Although technical examination and conservation are undertaken for a number of different reasons, the diversity of which is well illustrated in this volume, they share certain commonaims in the preservation and presentation of objects, not only improving the present and future state of objects but alsoenhancing public and scholarly understanding and appreciation of collections. This ninth volume illustrates these drivers for examination and treatment and in doing so presents 11 articles that span the collections of the British Museum, including not only objects that have been in the Museum since the early 19th century, such as food offerings from Egyptian tombs, but also more recently excavated materials.