Welcome to the ECU Maritime Conservation Lab

The Maritime Studies Conservation Laboratory at ECU was founded in 1989 by Dr. Bradley Rodgers. The laboratory is a purpose built conservation facility that has successfully operated in the field of contract and project archaeological conservation for over 20 years. The laboratory offers a wide range of conservation services including the stabilization and preservation of archaeologically recovered artifacts from both terrestrial and underwater projects. The laboratory staff can also provide material fabrication analysis of wood, iron, copper and alloys, miscellaneous metals, ceramics, glass, stone, textiles, and organics other than wood. The laboratory specializes in safe non-toxic conservation methods using minimal intervention procedures in order to achieve artifact stabilization while leaving artifacts safe to handle. These services include:

Stabilization of archaeological materials for curation or long-term storage.
Packaging, dehydration, and pH protection of artifacts for long-term storage.
Chloride removal, cleaning, dehydration, and protective coating of metals.
Micro excavation, with wear and manufacture analysis of specified artifacts.
Reversible and environmentally ethical conservation procedures.

Announcements

Faculty and students are presenting the work done in Africa at the Society for Historical Archaeology conference in Austin, Texas Jan 4-8.
The new Joyner Library Conservation Resources Guide is available. Check it out now!
ECU has completed analysis on a rare painting of Queen Elizabeth I. See our Research page for more information!
Find out some of the conservation activities that students and faculty performed in 2010 in Stem to Stern.
The ICOM-Wet Organic Archaeological Materials (WOAM) conference was held at ECU in conjunction with the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) and Colonial Williamsburg in May 2010. For a summary of the conference, see Ellen Carrlee's conservation blog.