Conserving 5,000 Years of Artifacts

The conservation of finds is an essential part of any archaeological project and must include the employment of all possible modern conservation techniques. Trenches at Çadır Höyük range from the Late Chalcolithic to Middle Byzantine periods, with a correspondingly wide range of different types of artifacts. In some cases the age of an artifact determines the method needed for its conservation. But factors such as soil chemistry, salinity, humidity, and production technique can require different approaches even to metal of the same age. In addition, techniques change depending on the conservation condition of an artifact, which is not directly or predictably linked to its age. Most challenging are composite artifacts because they require the application of a variety of conversation techniques to a single object.