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.