The primary goal of the conservator is to stabilize and conserve artifacts with the best possible treatment available. Ideally, these treatments are noninvasive and reversible, and maintain the integrity of the object as a top priority. In this respect, it is the responsibility of the conservator to research other possible treatments when traditional methods prove to be insufficient to properly stabilize and conserve an object. Sometimes choosing to treat with a seemingly unorthodox method is the only chance for the objects survival. Though glass is considered one of the most stable archaeological materials, noninvasive, reversible treatments are not always possible given the level of deterioration glass objects undergo within the archaeological setting, specifically the underwater or waterlogged archaeological setting. This research is a consideration and investigation of the use of silicone polymers and silanes as consolidation materials for 17th-century glass recovered from aqueous environments. Working within the Conservation Research Laboratory and the Archaeological Preservation Research Laboratory at Texas A and M University, a newly developed polymer passivation technique utilizing materials acquired from the Dow Corning Corporation was applied to archaeological glass recovered from the 1686 shipwreck La Belle, excavated in Matagorda Bay off the coast of Texas by the Texas Historical Commission from 1996 to 1997. The successful application of a hydroxyl ended silicone polymer Q-1 3563, combined with a methyltrimethoxysilane intermediate crosslinker, Q-9 1315, at a 15% solution by weight and catalyzed with dibutyltin diacetate (DBTDA Fascat 4200) occurred in 1999. This project was the first large scale application of silicone polymers and silanes to 17th-century archaeological glass recovered from a marine site. Through this investigation we answered a number of questions regarding the use and application of the silicone technologies and confirmed that these materials are a viable resource for glass consolidation and conservation in terms of the suggested conservation guidelines of the IIC. The silicone technology was successfully applied to numerous types, forms, colors and degradation levels of glass. This included successful application to composite artifacts and the retreatment of objects unsuccessfully treated with a "traditional" method.

This thesis examines the collection of Cypriot glass stored in the basement at Scripps and its context throughout history. The first chapter focuses on the collection itself and includes a brief summary of the founding of the Mudd family’s Cyprus Mines Corporation, which led to the collection of the glass. The repatriation of the collection is also detailed. The second chapter examines the history of Cyprus, and how valuable resources such as copper led to trade on the island. A history of glass is given: how it was made, what it was made out of, and how it was used and appreciated at different times in history. The third chapter addresses the history of the glass trade and production on Cyprus. Island-specific shapes and production are explored. This chapter also looks at how glass was valued and used by different levels of society as glass production evolved and led to a saturated market. The fourth chapter focuses on five pieces selected from the Scripps and Mudd collections. These case studies include conservation condition reports. Physical description, condition, use, and similar examples in other collections are detailed. The final chapter addresses glass conservation. It contains an analysis of previous conservation interventions, descriptions of different types of weathering and degradation, and tips for stabilizing, storing, shipping, handling, and displaying the collection.

Des blocs de verre archéologique provenant d’une épave découverte près de l’île des Embiez (Var) en mer Méditerranée ont été étudiés en raison de leur analogie morphologique avec les verres nucléaires et de leur environnement connu et stable. Fracturés à l’issue de leur élaboration (comme les verres nucléaires), ces verres se sont altérés près de 1800 ans en eau de mer. Ce travail a abouti au développement et à la validation d’un modèle géochimique capable de simuler l’altération d’un bloc de verre archéologique fracturé au bout de 1800 ans. Les expériences ont permis de déterminer les constantes cinétiques des mécanismes en jeu (interdiffusion et dissolution du réseau vitreux) et les paramètres thermodynamiques (affinité, phases secondaires) de ce modèle. Celui-ci, implémenté dans HYTEC a permis de simuler l’altération de fissures sur 1800 ans. La cohérence des épaisseurs d’altération simulées et des valeurs mesurées sur les blocs valide la capacité prédictive du modèle. Ce modèle permet alors d’expliquer les résultats issus de la caractérisation du réseau de fissures et de son état d’altération. Les fissures de la zone externe du bloc sont les plus altérées du fait du renouvellement rapide de la solution, alors que les fissures internes ont des épaisseurs très fines à cause du couplage entre l’altération du verre et le transport des éléments en solution (effet de l’ouverture initiale et du colmatage). Les résultats expliquent non seulement les épaisseurs les plus fines, mais aussi leur variabilité. Le comportement analogue des verres archéologiques et nucléaires permet d’envisager une transposition de ce modèle aux verres nucléaires en condition de stockage géologique / Fractured archaeological glass blocks collected from a shipwreck discovered in the Mediterranean Sea near Embiez Island (Var) were investigated because of their morphological analogy with vitrified nuclear waste and of a known and stable environment. These glasses are fractured due to a fast cooling after they were melted (like nuclear glass) and have been altered for 1800 years in seawater. This work results in the development and the validation of a geochemical model able to simulate the alteration of a fractured archaeological glass block over 1800 years. The kinetics associated with the different mechanisms (interdiffusion and dissolution) and the thermodynamic parameters of the model were determined by leaching experiments. The model implemented in HYTEC software was used to simulate crack alteration over 1800 years. The consistency between simulated alteration thicknesses and measured data on glass blocks validate the capacity of the model to predict long-term alteration. This model is able to account for the results from the characterization of crack network and its state of alteration. The cracks in the border zone are the most altered due to a fast renewal of the leaching solution, whereas internal cracks are thin because of complex interactions between glass alteration and transport of elements in solution (influence of initial crack aperture and of the crack sealing). The lowest alteration thicknesses, as well as their variability, can be explained. The analog behavior of archaeological and nuclear glasses from leaching experiments makes possible the transposition of the model to nuclear glass in geological repository