Working paper
The Hoko Alder: A Wood Technological Approach to the Conservation of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood
University of Washington
05/23/1983
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000008088
Abstract
Archaeological wet sites are permanently water saturated archaeological deposits, usually containing preserved perishable materials. Wooden artifacts recovered from wet sites often retain their original size, shape, and surface characteristics. This makes them excellent objects for archaeological study and museum display. However, the cellular structure of the wood is deteriorated. As it dries excessive dimensional change may occur, distorting characteristics that are desirable to archaeologists. It is necessary, therefore, to dimensionally stabilize this wood before it can be stored or displayed.
The anatomical and physical properties of waterlogged archaeological wood and how they relate to its dimensional behavior are the subject of this thesis. The wood is referred to as "waterlogged archaeological wood" because it is of archaeological significance, is at or near its maximum moisture content, and has been preserved in a wet site.
The overall objective of this thesis is to identify those properties of waterlogged archaeological wood that can readily be measured by archaeological conservators and used to predict dimensional behavior. To fulfill this objective, both anatomical and physical properties will be considered.
The wood used in this study was very highly deteriorated red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) recovered from the Hoko river site. This wood is referred to as "Hoko alder" to distinguish it from normal alder in the following discussions. Figures 1 and 2 show the external dimension al change that occurs during air-drying of the Hoko alder. These figures are included here to illustrate the problem at hand.
The Hoko river site is a 2500-year-old wet site on the Straits of Juan de uca, about 14 miles east of Neah Bay, Washington (Figure 3). Croes and Blinman (1980) and Stucki(1982) give details of the formation, excavation, and archaeological implications of the site.
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Details
- Title
- The Hoko Alder: A Wood Technological Approach to the Conservation of Waterlogged Archaeological Wood
- Creators
- R. James Barbour (Author)
- Academic Unit
- The Hoko River Wet/Dry Site (45CA213), 3,000-1,700 BP; Hoko River Archaeological Sites Complex Research Materials
- Publisher
- University of Washington
- Grant note
- Sponsored by the Forest Resources Department
- Identifiers
- 99901366753101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Working paper