First Aid in the Field: Creating a Conservation Protocol for the Recovery of Brunswick Town Artifacts

Brandon J Eckert

First Aid in the Field: Creating a Conservation Protocol for the Recovery of Brunswick Town Artifacts

Year: 2020

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Since 2015, East Carolina University has conducted its summer field school in archaeology at the 18th century settlement site of Brunswick Town in North Carolina’s Cape Fear region. After multiple field seasons, thousands of artifacts have been recovered. Following their retrieval in the field, many of these artifacts have deteriorated significantly as a result of improper storage and a lack of attention to immediate field conservation. To address this issue, a “first aid” conservation protocol is being developed. These procedures will ensure that future field school students have the tools and methods required to properly conserve and store at-risk artifacts immediately after their recovery.