The Archaeologist's Manual for Conservation: A Guide to Non-Toxic, Minimal Intervention Artifact Stabilization
Bradley A. Rodgers (Author)
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (July 21, 2004)
Bradley A. Rodgers (Author)
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (July 21, 2004)
'This manual is designed to take the mysticism out of archaeological
artifact conservation and act as both reference and guide. It is
intended as a tool to assist archaeologists in stabilizing a majority of
the artifacts they excavate, or those already in storage. These
stabilized archaeological collections will be preserved into the future,
permitting reexamination and multiple interpretations of the data as
our knowledge base grows through time. In addition, conservation will
permit improved in-depth primary artifact interpretation, as fully
conserved artifacts reveal fabrication, wear patterns, and detail
impossible to detect in non-conserved artifacts. Conservation,
therefore, is a critical tool within archaeology, a tool that becomes
less meaningful if it is isolated, or seen as merely a technical skill
that can be farmed out to the "hard sciences." The Archaeologist's
Manual for Conservation is intended as a counterpoint to the popular
specialization trend. My goal in offering this manual is to put
artifacts back in the hands of archaeologists or material culture
specialists who can best decipher them, opening avenues of artifact or
material culture interpretation that are disappearing as artifacts
either decay in storage or are sent away to the "conservation
professionals".' - from the Introduction . This book is the culmination
of over 10 years of work and the merging, expansion, and improvement of
2 previous works: Conservator's Cookbook and Conservation of Water
Soaked Materials Bibliography. Each chapter covers a particular
substance: wood, iron, copper, glass, ceramic, organic artifacts,
textiles, and leather, composite artifacts. Chapters begin with a
visual flow chart, walking the archaeologist through a step-by-step
stabilization process, backed in the text by theoretical discussion and
description. Practical methodology follows theory in each chapter giving
the archaeologist a more detailed description of preserving material
remains. Chapters are backed and serviced by the most comprehensive
bibliographic reference available today. The Archaeologist's Manual for
Conservation was developed through extensive documentary research,
laboratory trial and error, and the feedback of both underwater and
terrestrial archaeologists. It will become an indispensable reference
for all archaeologists, laboratory technicians, archaeology students,
curators, and conservators concerned with simple, proven, non-toxic,
artifact conservation procedures.
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