All work involving community artefacts involves work with a diverse variety of materials and with a range of cultural values. Many items used by community to tell stories are extremely fragile and some understanding of materials science is required to increase their longevity and capacity for continued use. Overseas institutions hold many excavated artefacts that are stable and being interpreted for display.

In most instances, offshore archaeological digs are only approved if they have a conservator on site and a conservation plan in place dictating how finds will be treated upon excavation. Unfortunately, in Australia no such requirements exist, and a mindset prevails that “nothing can be done”. We often see items placed on display that are actively deteriorating now that they are removed from the ground and exposed to new environmental conditions.

This webinar will cover an introduction to Archeological conservation and the issues for improving the research value and display and interpretation value of finds and will question if we as professionals are doing enough, and how we can do more in the current budget?

This event will run off Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) and will run for 1 hour. The webinar will be recorded and a link to the webinar will be sent to all registered attendees in the days after the webinar.

Victoria Pearce | Director at Endangered Heritage

Victoria is a senior conservator who operates a conservation laboratory in NSW and Canberra, providing back end support for the heritage sector to get artefacts stabilised for research and display. An Internationally recognised leader in Disaster response planning and remediation, and researcher in mold prevention and response, Victoria brings extensive practical implementation experience to the heritage sector.

Consider joining as a student, associate or full member today! To receive the member rate to the webinar make sure you apply for membership prior to registering. Join here →