Damage during field archaeology

I would like to comment about Dennis Piechota's question re:
post-excavation damage--yes, it happens, and is inevitable. I prefer
to think of it as "change". As conservators, the best we can do is
try to understand the cause--which can aid in reconstructing an
artifact's past history--and try to reduce rate of change once the
artifacts come out of the ground. Attempting to quantify this is
difficult. Pre-excavation planning is important, predicting quantity
and types of artifacts is necessary, but I have found that no two
field seasons are the same on the same site, and surprises never
cease.

I have worked in a variety of field situations, and comparing two
extremes: wet site archaeology on Canada's east coast (land and
marine), and the southern desert of Jordan, let me assure you that
post-excavation change is much more easily controlled on a wet, cold
site than a "dry", hot site (well, no site is 100% dry, hence the
problem). Keeping artifacts wet in a peat bog is easy; trying to
keep residual moisture in a piece of leather when the temperature is
40 deg. C is an exercise in futility.  I have often compared
excavation to a disaster, one that a lot of planning goes into. Once
the planning is done, you find yourself with a group of people of
varying degrees of skill and dedication, armed with sharp, pointy
tools, working in an often unfamiliar, harsh environment for long
hours each day. A certain amount of pragmatism is necessary.

So, yes, working on-site, conservators must be prepared to deal
constructively with accidental damage during excavation and
post-excavation change. What really has me worried is what happens
when the artifacts go to repositories, and the crew leaves the site
for the season...

Judy Logan
Senior Conservator, Archaeology
Conservation Processes and Material Research
Canadian Conservation Institute
1030 Innes Road
Ottawa ON K1A 0M5
613-998-3721
Fax: 613-998-4721

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:10
                   Distributed: Friday, July 18, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-10-004
                                  ***