Page 187 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

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use relative to where the artefact came from and how it was made and used. It is also that which has been highly exposed to seawater aggression and, later, to excavation operations, removal and studies.
The conservation programme
The scheduling of a conservation programme is a priority in any underwater cultural heritage project. It must ensure long-term preservation of the site and the artefacts, whether the decision is taken to keep them in situ or to extract them. The programme needs to plan well-ahead of the start of the project for the idial actions that occur throughout its duration.
The conservation programme thus sets out the guiding principles but also plans the following activities in every detail:
• Documentation - design of finds records, registration, condition report, monitoring systems and site inventory (see Rule 26);
• Underwater archaeological prospection and preparation work (see Rule 16) – design of the methodologies and techniques applied (see Rule 16);
• Recovery and transport of the artefacts from the archaeological site to the on-site workshop, if artefacts are not preserved in situ
© National Museum of Underwater Archaeology. ARQUA. Conservation and restauration laboratory facilities ARQUATEC, National Museum of Underwater Archaeology. ARQUA, Cartagena, Spain. Artefacts recovered from underwater environments
are in a particularly unstable condition and require special treatment i.e. the cleaning and stabilization of waterlogged
and salt contaminated artefacts. Detailed records are maintained throughout the conservation and restoration process.The facilities of a conservation laboratory treating artefacts recovered from the underwater environment certainly vary.A conservation laboratory should however be able to accommodate large and small collections of artefacts of
a variety of materials, including metals, glass, ceramics, stone, wood, fabrics, and other organic materials. It should provide
the following services: artefact conservation, stabilization and consolidation; microscopy
and microanalysis; super-cold conductivity research; industrial radiography of marine concretions and artefacts; electrolytic, mechanical, and chemical
cleaning of artefacts; removal of salts and other chlorides from marine artefacts; artefact casting, restoration and reconstruction; new polymer processing technology; artefact presentation and display; photography
and illustration; artefact documentation, identification, and research; condition assessment and collection management.
Conservation and site management