Waterlogged wood

Haralambos Zachariou <harryz [at] lycos__com>

In Conservation DistList Instance: 16:47 Friday, February 7, 2003, I
wrote

>I am a conservator interested in the use of resins as a method of
>treating waterlogged archaeological wood. We have recently
>discovered a number of pieces of such material in a Neolithic
>lakeside site in Greece and I have been considering the option of
>"plastification" on a number of them.  I would therefore appreciate
>it if you would share any information you might have on the subject,
>concerning the use and application of resins and their reaction
>after long periods of time or beyond controlled environments.  I
>would also be interested to know about Laboratories/Institutions
>specialising in such method and possible collaboration.

I completed a Masters thesis comparing radiation induced
polymerisation of monomers (MMA, HEMA) with PEG impregnation
followed by freeze drying which is available on interloan from the
University of Auckland Library.

    Dilys A. Johns.
    Waterlogged Wood Conservation: an investigation of radiation
    induced polymerisation of monomers. January 1985 (library no:
    85-176)

My results showed that even though results of using radiation
induced polymerisation of monomers (RPM) were satisfactory to good
the RPM technique not be considered a blanket replacement for the
established (and now very fine tuned) PEG impregnation/ freeze
drying treatment.

Two people who you could contact for further information are Xavier
Hiron <hiron [at] chartreuse__cea__fr> or Celine Bonnot-Diconne
<bonnot [at] chartreuse__cea__fr> at the ARC-Nucleart, CEA/Grenoble, 17 rue
des Martys 38054 Grenoble cedex 9 France

Dilys A. Johns
Senior Research Fellow
Department of Anthropology
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, New Zealand
+64 3737599 ext: 88580
Fax: +64 3737441


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:53
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 18, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-53-005
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