WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.760 [Mark Losavio] Good afternoon everybody. Welcome  to the Submerged NC webinar series, The Science   00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:11.440 of Conservation. My name is Mark Losavio, and I'm  the media and outreach coordinator for the Monitor   00:00:11.440 --> 00:00:16.880 National Marine Sanctuary, and I will be your host  today. Joining me as my co-host is Shannon Ricles,   00:00:16.880 --> 00:00:21.840 the education and outreach coordinator for the  Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. This webinar   00:00:21.840 --> 00:00:26.240 is brought to you by NOAA's Monitor National  Marine Sanctuary in collaboration with the North   00:00:26.240 --> 00:00:33.200 Carolina Office of State Archaeology. Partnering  since 1975, NOAA and the state of North Carolina   00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:38.480 work to research, honor, and protect the hallmarks  of North Carolina's underwater cultural heritage   00:00:38.480 --> 00:00:43.040 -shipwrecks. These shipwrecks hold information  about the ever-changing technological cultural   00:00:43.040 --> 00:00:48.640 and physical landscapes of our nation. They  serve as a uniquely accessible underwater museum   00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:53.760 and a memorial to generations of mariners who  lived, died, worked, and fought off our shores.   00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.040 This is one of many webinars that we will be  hosting in the coming months for the Submerged   00:00:59.040 --> 00:01:03.760 NC webinar series in collaboration with the  North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.   00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:09.440 Monitor is just one of 14 national  marine sanctuaries and two national   00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.760 marine national monuments in the  National Marine Sanctuary System.   00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:18.640 This system encompasses more than 600 000  square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters   00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:22.880 from Washington State to the Florida Keys and  from Lake Huron all the way to American Samoa.   00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:28.720 During this presentation, all attendees will be  in listen only mode. You are welcome to type any   00:01:28.720 --> 00:01:33.040 questions for the presenters into the question  box at the bottom of the control panel on the   00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:37.760 right-hand side of your screen. This is the same  area that you can let us know about any technical   00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:42.560 issues that you may be having that we can help  with. We'll be monitoring incoming questions and   00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:47.840 any technical issues, and we will try to respond  to them as soon as we can. We are recording   00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:52.080 this session, and we'll share the recording  with registered participants via the webinar   00:01:52.080 --> 00:01:58.640 archive page. Our URL for this webpage will be  provided at the end of this presentation. Today,   00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:03.440 we welcome our presenter Kimberly Kenyon, senior  conservator for the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck   00:02:03.440 --> 00:02:09.200 Project from North Carolina Office of State  Archaeology. So let's sit back and relax as Ms.   00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:21.840 Kenyon literally takes us into her lab to learn  how she and her team work to preserve our history. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:31.200 [Kimberly Kenyon]   00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:34.800 [Kimberly Kenyon] Okay. Thank you so much. Are you  seeing me okay? 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:41.280 [Mark Losavio] Yes, coming through perfect. [Kimberly  Kenyon] Wonderful. Thank you again. So as   00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.600 Mark mentioned my name is Kimberly Kenyon. I'm the  senior conservator for the Queen Anne's Revenge   00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:52.560 Conservation Lab for the Greater Shipwreck  Project. So I just wanted to thank NOAA for   00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.560 giving me the opportunity to participate in this  webinar and to share a little bit about what I do   00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.480 day-to-day in the conservation world.  Conservation can be quite a mysterious   00:03:02.480 --> 00:03:08.400 process that often happens behind the scenes  in a lab setting. And it can happen across   00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:13.200 a lot of different disciplines. You hear of  conservators who specialize in book and paper,   00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:20.880 those who specialize in materials produced  on films, so cinema and photographs. What   00:03:20.880 --> 00:03:26.480 I have chosen to focus my career on, however,  is archaeological conservation. So the act of   00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:33.440 preserving objects raised from archaeological  excavations, whether on land or from the sea,   00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.640 working toward preparing them for  exhibit. And so that, you know,   00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:44.080 more people can learn about them and share  in this cultural heritage. So today I'll   00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:50.640 be focusing primarily on objects that are  having been raised from a marine environment.   