Small Steps to Preserve El Gigante: Conserving and Interpreting an Artifact from a Rockshelter in the Highlands of Honduras

Author(s): Amelia J Hammond

Year: 2020

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Current Research at the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The El Gigante rockshelter is located in the highlands of Honduras and has an occupation history dating back to 10,000 years B.P. In 2001, a composite artifact consisting of hide and rope was excavated from this site. After excavation, this leather was folded and stored in a plastic bag. Through uncontrolled drying and creasing in storage, the hide became desiccated and brittle. Dr. Heather Thakar of Texas A&M brought the artifact to the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University to be conserved. Conservation goals were to return the artifact to its original shape and prepare it for archival packaging in order to prevent further damage. Ongoing analytical and historical research is underway with the hopes these will provide answers to its origin.

Cite this Record

Small Steps to Preserve El Gigante: Conserving and Interpreting an Artifact from a Rockshelter in the Highlands of Honduras. Amelia J Hammond. 2020 ( tDAR id: 456940)

Keywords

General
Conservation Hide Honduras

Geographic Keywords
United States of America

Temporal Keywords
~9 000 years BP

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 923