Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains in the Marine Environment — Investigations into the Effects on Metals

Abstract

The treatment and long-term storage of recovered cultural material from underwater heritage sites is becoming less cost effective, and reburial of archaeological sites and the associated artefacts in the marine environment is becoming increasingly common practice in managing the submerged cultural resource. Following recent large-scale underwater archaeological excavations in Marstrand harbour, Sweden, the majority of recovered finds were reburied in defined trenches in the harbour sediment. Subsequently, the Studio of the Western Sweden Conservators in conjunction with the Bohus County Museum initiated a fifty-year research project to evaluate reburial as an appropriate method of preserving waterlogged archaeological artefacts in the long term. The research project, entitled ‘Reburial and Analyses of Archaeological Remains’, was launched in 2002 and consists of six sub-projects. The main aims of these sub-projects are to analyse the extent of deterioration of the most common material types found on underwater archaeological sites, assess the stability of packing and marking materials used in archaeological documentation, and monitor the reburial environment.

The aim of the metals sub-project is to investigate the short- to long-term corrosion behaviour of metals buried in the marine environment by examining the deterioration of reburied and exposed modern metal coupons and eventually compare these results to the analysis of actual shipwreck artefacts. The environmental monitoring sub-project is designed to complement the other sub-projects by assessing the physico-chemical changes occurring in the reburial environment over time and the effect on the deterioration of the different reburied material types. In comparing the results obtained over the past seven years from both the metals and monitoring sub-projects, it should be possible to more accurately evaluate the effectiveness of reburial as a long-term in situ preservation strategy for metallic archaeological remains.

Keywords:

• in situ preservation
• reburial
• metals
• marine environment
• corrosion

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vicki Richards

Vicki Richards has a B.App.Sci. (Hons) (Curtin University) and a MPhil in chemistry (Murdoch University). She 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 Street, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia. Email: [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, In-Situ Group, Conservation Department, Archaeology Section, National Museum of Denmark, PO Box 260, Brede, DK-2800, Denmark. 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: ian.macleod@ museum.wa.gov.au

Henning Matthiesen

Henning Matthiesen has a BSc in chemistry and mathematics, MSc in chemistry, and PhD in the biogeochemistry of marine sediments 1998 (University of Århus). He has worked as an analytical chemist in the industry. Since 2000 he has been employed as a senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark. His main research areas are the in situ preservation of archaeological materials in wetlands and urban deposits.

Correspondence to: Henning Matthiesen, In-Situ Group, Conservation Department, Archaeology Section, National Museum of Denmark, PO Box 260, Brede, DK-2800, Denmark. Email: [email protected]