bolivia and found more than fifty mummies and over five hundred pre-Columbian skulls carefully arranged on shelves. Even with careful handling, these remains were exposed to fungi, bacteria and invisible air pollutants.
The problem is not limited to countries with few resources. It also affects places like Italy, where the sheer number of heritage objects makes it hard to protect everything properly.
A team led by conservation specialist Marco Samadelli has now put forward a different kind of solution. The Conservation Soft Box, or CSB, is a flexible plastic enclosure supported by light tubes that wraps an artifact in an airtight bubble and keeps its microclimate under control.
A new open access study in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, along with a presentation at the World Congress of Mummy Studies in Cuzco, shows that this low cost system can offer protection comparable to sophisticated museum cases that cost several thousand dollars. A CSB can be built for only a few hundred.
Samadelli explains that he tested many materials before settling on the final combination. “I evaluated many materials before finding the most chemically stable ones. The result guarantees the same level of protection as the most sophisticated and expensive display cases. It has enormous potential for the conservation of mummies and other remains,” he said.
Volatile organic compounds and museum air quality
For most visitors, conservation is hidden behind the glass. In reality, organic materials such as textiles, paper, wood and human remains are extremely sensitive to humidity, oxygen and tiny airborne chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
These gases can come from traffic and heating systems outside, from cleaning agents inside and even from the plastics used to build storage boxes. Anyone who has opened an old trunk and noticed a sharp or musty smell has experienced this slow chemistry in everyday life.
Testing materials and pollutant levels inside the CSB
To find out whether the CSB itself might pollute the air around an object, the team tested each of its components. They looked at the barrier film, polyethylene foam panels sold as Plastazote, Tyvek fabric used to wrap the supports and Teflon tubes that hold up the cover.
Each material was sealed in a test chamber and left to degas for seven days. The researchers then measured common indoor pollutants such as aldehydes, aromatic solvents related to benzene, simple alkanes, acetates and naturally emitted biogenic compounds.
The numbers matter. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are of particular concern in museums because they can oxidize into acids that slowly damage organic materials. In the CSB tests, formaldehyde values ranged from about 0.49 micrograms per cubic meter in Teflon to 3.24 micrograms per cubic meter in Tyvek.
According to limits used by conservation scientists for sensitive materials, that range remains within suggested safe levels. The highest aromatic compound, 1,2,4 trimethylbenzene, reached about 106 micrograms per cubic meter. Overall, all measured VOC concentrations stayed in the microgram per cubic meter range and below 1 part per million.
The team then added a clean up step. A bag made of breathable Tyvek and filled with 680 grams of activated carbon was placed inside the box. After another seven days, instrument readings showed that aldehydes and VOCs were no longer detectable. Even the aromatic compounds with the highest starting values had been completely removed. In other words, the CSB materials emit only small amounts of pollutants and the internal carbon trap can capture what is left.
Low cost microclimates for museums with limited resources
For countries with long histories and tight budgets, that combination of safety and price could be important. Conventional airtight glass cases can be out of reach for many museums and storerooms that are battling leaky roofs, rising energy costs or outdated air conditioning.
In places like Bolivia, Peru or smaller Italian institutions, a few hundred dollars often decide whether fragile mummies sit on open shelving or inside a tailored environment.
The way the CSB is built keeps things practical. Plastazote foam panels form a cushioned base and are wrapped with Tyvek to create a smooth, chemically inert support. Teflon tubes create a simple frame and the barrier film is heat sealed around it to form an airtight envelope.
There are no metal parts. That means once a mummy is inside, radiographic imaging such as X rays or CT scans can be carried out without opening the enclosure and without the streaks that metal usually produces in medical images.
Archaeology fieldwork and safe transport of organic remains
Because the materials are light and widely available, conservators can also assemble CSBs directly in the field. Archaeologists can stabilize fragile organic finds at the moment of excavation, then ship them to a lab without exposing them to fluctuating humidity or contamination along the way.
Inside the sealed space, humidity can be adjusted with silica gel and oxygen levels can be lowered for insect control without pesticides. In practical terms, that turns a single device into a storage box, a transport container and a small treatment chamber.
New research opportunities for scientists and conservators
For scientists, the CSB is more than a protective shell. Its airtightness and clean construction make it a controlled lab for studying the gases that cultural heritage emits. By sampling VOCs inside a box that is not adding its own pollutants, experts can trace compounds back to ancient embalming resins, modern restoration products or microbial activity that might threaten the object.
Those chemical fingerprints can guide both conservation choices and research on funerary rituals.
Global potential of the Conservation Soft Box
Samadelli and his colleagues want the design to spread. “We are thinking of workshops for conservators around the world to teach them how to build their own Conservation Soft Boxes and contribute to improving the conservation of the most vulnerable cultural heritage,” he said.
At the end of the day, the CSB is a reminder that smart material choices and careful testing can make a big difference. Protecting fragile mummies and other organic remains no longer has to depend only on expensive glass and heavy machinery.
A clear plastic bubble with the right inner climate might be enough to give them a safer home for the long term
The study was published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage.
