The RAAR Project — Heritage Management Aspects on Reburial After Ten Years of Work

Abstract

The general purpose of the international reburial project, Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains (RAAR), is to evaluate reburial as a method for the long-term storage and preservation of waterlogged archaeological remains. Since 2001 material samples have been buried, retrieved, analysed systematically, and the results reported.

RAAR has mainly focused on the degradation of materials commonly encountered on archaeological sites, and on environmental monitoring techniques in order to determine what type of material can be reburied and for how long. The project has concluded that a heritage institution could provide short- or long-term curation for its archaeological archive by using reburial depots provided they are set up according to guidelines and restrictions stipulated by the RAAR project.

However, there are management and legal aspects that need to be discussed and resolved before each reburial project. Actual reburials that have been carried out so far are often a solution to emergency situations and lack collection and management policies. The questions ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘for how long’ have been forgotten and need to be addressed. The legal protection of a reburial site is also important. This paper discusses these aspects and their consequences and highlights possible differences in approaches between the countries involved in the RAAR project.

Keywords:

• reburial
• heritage management
• underwater archaeological heritage

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Inger Nyström Godfrey

Inger Nyström Godfrey has a BSc in Conservation and a BA in Classical Archaeology from the University of Göteborg. She is a senior archaeological conservator and has worked in the field of conservation since 1989. She has been involved in reburials and in situ preservation of marine archaeological sites since 1998 and is one of the coordinator the RAAR project.

Correspondence to: Inger Nyström Godfrey. Email: [email protected]

Thomas Bergstrand

Thomas Bergstrand has an MA in Archaeology from the University of Gothenburg. He has been employed since 1997 at Bohusläns Museum, Uddevalla, Sweden, in the field of marine archaeology. His main focus is marine contract archaeology and heritage management; including issues concerning in situ preservation, reburial and similar questions. He is one of the coordinators of the RAAR project.

Correspondence to: Thomas Bergstrand. Email: [email protected]

Håkan Petersson

Håkan Petersson has a doctor’s degree in Archaeology from the University of Gothenburg and is since 2004 employed as research co-ordinator at Bohusläns museum, Uddevalla. One of his main scientific areas of interest is methodological studies connected to Archaeological development.

Correspondence to: Håkan Petersson. Email: [email protected]

Carola Bohm

Carola Bohm has a BA in Archaeology (Uppsala University) and a BSc in Archaeological Conservation and Materials Science (Institute of Archaeology, University of London). She worked in the Conservation Department at the Swedish National Heritage Board for twenty-seven years, specializing in ceramics and glass and with particular interest in glass deterioration — atmospheric as well as terrestrial and marine. Since 2008 she is engaged in private practice in Stockholm.

Correspondence to: Carola Bohm, Acta Konserveringscentrum AB, Riddargatan 13D, 114 51 Stockholm, Sweden. Email: [email protected]

Eva Christensson

Eva Christensson has a BA in Archaeology, Ethnology, and Art History (1972), and further studies in Classical Archaeology (1989) from the University of Lund, Sweden. She has a BSc (1991) from the University of Wales, College of Cardiff in Archaeological Conservation. Since 1994 she has been working as a conservator at the Swedish National Heritage Board mainly with ceramics, bone, ivory, and amber in close cooperation with, especially, the Mediterranean Museum and the National Historical Museum in Stockholm.

Correspondence to: Eva Christensson, National Heritage Board, Artillerigatan 33A, 621 38 Visby. Email: [email protected]

Charlotte Gjelstrup Björdal

Charlotte Gjelstrup Björdal gained her BSc in conservation from the Royal Academy of Arts, Copenhagen, 1986, and specialized in conservation of waterlogged archaeological wood. In 2000, she defended her doctoral thesis ‘Waterlogged Archaeological Wood – Biodegradation and its Implication for Conservation’, at the Dept of Wood Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. During the last fifteen years, her research has focused on microbial degradation processes in archaeological wood from marine and terrestrial environments, and their implications and consequences for long-term preservation of cultural heritage. Charlotte Gjelstrup Björdal is associate professor and Director of the Conservation Program at the Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Correspondence to: Charlotte Gjelstrup Björdal, Conservation Program at the Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Email: charlotte. [email protected]

David Gregory

David Gregory worked for several years in the pharmaceutical industry as an analytical chemist. After that he obtained a BSc in archaeology (University of Leicester), MPhil in Maritime studies (St Andrews University), and PhD (‘Formation processes in underwater archaeology: a study of the deterioration of archaeological materials in the marine environment’, 1996 (University of Leicester). He is currently employed as a senior scientist at the National Museum of Denmark investigating methods of in situ preservation in waterlogged and underwater environments.

Correspondence to: David Gregory. Email: [email protected]

Ian MacLeod

Ian MacLeod has a PhD and a Doctor of Philosophy from Melbourne University. He has been solving deterioration problems with shipwreck artefacts since 1978. He is passionately interested in the decay of glass, ceramics, wood, and metals. He was granted a Senior Fulbright Fellowship in 1993 and a Getty Conservation Institute fellowship in 2010 that allowed him to develop his research.

Correspondence to: Ian MacLeod, Western Australian Maritime Museum, Peter Hughes Drive, Victoria Quay, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia. Email: [email protected]

Elizabeth E Peacock

Elizabeth E. Peacock is a Professor of Conservation at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology and University of Gothenburg, focusing on conservation research and education following extensive experience in practical conservation. She has researched in pedagogy and organic archaeological materials addressing biodeterioration, in situ preservation, reburial, and environmental monitoring, as well as remedial conservation.

Correspondence to: Elizabeth E. Peacock, NTNU Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, & Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Email: [email protected]

Vicki Richards

Vicki Richards has a B.App.Sci. (Hons) (Curtin University) and an MPhil in chemistry (Murdoch University). Vicki Richards has been a Conservation Scientist in the Materials Conservation Department of the Western Australian Museum for the past twenty-four years. One of her primary research areas is investigating deterioration mechanisms of metals and organic materials on shipwreck sites and devising and implementing appropriate on-site management plans for the long-term in situ preservation of these sites.

Correspondence to: Vicki Richards, Department of Materials Conservation, Western Australian Museum, Shipwreck Galleries, 45–47 Cliff St, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia. Email: [email protected]