ICOM-CC WOAM Conference
The 15th session of the ICOM-CC WOAM conference (Working Group on Underwater Organic Archaeological Materials of the International Council of Museums) was held in Mainz, Germany from 30 January to 3 February 2023.
Anita Jelić, senior conservator-restorer at the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar, participated in the WOAM conference with a lecture on the conservation and new discoveries of ships from the 11th century Condura Croatica, as part of session I: Conservation treatments and case studies
The conference was held at the archaeological research institute Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA). In 2023 the LEIZA Institute celebrates 170 years of successful work, on which occasion new conservation laboratories were opened. The conference program with its wide spanning range and poster presentations aims to reflect current scholarship in the treatment of wet organic archaeological materials on highest standard.
To open the dialog on current conservation issues, the panels range from preventive conservation, “best-practice” case studies, evaluation and assessment up to the sustainability of conservation materials. The ICOM-CC meeting was held in the course of the conference when the benefits of the membership and the lifetime achievement awards in the field of conservation of underwater organic archaeological materials were presented.
Two wooden Condura Croatica boats were found back in 1966 at the very entrance to the port of Nin. A subsequent analysis showed that they date back to the middle of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century, that is, to the ancient Croatian period. In 1974 the boats were taken out of the sea, and then the process of desalination, conservation and restoration followed, as well as the reconstruction of one of the boat, after which both were exhibited in the Museum of Nin Antiquities, Department within the Archaeological Museum of Zadar. Due to the sensitivity of wooden material to the unfavorable microclimatic conditions in which the boats were exposed, very soon after the conservation procedure, degradation changes were noticed on the wooden structure. A comprehensive conservation-restoration procedure was launched in 2016 carried out in the ICUA Zadar restoration workshop with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media.
Additional information can be found at the following link:
https://conference-service.com/ICOM-CC-WOAM2022/access.html
