{"id":628,"date":"2011-06-09T04:42:15","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T09:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=628"},"modified":"2011-06-09T04:42:15","modified_gmt":"2011-06-09T09:42:15","slug":"39th-annual-meeting-osg-june1-grieve-avocational-conservators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2011\/06\/09\/39th-annual-meeting-osg-june1-grieve-avocational-conservators\/","title":{"rendered":"39th Annual Meeting – Objects Session, June 1st, “Archaeologists and Avocational Conservators: Compromising Principles or Increasing Awareness?” by Susanne Grieve"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, a portion of the OSG sessions focused on archaeological conservation and the ethics and issues surrounding the conservation of these materials.\u00a0 The paper presented by Susanne Grieve focused on avocational conservators and how much information do we give to non-conservators who are practicing conservation, something that was touched upon in the panel discussion organized by the Archaeological Discussion Group of the OSG on ethical issues in archaeological field conversation<\/a> held earlier that day.
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\nAvocational conservators were described as members of the general public who undertake conservation treatments as a hobby or out of interest for preserving something.\u00a0 They have no formal training in conservation.\u00a0 In her presentation, Susanne talked about working with a group of avocational conservators in Namibia who help preserve maritime sites and artifacts in the country. \u00a0The group is made up of members of the the Windhoek Underwater Club\u2019s<\/a> (WUC) Maritime Archaeology Division who come from varied background with no formal training in archaeology or conservation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Susanne brought up some interesting questions and issues as she talked about her experiences working with the WUC. \u00a0Conservators have worked for 39 years to make conservation a profession. \u00a0We have formalized training, a code of ethics and protocols and standards that form the basis of the profession. \u00a0Her questions in regards to the conservation profession and avocational conservators is: Do we work with these groups? How much training do we give them? And do we compromise our profession by working with or training these people?
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\nIn regards to the situation in Namibia, there is only 1 conservator responsible for all the cultural material there. \u00a0This means that there is not enough staff and resources to get everything done. \u00a0The avocational conservators do the work they do because it is very important to them that this part of Nambian culture and history be preserved and they have an interest and passion in doing so. \u00a0And I’m sure they feel that because of the limited resources there, they can help fill that need.
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\nSusanne\u2019s work with the WUC involved working with them on the excavation of a mining camp site and the conservation of material found there. \u00a0The club felt the site was important for them to preserve because the government was not interested in preserving it. \u00a0The camp site was from a German mining operation and places like these are not preserved because it is a part of Namibia\u2019s past people want to forget. \u00a0Susanne worked on site with them and taught them about excavation and lifting techniques. They then took artifacts back to the lab where she taught them some basic methods for preserving books and ledgers collected from the site. \u00a0She also looked at some previously treated artifacts that had been conserved using outdated methods and \u00a0shared information on other approaches.\u00a0 Before leaving she left some conservation materials with the group.
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\nSusanne\u2019s paper touched upon issues that many conservators deal with when having to work with non-conservators in resource poor institutions. \u00a0These kinds of questions often come up in working with archaeologists as well. \u00a0In the case of the conservation of maritime sites and artifacts in Namibia, it seems that the WUC are the only group at the moment who can preserve this material. \u00a0The infrastructure and resources don\u2019t seem to exist to allow for conservation professionals to do this kind of work.\u00a0 There is too much to preserve and not enough trained people to do it.\u00a0 So does that mean that we, as conservators, don\u2019t do anything because working with avocational conservators would compromise our profession?\u00a0 It doesn’t seem like these questions could be easily answered, but this talk does bring up important questions that as a profession should be discussed because many of us have to deal with issues such as these.
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\nSusanne summed up her talk with what I think is a good approach to these questions and something as an archaeological conservator, I agree with. \u00a0She felt that the answer to the questions she posed should be considered on a case by case basis. \u00a0If the person you may be working with is interested in selling artifacts, then you shouldn’t share your knowledge. \u00a0However if the purpose is to educate people, especially in countries with no resources or professionals, then perhaps we should share our knowledge and skills. \u00a0In regards to working with archaeologists, it is important for them to see archaeological conservation as a profession.\u00a0 They need to value the knowledge and skills we can contribute. \u00a0Susanne\u2019s suggestion is to continue to work with archaeologists so that this type of thinking starts to change. \u00a0And I couldn\u2019t agree more with this idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, a portion of the OSG sessions focused on archaeological conservation and the ethics and issues surrounding the conservation of these materials.\u00a0 The paper presented by Susanne Grieve focused on avocational conservators and how much information do we give to non-conservators who are practicing conservation, something that was touched upon in the panel discussion … Continue reading “39th Annual Meeting – Objects Session, June 1st, “Archaeologists and Avocational Conservators: Compromising Principles or Increasing Awareness?” by Susanne Grieve”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,32,16],"tags":[70,164],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-objects","category-specialty-sessions","tag-aics-39th-annual-meeting","tag-avocational-conservators"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}