WOAM visits the conservation lab for the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck.
WOAM ZOO: THE HYBRID ANIMALS
Let me tell you about the exotic creatures that I am most intrigued with after this conference. Tara Grant: working on treatment of waterlogged organics like fur, baskets, skin, feathers…she has archaeological experience in the field and that cautious AIC standards and ethics mindset I relate to. Plus, she’s been fighting the good fight for some time and has a database in her head of things that have worked and have not worked, and she’s been on the front lines over there at CCI for a long time. Cliff Cook: Also dealing with the stuff that is similar to my stuff in Alaska, with a similar cautious treatment philosophy and long CCI background that Tara has. Another observation: Cliff Cook is a good guy. He was very helpful in answering my many questions on many topics when I cornered him at the conference, and it seems like he has a long, long career of being very helpful as well as stepping up to the plate and doing behind-the-scenes work of the kind you don’t often get credit for, but I find really helpful in what I’m doing. There are not a lot of people who seem to be this hybrid of conservator-doing-treatments-according-to-AIC-standards and ethics who can also really grapple with the science and has a foot in today’s world of archaeology. And I guess I mean archaeology in the United States, and marine archaeology in particular. That’s the kind of hybrid who is most interesting to me, and who sort of speaks my language…Ian Godfrey: From what I can tell, he is more of a scientist I think, really, but the practical treatment stuff is also in his realm and he’s been at this a long long time. His talk was the last of the conference and pretty masterful. I am still trying to figure out all the factors that go into grappling with the right treatments to do and how to assess them in a holistic big picture way that comes out with a concrete result we can take to the bench but that is still scientifically backed up, and to see this man just put out a talk like that with such flare (and then wrap up with the most amazing images of penguins you ever saw…did you know he’s done a ton of work in Antarctica? Google him) well, it made me feel like I was seeing an orchestra conductor or something. He is also looking at non-wood organics, and WOAM is pretty dominated with the wood people who are finding solutions for shipwrecks and the like. If I understand correctly, these big shipwreck projects bring in the funding so you can attract scientists to help with the research. But what about ivory? Baleen? Skin? Hair? Bone? Fur? Feather? Baskets? Textiles? There is just not the same volume of research being done on that stuff, and it seems like Ian Godfrey has a special interest in that. Me too, and I think knowing more about that stuff archeologically will help us better preserve the stuff that is NOT archaeological but ethnographic, and by that I mean old stuff made from plants and animals that has not been dug out of the ground. Susanne Grieve: She’s in this very tiny category of conservators treating objects in marine archaeology in the US who have the kind of training I have (by this I mean graduate degree in conservation from a program that is tight with AIC-type philosophies: namely the NYU, Buffalo, Delaware, Queens, London and now Getty programs). In the United States, a huge percentage of our maritime heritage is being conserved/restored/preserved by people who are mainly trained by archaeologists and don’t follow the AIC standards and ethics. Granted, maritime stuff is really challenging and application of the AIC standards and ethics is complicated in these cases. But there are two parallel universes of practice going on in the United States, from what I can tell, and only a handful of other people have a foot in both worlds like this. I’m especially excited about the Susanne factor because she is in a teaching position that has potential for really interesting impact and bringing those worlds together. Quite a burden, but full of promise as well. Go Susanne! Gary McGowan Now there’s a sweet guy. You’re feeling a little shy at a conference with all these big names? Cling to Gary, he was so nice to me! He’s in private practice in the New York area and has seen lots and lots of stuff, plus kept his ear to the ground and heard about a lot of stuff good and bad. Katherine Singley is another one of those. Wish there could be an update to her book. It is still one of the basics on the bookshelf for this stuff. And Howard Wellman! One of those folks who stays very active in AIC but also attends archaeological conferences of all sorts. He had some really practical advice for me about connecting with archaeologists in Alaska at their next conference. He has also been very helpful when I have emailed questions to him, and this year he wrote me a recommendation so I could get grant funding to come to WOAM.
So these folks are primarily English speakers, and certainly there is a wealth of info in the folks for whom English is not the first language, but being new to this conference I was too shy to get face time with everyone. With a finite amount of time to make connections, I started by limiting the variables I needed to process. Language was one, but also my own lack of knowledge about which aspects of the ethics puzzle are the same and which are different in various parts of the world. I didn’t really get a chance to tap into the UK folks very much, although that’s gotta happen because they really understand the contract archaeology thing that is so intense over here in the US, too. Cultural Resource Management driven stuff. I know I am going to kick myself for not putting more effort into cornering Jim Spriggs in particular. I hope I get another chance in 2013, I have a feeling he is a vast reservoir of really important info. Please note, these are just my own observations about the way the world works and opinions about individual personalities. Perfect for the blog format, but keep in perspective that this is just how I am interpreting the limited info I have absorbed. There is so much more to know!!
For a review of all the papers and posters at the 2010 WOAM conference, please see my weblog at http://ellencarrlee.wordpress.comhttp://ellencarrlee.wordpress.com.