Conservation of Archaeological Materials from Submerged Sites

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Conservation of Archaeological Materials from Submerged Sites," at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The conservation of archaeological materials from submerged sites brings in unique challenges not present in terrestrial archaeological conservation. Storage, pre-treatment, conservation strategies, and curation all have to be tailored to contend with the way different materials degrade in water. Significant strides have been made in recent decades to overcome several of the more serious issues that have plagued conservators, but there are plenty of new challenges ahead, especially as more modern materials begin to fall into the archaeological record. This session is a broad forum to highlight recent developments in methodological approaches, some of the challenges facing conservators, and interesting case studies related to the conservation of archaeological materials from underwater sites.