Dennis Piechota is the archaeological conservator of the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. There he conserves finds from the Center’s many terrestrial archaeological sites and conducts research in micromorphology, micro-excavation and elemental analysis of artifacts and the soil matrix. Dennis is the founder and co-admin of two Google groups: pXRF for Cultural Heritage a group of more than 400 members that discusses issues in handheld XRF analysis, and ALTCONS a group of over 75 members formed to discuss aspects of the conceptual framework of conservation. Dennis also works with his wife Jane Drake Piechota in a private practice specializing in the treatment of cuneiform tablets and the care of artifacts in storage and transit. They also conduct longterm underwater artifact decay research focusing on the in situ preservation of deepwater archaeological sites.