Langzeitlagerung

Sandra Kaiser conducted a study on the consequences of long-term storage of archaeological wet wood in deionised water.

Abstract

In this study, mass and volume changes that occur during long-term storage of archaeological wet timbers are investigated. Wet wood residues from the KUR project "Mass Finds in Archaeological Collections" serve as study material. For this reason, the samples are not always statistically representative in terms of the wood species and degrees of degradation represented. The samples were physically determined and 3D recorded in 2009, but not preserved. These woods have been stored in deionised water at the RGZM since 2009.

Students of archaeological conservation at the RGZM examined the state of preservation, degree of degradation and volume changes of the wet wood objects after 4 years (Sandra Kaiser 2013) and after 10 years of water storage (Cornelia Meyer 2019) as part of seminar papers.

The investigations show that water storage of archaeological wet wood does not reach a stable state. Volume changes in wood mass losses of up to almost 20% take place after 10 years.

Sandra Kaisers' study (in german) was published in the journal Restaurierung und Archäologie Band 7 (2014) and be downloaded as PDF-file here.

The text of Cornelia Meyer's seminar paper (in german) can be downloaded as a PDF here.