Pag 2NCPTT Nt Iu 46
D
cad antiquatd prrva-tin mthd hav ld t thcntaminatin AmricanIndian artiact with txic mtal,ptntially damaging th artiact whilping dangr t th cnrvatr wrk-ing with thm.With a grant rm NCPTT, Tim-brly Ran, aciat prr bilgy at th Univrity Clrad atDnvr and Halth scinc Cntr, habn rarching a man t rlv annvirnmntal quandary invlving txicubtanc and artiact uch a kachinadll, pip, pttry, blankt, muntdanimal and crmnial mak.“Hitrically, artiact might havbn tratd with a varity dir-nt pticid t prrv th bjctrm inct and micrbial damag,”Ran aid. “Tw th mt prvalntpticid that w’r mt cncrndwith nw ar mrcury and arnic, ath txicity th mtal t bilgicalytm i undr rviw.”Ran, a Lumb trib mmbr,cllabratd with a Navaj rind whwrk with th envirnmntal Prtc-tin Agncy t cncptualiz th u bactria a a pibl man t xtractmrcury rm th artiact withutdamaging thm. Du t th prnc mrcury, r xampl, and th rik drmal r inhalatin xpur, m th artiact culd nt b put backint cultural u.Ran i wrking with bactriaalrady living n th artiact that willallw hr t chang mrcury int agau rm that can thn b dipd prprly. Thi build n hr patrarch that u naturally ccurringbactria r nvirnmntal clanup.“With unding rm th NCPTT,w’v bn abl t ilat mrcury-ritant bactria capabl rmvingmrcury rm cntaminatd mdia,”h aid. “W ar vry xcitd by thprpct bing abl t rmv mr-cury rm tratd muum matrial,in hp mitigating th txicity th matrial r nt nly rpatriatint tribal mmbr but r anyn whcm in cntact with thm.”Traditinal mthd rmvingtxic mtal includ chmical, ultravi-lt light and hat. Th mthd candamag matrial, which ld t Ran’dir t rarch l invaiv mthdt clan cllctin.“Yu hav t trat thm gntly andwith rpct, pcially inc m th matrial ar cnidrd living bythir nativ ppl,” h aid. “Nwmthd lik th prpd by thgrant prcdur r nw hp.”Ran wa grantd acc t NativAmrican cllctin at th Ariznastat Muum r hr rarch. Dzn ampl hav bn takn and dcu-mntd. Atr th bactria ar grwn inth lab thy ar crnd r thir abil-ity t turn mrcury int a gau rm.Th bactria ar thn ttd urthr.Whil much i nt knwn abutcntaminatin lvl in nativ artiact,Ran’ rarch rprnt a prmi-ing tp tward daling with th cn-taminatin rm th pat whil prrv-ing th ignicant cultural artiactr th utur.“Th tart t thi prjct hw alt ptntial,” h aid. “W plan tcntinu ur rt in uing bactria trmv mrcury rm cllctin andhp t vntually dvlp an ctivmitigatin tchnlgy.”
all-natural cleanser
Researcher Uses Bacteria to Sael Clean Toxic Metals rom Natie American Artiacts
Timberle Roane, associate proessor o biolog at the Uniersit o Colorado at De-er, collects bacteria rom one o the artiacts proided b the Arizona State Museum.
DownloadThis Research@ www.ncptt.nps.go
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