Re-burial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains
An interdisciplinary, international project initiated by the Bohus County Museum and the Studio Västsvensk Konservering, Sweden.
Reburial, why and how?
The purpose of the project "Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains"
is to find out and evaluate alternative methods for preserving wet archaeological
remains. Archaeological investigations under water and in other waterlogged
environments often generate an excess of items in great need of conservation.
The cost of a total conservation of the material excavated, would in
several
cases mean an unreasonable economic set back for the investigation as
a whole and thereby also for the scientific quality of the work. It
is
also questionable whether the use of such a total conservation would
be worth the cost. The problem is especially obvious in rescue archaeology
where the whole or greater parts of a site are excavated within a relatively
short time.
With restricted possibilities of conservation, reburial seems a realistic option for saving instead of discarding an archaeological material. The main criticism against reburying is that the method is unsatisfactorily evaluated. The method has been tried in Sweden and abroad, but there have been few long-term evaluations produced or published. Those analyses that have been made are based on wooden material. This leaves out a great part of the archaeological remains. In the meantime, while waiting for more research results, reburial still appears to be a method preferred before discarding.
In Sweden reburial has so far been practised at three archaeological excavations: The "Marstrand project", the excavation of "Ostindiefararen Götheborg" and the excavation of "Stora Sofia". In all cases, a selection of the material found has been conserved and the rest has either been reburied or discarded. The selection has been based on certain criteria that have been set up, taking in account scientific, technical and economic factors.
To rebury is to create a waterlogged storage area to be compared with a "normal" museum storage. A trench is dug in the sea-bottom in which the finds are placed after documentation. Their positions are recorded and the trench is refilled with sediment and/or sand. In this way an anaerobic storage will be conceived. The practical problems and the results of the method obviously raise many questions. For instance in which ways can the method be used in management of the cultural heritage, working with expansive archaeological materials.
The project "Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains" totally consists of six sub-projects. Four of these aim to analyse the preservation or degradation of different material stored in a waterlogged environment. The sub-projects will study the most common types of material found in archaeological artefacts. These are organic material as e.g. wood and leather or inorganic material as silicates and metal. One sub-project concerns the testing of stability of packing and marking materials normally used in archaeological documentation. The method is to plant samples in the reburial environment and then analyse them in a predetermined order. The first phase covers a time interval between 2002 and 2005. Units of samples will also be planted for a second and a third phase. In total the project covers 50 years from now on. Apart from testing materials the main project also includes a sub-project that will chemically and physically analyse the reburial environment.
Organisations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Australia with relevant competence take responsibility for respective sub-projects.
Points of importance
Name of project
Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains.
Time interval of project
2002-2005
Management of project
Thomas Bergstrand, archaeologist at the Bohus County Museum,
Sweden. Phone: +46 (0)522-65 65 65.
E-mail: thomas.bergstrand@vgregion.se
Inger Nyström Godfrey, conservator at the Studio Västsvensk Konservering,
Sweden. Phone: +46 (0)31-63 70 23
E-mail: inger.nystrom@vgregion.se
Responsible organisation
The Bohus County Museum (Bohusläns museum)
Collaborators
BSc Carola Bohm and BSc Eva Christensson, National Heritage Board
(Riksantikvarieämbetet)
,
Sweden.
PhD Elizabeth Peacock, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norges teknisk-naturvitenskaplige universitet/Vitenskapsmuseum), Norway.
Prof Thomas Nilsson and PhD Charlotte Gjelstrup Björdal, Dept. of Wood Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Science (Institutionen för Trävetenskap, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet), Sweden.
MPhil. Vicki Richards and Dr. Ian MacLeod
Western Australian Museum, Australia
PhD David Gregory, Nationalmuseum of Denmark, Denmark
Bsc. Inger Nystöm Godfrey, Studio Västsvensk Konservering, Sweden
Contributors
The National Heritage Board
The Nordic Cultural Fund
Carl Jacob Lindebergs Fornminnesfond
The County Board of Administration, Västra Götaland
Final
report, phase1
(pdf 63 MB)
Participants
Marstrand
Project co-ordinators
Thomas Bergstrand
Inger Nyström Godfrey