Archaeology's Enemy Number One: Salt

Originally published: Sep 26 2014 - 12:00pm, Inside Science News ServiceBy: Joel N. Shurkin, Contributor(Inside Science) -- The enemy of archaeology everywhere is salt. It destroys buildings, disassembles art works, and can turn ancient pottery into piles of dust.How salt lays waste to these artifacts is well known, but scientists in Switzerland have monitored the process in a laboratory. Their observations could help preserve the buildings, art, and treasured relics of humanity.The salts in que...