00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:55.760 Conservation is very critical to archaeology  regardless of the environment they're coming from,   00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:01.040 but since we are part of this Submerged NC  webinar series, that will be my focus for today. 00:04:05.600 --> 00:04:11.120 I do get the occasional chance to teach  conservation in a classroom setting, and when I'm   00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:15.280 teaching students, I like to kind of start with  this quote because it really sums up all of the   00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:19.840 different personality traits that are critical to  being a conservative, being good at what you do,   00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:27.120 Not only the knowledge of different  environments and how they impact the preservation   00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:31.840 of artifacts, but also the knowledge of how  to apply certain techniques or chemicals   00:04:31.840 --> 00:04:37.920 toward preserving an object. But the foresight to  know how these things will impact them   00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:44.080 for their existence, for their lifetime. And of  course, dexterity. We use our hands quite a lot.  00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:51.600 And we also tend to, as conservatives speaking  very generally, have a good sense of artistry   00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:57.520 for shape, for form, for color. But first  and foremost, I always say that it really   00:04:57.520 --> 00:05:04.800 takes a very patient personality to be a good  conservator. This work that we do may take years   00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:10.320 to see the results from. And to really finally  be able to be appreciated when it's on display.   00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:16.560 And that is that is the nature of this field.  So you really have to have an appreciation for   00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:21.520 the scale of time it takes and just to be  a patient person, you know and be able   00:05:21.520 --> 00:05:25.520 to make those decisions that are that will  be best suited for any individual object. 00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:36.880 We exist by a set of principles that help us  make effective decisions and these are adapted   00:05:36.880 --> 00:05:42.160 through a number of different conservation  entities and governing bodies internationally.   00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:47.360 But first and foremost, we as conservators  have a respect for the integrity of the object.   00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:54.400 Objects exist as a form of a historic  document in themselves. They can reveal a lot   00:05:54.400 --> 00:06:00.880 about what people did day-to-day, how they used  a certain object, and they can hold evidence   00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:05.840 of those different activities,  residues from food for example. So   00:06:06.640 --> 00:06:12.000 we want to work our best and our hardest to make  sure that anything we're doing is respectful   00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:16.320 of that information that we can later gather  from the object and won't interfere with it.   00:06:17.760 --> 00:06:24.960 We also try to be constantly aware of our own  competence and facilities and how we're limited.   00:06:24.960 --> 00:06:28.400 For example, I, myself as an  archaeological conservator,   00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:33.840 have not been trained in paper conservation and  wouldn't feel comfortable taking something like   00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:41.840 that on. So we collaborate quite a lot across  different fields to accomplish a better goal.   00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:48.880 Every object should be treated to the same  standard. A single object is not more significant   00:06:48.880 --> 00:06:54.720 or more important than another. And so you don't  make decisions based on, you know, the fact that   00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:00.080 you may have an abundance of this type of object.  We never treat something as if it is disposable.   00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:05.200 They are all unique, and they can all offer  something that we can learn from them.   00:07:06.640 --> 00:07:12.240 We keep in mind every treatment option,  as we weigh these different things, and   00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:16.960 make sure that a treatment is suitable  for a certain object. Things that are   00:07:16.960 --> 00:07:21.040 more fragile than others may not be able  to withstand a more rigorous treatment.   00:07:21.760 --> 00:07:27.440 So that is a decision-making skill, and in  judgment that we learn along the way as well.  00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:33.920 The concept of reversibility plays  heavily into how we decide to treat an   00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:41.360 artifact. And this concept has been kind of widely  debated in conservation in general. Because it's   00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:46.560 not always possible to fully reverse a treatment.  