Conserving Bog Bodies: The Key Questions

ABSTRACT

The conservation of a bog body is complex and a challenge for all those involved. A substantial list of requirements needs to be pulled together by the conservator in designing an effective and appropriate conservation strategy for these rare and important finds. Past treatments have often been reactive and constrained by lack of research and testing. Bog body materials are not yet sufficiently characterized and the level of access for which we are designing conservation treatments has not been comprehensively anticipated. This paper examines some of the questions conservators will need answered before they can design more successful long-term strategies for the conservation of bog bodies, and makes an attempt to answer them. In doing so, it places in context past treatments and hopes to stimulate future research that may aid in improving the preservation of bog bodies for the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Bog bodies
• conservation
• conservation of skin
• archaeological leather
• residual tannins
• sphagnan
• human taphonomy
• incomplete tannage‌

Acknowledgements

I thank all the people who made helpful and invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this paper, especially Verena Kotonski, Irit Narkiss, and Barbara Wills, conservators responsible for the preservation of bog bodies.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Dr Ticca Ogilvie, ACR was born in Canada. She received her B.Sc. in Anthropology from Trent University (1990), her B.Sc. in Archaeological Conservation from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (1993), and her Ph.D. in Conservation Science from Durham University (2000). She has worked as an archaeological conservator at a number of museums and field units across Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Her research interests include bog bodies, archaeological wet wood and leather, and the technology of early musical instruments. An independent consultant, lecturer, and conservator, she was until recently Senior Lecturer of Conservation at Gothenburg University, Sweden.