Cleaning and Preserving Skulls

Ever see a nice gleaming white skull and wonder how it got that way?

At the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Lawrence M. Sullivan and C. Park Romney have a very thorough article on cleaning and preserving skulls here:

https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1144.pdf

I’ve left specimens outside and let nature take its course. This can be months of waiting. It’s interesting that the methods discussed by Sullivan and Romney are basically ways to “hurry up” what are natural processes, i.e. soaking in water, attacked by bugs, etc. I’ve done both the hot and cold maceration methods and can vouch for their effectiveness.