Having done a three year archaeological conservation degree, I fully
agree that conservation is not that easy. Good conservation only
comes with experience, the same as with diving and archaeology.
I could teach a monkey (or at least a student) to do conservation,
it just won't be very good conservation. The same goes for divers.
The real problem is not so much the technical details of
conservation, but the recovery of information contained within the
artefacts or corrosion/decay.
If you are cleaning objects you are liable to lose a lot of evidence
through lack of experience, the same as doing an excavation without
any training. Some conservation techniques also destroy evidence. It
is this knowledge and experience which would be very hard to transfer
easily to a diver, or indeed many archaeologists come to that.
Conservation under supervision or advice from a conservator is the
absolute minimum that is needed to recover all the potential
information there is and to ensure the artefact will be adequately
preserved for a reasonable length of time.
> Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 15:28:26 -0500
> Reply-to: Investigating the environment of marine archaeological sites <[log in to unmask]>
> From: "Seifert, Betty" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Wreck Amnesty Announced
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Godd conservation is not that easy as those who have set up these garage
> labs have found out to their sorrow when their "treasures" end up falling
> apart into little bits.
>
> Betty Seifert
> Deputy Chief
> Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory
> (410) 586-8578
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Thursday, 25 January, 2001 2:40 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Wreck Amnesty Announced
> >
> > > The answer then is to employ more conservators....
> > >
> >
> > Or you could teach the preservation techniques to the wreck divers doing
> > the
> > recovery.
> >
> > What a concept!
> >
> > As far as i can see the wreck amnesty only covers Naval wrecks. What about
> > the other 90% of wrecks out there? The process for preservation of most of
> > the items recovers by divers - Brass, glass, some iron - are easy to lean
> > and
> > do with a little knowledge and about $100 in equipment and chemicals. You
> > know a day of wreck diving can run over that and you just may find that
> > the
> > divers are more then willing to learn how to do the preservation. Some may
> > even want to learn about wood, paper, and leather also.
> >
> > When you get the divers registering their artifacts, why don't you give
> > out
> > hand outs on how to preserve that artifact? Or, get copies of the Texas
> > A&M
> > lag book to the dive clubs so they can start their own labs.
> >
> > Please remember by the time a diver gets all the gear, training, and
> > experience in to do the deeper dives and recover an artifact, they are
> > jumping into the water with up to $6,000 of gear. A few hundred (or even a
> > few thousand) for a simple lab set up is not out of the question for many
> > divers and clubs.
> >
> > Who knows, you just may find yourself with about 50 more preservation labs
> > then you though you had.
> >
> > Pete Johnson
>
**********************************************
Martin Read
Institute of Marine Studies
University of Plymouth
e-mail:[log in to unmask]
http://hydrography.ims.plym.ac.uk
'Only when the last tree has died
and the last river been poisoned
and the last fish been caught
will we realise we cannot eat money'
Cree quote
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