Why Is It Important?

Maritime archaeology is not new to me, but for all of this year the knowledge that I have is just like the tip of an iceberg. What makes me interested in this field is actually nothing else but condition of Maritime archaeology in Indonesia. As we know, Indonesia consists of thousands of island and already in the game of sea trading since the beginning of the century. Yet in our nation the awareness for exploring and protecting Maritime Heritage is still in minimal efforts. Do we need to loss our maritime heritage one by one?

Luckily, for more than a decades later the interest of Maritime Archaeology started to grow again. Some universities in Indonesia facilitate their students who wants to take a specialisation in Maritime Archaeology. Also a numbers of archaeological research centers tried to accomodate their researcher of maritime archaeology to get training for underwater research in order to conducting research in this field.

Within the increase of research in maritime archaeology, giving a proper and correct treatment for underwater archaeological remains is a must. The conservation that needed is a continuous action, on-site, at the storage and for display. At this program i also learned about the alternative of conservation that related to the availability of storage, funding and the effectivity in the form of site reburial which is actually an on-site conservation. As a research assistant that mainly dealing with artefact treatment, this course is giving me knowledge and experience that absolutely useful in my work. So, once again i would like to say thank you to the MaP Fund for giving me a chance to participate on Conservation Practicum at Flinders University.

     With Mark Staniforth and Ashar Murdihastomo at the very first day in Adelaide (Taken by Paddy O'Toole)

                                                   Posing after practicum

                                 Full team Conservation Practicum 2019 with Vicki Richards and Jon Carpenter

Practicum at Port Willunga and Data Interpretation (September, 26 & 27)

After finished the series of lectures for 3 days, on forth day the practicum of on-site conservation survey was performed at Port Willunga Southern Jetty. To be honest at first this practicum was making me nervous and excited at the same time, but on this activity the practice of what we learn from class become real and reasonable.

Port Willunga Southern Jetty is one of the jetty on Port Willunga, other than the  northern one. Numbers of pylons are still visible from this site and become and iconic view of Port Willunga itself. On the practicum, a number of action in purpose of survey for on-site conservation were completed. 

On the next day, we discuss and gather the data for interpretation and preparing the final reports.

       Measuring the site as a basic to make a site plan (photo by Wendy Van Duivenvoorde)

               Preparation for measuring seawater condition (photo by Wendy Van Duivenvoorde)

                  Taking sediment for observation (photo by Wendy Van Duivenvoorde)

"If It's Wet, Keep It Wet"

The Third Day (September, 25)

At the third day, personally the topic is more challenging, because this is the first time for me knowing the methods of on-site conservation survey. Basically at class we talk about the preparation for the next day, where we will do on-site conservation survey data. All the gear and equipment is new to me and actually broaden my perspectives in underwater conservation.

The demonstration of measuring pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, redox, and temperature of the water per depth by Vicki Richards. (taken by Jon Carpenter)

How to use the pylodin for knowing the density of wood (taken by Jon Carpenter) 

Some equipment are certainly not cheap, like the one for measuring water condition (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen content water, pH, redox potential and the depth). On the other hand, some equipment can be modified, like the one for drilling the concretion, the depth of the concretion, the measuring gear of pH and redox of the sediment. This makes me realize that of course conservation of underwater remains can be very high at cost, but it’s possible with some arrangement on how we allocate the fund. If we use this concept, this will also be applicable in my home country.

                                                   Full team (taken by Jon Carpenter)

The Second Day (September, 24)

In the second day, the lectures is more like the nature, recovery and conservation techniques of metals material (ferrous and non-ferrous) of underwater archaeological objects. This kind of materials also can be found in Indonesia, especially from the remains of WW II. The treatment for small but significant finds from metals material that had been thought here is greatly applicable and helpful, especially for deciding the right treatment for a numbers of Indonesian archaeological objects that came from WW II remains.

One of many other things that i appreciate from this program is not only on-site conservation on underwater, but also the terrestrial one of maritime archaeology research. In my opinion this is make sense, because sometimes in some cases the shore line now is more in inland area and direction, so the chance of finding archaeological remains from a boat or ship in an area before the shore line could be understood. The other interesting example but in different context that given is the survivor sites of Zuytdorp (1712) wrecked.

The First Day (September, 23)

Hi, everyone!

My name is Rizka, I'm from Indonesia and currently working as a research assistant at Balai Arkeologi Yogyakarta. I’am one of the successfull applicant of MaP Fund Practicum Grants to attend the Concervation Practicum Class at Flinders University. 

Class situation 

           With Dr. Wendy Van Duivenvoorde, the Coordinator of this Conservation Practicum Program

I have to admit that at first I feel shocked by the time I came to Flinders University, the atmosphere and the surroundings are designed specificallly for studying and it’s really exciting. 

At the day one of Conservation Practicum we mainly discussed on 5 topics that lectured by Vicki Richards and Jon Carpenter, both from Western Australian Museum.

The first topic is introduction and then followed by The Underwater Environmental Processes. This lecture is mainly about the basic of what is really happen on the underwater environment. So when it comes to conservation of the underwater archaeological objects, we know what to do, because each components of marine environment that surround the objects and the objects material itself  are the key to perform a mitigation from in-situ to the storage and display.

The next topic is Deterioration and Conservation of Ceramic, Glass and Stone. In my personal opinion, this topic makes me realized what have been wrong in my perception of ceramic conservation from underwater.

The last topic is Deterioration and First Aid For Organic Materials. The major organic materials in the underwater finds is wood which is in some cases become the material of the ship/boat itself. There are lots of fact that i know from this topic, but the most  interesting thing is the vasa, a ship from Swedish that now being exposed and displayed on the museum. The museum is built around the vasa, so actually the ship is not moved.  But then, the reality of conserving and displaying an underwater archaeological objects that significant, is that it requires excellent strategies and high cost of funding.

Overall, the first day of this course gives me pictures about what is a conservation of underwater archaeological objects is really about. It’s really open my eyes about what we have to do for conservation from in-situ to display. Because conservation is not only when it takes from the underwater, but it goes forever until the storage and maybe display. And the difference of treatment regarding the condition, the original environment, objects material and the location of conservation (in-situ, storage, display) are the main point that always have to be underlined.