Prioritizing the Concretions from Queen Anne’s Revenge for Conservation: A Case Study in Managing a Large Collection

Summary

In the ongoing excavation of archaeological site 31CR314 (Blackbeard’s flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge), approximately 3,000 concretions have been raised as of Fall 2014.  With a plan for complete recovery, and considering that an estimated 60% of the site has been excavated so far, over 5,000 concretions could eventually be recovered.  With the substantial amount of conservation to be done and only 2 full-time conservators, a plan for how to proceed through the collection was needed.  Over the course of six months, x-ray films for each of the 2,704 concretions having already been x-rayed were examined.  A priority system for the purposes of progressing conservation was determined based on what each concretion contains, taking into account urgent treatment needs, as well as feedback from project archaeologists and North Carolina Maritime Museum staff.  This paper discusses the process by which priority was assigned and comments on the progress of the collection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2016   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 451