Titre : Monitoring protocol for the preservation of ancient wooden shipwrecks 

Auteurs : Marie-Laure Courboulès, Daniela Peloso, Vincent Dumas,  

Revue : Digital Archaeology 

Numéro : Issue 1 

Volume : 1 

Date : 2017/10/13 

DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2017.0162 

ISSN : 2515-7574 

Résumé : The experimental project of the preservation monitoring of a wreck is part of the program of preservation and restoration of the Departmental Museum of Ancient Arles. From 2014, the museum has dealt with the problems inherent to the preservation of a Roman barge 31 meters long exposed in its galleries. The study of the preservation status and of the deformations of the Roman maritime-fluvial barge Arles-Rhône3 (AR3) demonstrated the scientific necessity of an adapted monitoring tool, as well as of a monitoring protocol, applicable by the restorer/curator’s team of a maritime Museum. Ancient wooden shipwrecks are mainly composed of organic materials (wood, caulking, etc.), and frequently equipped with the metallic components (...). They constitute rare archaeological objects and are frequently of very big size. When exhibited, they are preserved in the halls of museums, and are, consequently, very sensitive to room climate variations. Too often, there is a tendency to give too much attention to the initial restoration, and not consider enough the evolution of objects during the preservation process. Therefore, it is very important to consider the objects in their context and make the most of the preventive conservation. Concerning the content of the proposed monitoring protocol, several aspects of space and time must be considered. Moreover, the team responsible, consisting from scientists from different disciplines, will have to establish the general theoretical framework of the protocol for preservation monitoring. 

Éditeur : ISTE OpenScience