Archaeological Conservation
Inpainting a fill on a Roman urn.
Reassembling a ca. 7th-century BCE Corinthian pyxis: Selinunte Archaeological Park, Italy, 2023.
We have experience treating the following materials:
Ceramics
Polychromy
Metal
Stone & Plaster
Glass
Featured Projects
7th century BCE
Excavated in 2023 at Selinunte Archaeological Park in Southern Sicily, Italy
Kouros
This small ceramic statue of a kouros, considered the most important find of the 2023 season, was found in fragmentary condition in several stratigraphic layers near an early temple in Selinunte’s main urban sanctuary. The polychromed surfaces needed consolidation before I joined the fragments using progressively stronger weight to volume concentrations of synthetic adhesive resin. I created a drawing, shown below, for the archaeologists referencing the stratigraphic layers where the various fragments were found.
Above: The fragmentary state of the kouros before treatment.
Excavations are a team effort. As conservators, we need to understand how others use our work on site. Without details about the different layers where fragments were found, the object loses its context and value. To aid this, I made a drawing (above) which shows each fragment's location and layer information.
Above: Drawings of the recto and verso of the kouros, including stratigraphic information. Click to enlarge.
Above: The kouros after treatment.
This ancient glass vessel is in the collection of a museum in Lebanon, Syria. A large blast resulting from a terror attack had broken the vessel into 5 fragments and created several blind cracks which compromised the structural integrity of the object.
4th - 6th century CE
Roman (Syro-Palestinian)
Late Imperial Roman or Early Byzantine
Glass Vessel
Before Treatment
After Treatment
The weathering layers on the vessel, which were a testament to its age, were first consolidated using a low concentration acrylic adhesive solubilized in acetone, applied with a fine brush to “flood” the delaminating areas.
The vessel was then reassembled. First, the break edges of all fragments were cleaned before a ~30% w/v concentration of adhesive resin was brushed onto the break edges for piece-by-piece reassembly.
A small loss on the tip of one of the handles was visually distracting, so a small fill was made by dyeing Hyxtal NYL-1 epoxy resin with Orasol dyes. The blue-green color and transparency of the fill were refined by adding dry pigments adhered with a water-soluble synthetic resinand a small amount of Golden liquid acrylic paint, including the color-interference variety.
After Treatment