During 1984 I carried out an Internship in Materials Conservation
under the supervision of Mrs. Patricia Johnson, the Conservator
of the Nicholson Museum of Antiquities, the University of Sydney.
My area of specialization was in the conservation of artifacts.
The majority of artifacts examined and treated during the
Internship were from archaeological excavations in the Middle
East, at the site of Pella, in Jordan. The site of Pella has
produced artifacts from a wide chronological range ; Neolithic,
Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic (Greek), Roman, and Arabic
historical periods. A selection of these artifacts has been granted
to the University of Sydney by the Jordanian government, and
constitute the present Pella Collection.
Most of the materials are inorganic, i.e. ceramics, metals,
glass, and stone, although bone and ivory artifacts, as well
as skeletal material, form a part of the collection. Upon an
initial examination of the collection, conservation problems
were identified and a program of conservation work for the
collection was formulated.
Priority treatment was given to the metals in the collection,
particularly to the small bronzes which were found to be
suffering from "bronze disease" (active corrosion), to ceramics
needed for study and display, and to glass with unstable surfaces.
Improvements in storage conditions for the Pella Collection,
particularly in the packing of small finds and the storage of
metals, were also given a high priority.
Taken altogether, the Pella Collection has proved to be a wellbalanced
collection, covering almost every period of Kiddle
Eastern Archaeology, and containing artifacts representative
of most types of materials and of ancient technology. Planned
as a research and teaching collection for the students of the
Department of Archaeology, the University of Sydney, it also
proved to be an excellent teaching collection for a student
of materials conservation.
The following, therefore, is a report on my Internship in
Archaeological Conservation, and includes a description of
the institution which sponsored the Internship, a description
of both the program of work and the program of instruction
for the Internship, detailed descriptions of all conservation
work and other activities which were undertaken as part of the:
Internship, and a final evaluation of the Internship.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219181 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Creators | Marsh, Glenda Susan, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Applied Science |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Glenda Susan Marsh |
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