Mass-conservation of Archaeological Iron Artefacts A Case Study at the National Museum of Iceland

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the possible benefits and consequences of a mass-conservation system at the National Museum of Iceland through a literature review. There have been periods where few or no conservators specialized in archaeological conservation have been working at the museum. This has left the museum with a large amount of both un-conserved artefacts and artefacts in need of re-conservation. This applies to most material categories but this thesis will only look into the condition of iron and its possible massconservation and how the methods would apply in reality. The condition of iron artefacts from one site was evaluated and the information logged into a database. This was then used to gather information regarding the condition of the artefacts in the National Museum of Iceland’s collection. No actual conservation was done, as this is a theoretical thesis. General facts on iron and corrosion products are discussed. Iron conservation methods currently in common use in Northern Europe are reviewed in order to get an overview of which methods are applicable in mass-conservation. The goal of this thesis is to find a method to increase the productivity at the conservation department at the National Museum of Iceland within the limitations of low funding and a lack of conservators in the country. After looking into various treatments of archaeological iron it is recommended in this thesis that only parts of the conservation process in the National Museum of Iceland will be adapted to a mass-conservation setup. That way the process can be sped up and the condition of the artefacts can be evaluated thoroughly.