AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

Large archaeological objects can be challenging to manipulate during and after treatment due to a variety of factors including structural integrity/fragility, scale, awkward shape, and weight.  These characteristics often occur in combination making it difficult to determine where to make direct-contact to an artifact’s surface as well as to identify center-of-gravity and how it will shift as an object is lifted or rotated. Consideration too must be given to minimizing stress to weak points and ensuring that an artifact is adequately secured, so that as it is moved/turned, it cannot physically shift in an uncontrolled/unexpected manner. Due to the need to reach all sides of an artifact during treatment, it is usually unavoidable that it will have to be turned at some point which increases the risk of damage. Ultimately, once an object is conserved, it will have to be placed on a mount and moved into storage or put on exhibition which also has the potential to cause damage. As no two archaeological objects are identical, often what works directly for one object may not for another. However, overarching concepts can apply to numerous objects such as the utilization of multipurpose mounts that can be used over the course of an artifact’s treatment. These kinds of mounts minimize the need for physical handling and therefore reduce the risk of accidental damage. This paper will present a series of case studies utilizing primarily USS Monitor artifacts to highlight a range of techniques and methods employed at The Mariners’ Museum and Park to lift, turn, and store large archaeological objects over the course of the last decade.