In following along on our adventures in conservation, you may have learned a new term often heard in the lab: concretion. As described in previous entries, concretions can contain a wealth of artifacts, made of many different materials.
Topics Related to Conservation
The bulk of artifacts recovered from maritime environments, the Queen Anne’s Revenge included, are found in a concreted state, which is a cement like formation over the artifact that must be removed before further treatment can continue.
The Queen Anne's Revenge has been hidden off the coast of North Carolina for almost 300 years. Those years have not been kind, slowly eroding away the organic components of the ship and encasing the metals of the ship in concretion.
Archaeological conservation is the applied science of preserving artifacts.