GORINCHEM – The volunteers of the Gorcum archaeological working group had their hands full yesterday searching for pieces of glass, shards and sticks in the large slurry of mud that came out of the cesspool on the Barracks Square came. With great care all the finds were carefully removed from the muck.
"“It’s like grabbing,” says Martin Veen as he pulls out a small shard of stained glass. His fingers are covered in a thick layer of dirt that slowly dissolves as the objects are cleaned. A volunteer who digs up a so-called ointment jar throws the soil from the object into a large container. The mud is later thrown through a sieve; so that minuscule objects are not lost. All finds are secured immediately after their discovery. Not only do they disappear from the site; they are also temporarily preserved. Wood, leather and glass are stored in water to prevent them from drying out. Other materials must be stored dry.
"But putting wood and leather in water is not enough. Ultimately, this organic material must be preserved without water. Take this wooden lace bobbin for example. It is placed in a bath with methylated spirits. This substance extracts water. The methylated spirits are constantly being refreshed until there is no more water in the methylated spirits. The bobbin is then placed in acetone. Ultimately, it requires further treatment and then it is preserved,” says Veen. “A similar conservation method is freeze-drying the object. This is done with a special machine. Because this technique is quite expensive, there are only a few places in the Netherlands where it can be applied. For example, the Rijksmuseum about such a device. The museum has in the past taken some finds from the Happy Corner in progress. Cleaning and describing the objects takes a lot of time. We will be busy with this for the next six months,” says Veen.
The Dordrecht resident
August 22, 1997
by Anja Broeken