nature of the environment, and the acidity/basicity of a site. From these
results an indication of the ongoing chemical and biological processes can be
obtained. To supplement these measurements water samples can be taken
from dipwells and analysed for various chemical species.
Further to monitoring, analogous modern materials can be placed on a site.
The study of their deterioration will serve as a “proxy” indicator of the envi-
ronment, giving an indication of what is presently happening on the site and,
importantly, whether mitigation strategies are working.
Finally, analysis of artefacts themselves should be carried out in order to
assess their state of preservation. By understanding this and determining the
likely pathways of deterioration the stability of a site can be assessed. Passive
or active mitigation strategies can then be implemented (with further moni-
toring) to ensure that sites, or artefacts, preserved in situare protected for the
future.
References and Further Reading
Further references to publications on research into in situpreservation of
archaeological artefacts and sites are available from the authors or from the
following home page: http://www.natmus.dk/sw8878.asp
R. Brunning, D. Hogan, J. Jones, M. Jones, E. Maltby, M. Robinson and
V. Straker, Saving the sweet track, The in situ preservation of a neolithic
wooden trackway, Conserv. Manage. Archaeol. Sites, 2000, 4 , 3–20.
J. Buffle and G. C. Horvai, (eds), In situ Monitoring of Aquatic Systems:
Chemical Analysis and Speciation, Chichester, Wiley, 2001.
C. Caple, Defining a reburial environment: Research problems characterising
waterlogged anoxic environments, Proceedings of the 5th ICOM group on
wet organic archaeological materials conference, Portland, Maine, in
P. Hoffmann (ed.), Bremerhafen: ICOM, 1994, 407–421.
C. Caple and D. Dungworth, Waterlogged anoxic archaeological burial envir-
onments, English Heritage Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report, 1998,
22/98, 1–137.
A. Christine Helms, A. Camillo Martiny, J. Hofman-Bang, B. Ahring and
M. Kilstrup, Identification of bacterial cultures from archaeological wood
using molecular biological techniques, Int. Biodeter. biodegr., 2004, 53 (2),
79–88.(This Journal also contains good information on the biodeteriora-
tion and corrosion of cultural materials.)
M. Corfield, Preventive conservation for archaeological sites, Archaeological
Conservation and its Consequences. Preprints of the Contributions to the
Copenhagen Congress, in A. Roy and P. Smith, (eds), 26–30 August 1996,
London: IIC, 1996, 3237.
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