But the concept is that, you know, anything   00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:52.960 that we apply to an artifact, a chemical or a  process, should, in theory, not interfere with   00:07:53.920 --> 00:08:01.200 the integrity of the object going back to point  one. So if you can reverse or remove that chemical   00:08:01.200 --> 00:08:06.240 or, you know, whatever you have done to it, you're  not then eliminating the possibility for further   00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:11.840 study later on. So 20 years from now there may  be a technology that we don't have available now.   00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:17.440 And if whatever we have done to it is reversible,  then we will be able to get back down to the   00:08:17.440 --> 00:08:22.320 original fabric of the object to then apply this  new science somehow in further understanding   00:08:23.840 --> 00:08:31.600 our knowledge of the past. We also try to  limit any aesthetic reintegration. So this idea   00:08:33.920 --> 00:08:40.160 is founded in this notion that we are not  trying to make an artifact new again. We   00:08:40.160 --> 00:08:45.840 are not trying to make it look and behave as  exactly as it did when it was first produced.   00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:50.480 So anything that we do to it, we don't want  to create something that was never there. And   00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:55.440 we don't want to make it look new. We are merely  trying to stabilize it in its present condition,   00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:00.400 so that you're not fooling anyone  into thinking that it didn't undergo   00:09:00.400 --> 00:09:03.600 all of these physical and chemical  degradation process that it has been. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.800 It is critical that we, as professional  conservators, keep up-to-date on current   00:09:10.800 --> 00:09:16.000 research. There's a lot of of new technology  that seems to be developing every year, and   00:09:16.800 --> 00:09:21.520 we make sure that we are well versed  in new techniques and understanding why   00:09:21.520 --> 00:09:27.440 old techniques may not be suitable any longer.  Old chemicals may degrade and become unstable.   00:09:28.400 --> 00:09:36.160 Artifacts may need to be retreated. So it's just  a critical part of that career path. And then   00:09:36.160 --> 00:09:42.320 finally, we take very seriously the training  of students and fellow staff members, what we   00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:48.960 call auxiliary personnel. Basically in taking  responsibility for someone else's knowledge,   00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.400 you would never kind of give someone,  you know, a set of directions and say go   00:09:54.400 --> 00:10:00.000 do this. You want to make sure that you, as a  professional, are directly overseeing someone,   00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:05.920 so that they can work within the confines of their  competence. And then slowly build their skill as   00:10:05.920 --> 00:10:09.920 well. So it's just the notion that you're taking  responsibility for passing on that knowledge   00:10:10.880 --> 00:10:14.880 And we would never kind of advocate for someone  doing something outside of their own scope.   00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.200 So again, these are the basic  kind of ruling principles that   00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:22.960 we all try to live by when we're making  effective decisions for a collection. 00:10:27.760 --> 00:10:34.080 Now conservation comes into play pretty much  as soon as an archaeological excavation is   00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:40.400 dreamed of. So it should be planned for in  the very early stages of planning excavation.   00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:44.880 Archaeology doesn't just stop in  the field. It doesn't stop when you   00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:49.760 you dig a trench and you raise all of these  neat things. Archaeology continues for many,   00:10:49.760 --> 00:10:54.400 many years, because there again, there's so much  information that can be learned from artifacts.   00:10:55.520 --> 00:11:00.000 And conservation plays a critical role  in preserving that data in whatever   00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:08.000 form that it's in. So conservation should be part  of those early conversations in planning to remove   00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:13.200 anything from its burial environment. There's  a lot of collaboration that needs to take   00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:17.280 place from the archaeological team, to the  conservation team, and all the way through to   00:11:17.280 --> 00:11:22.480 a team who is responsible for ultimate  curation or storage or exhibit of a collection.   00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:30.560 This is again important because not only are you  doing the best that you can for the objects and   00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:36.320 in advocating for their long-term care,  but this also includes a tremendous cost.   00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:41.840 So archaeology again can be a very expensive  venture, especially when you're dealing with   00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:46.880 marine sites that need a lot of logistical  planning. But the real cost of an excavation   00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:52.960 comes along long after that for many years to  come in the cost of conservation and the cost of   00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:58.160 where are you going to keep all of these things  once you have them excavated. It's an important   00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:03.200 part of of archaeology and should be in place  kind of from the beginning of the excavation. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.040 Once we get into the lab, and you know,  once we have everything excavated,   00:12:11.040 --> 00:12:16.400 we've collaborated with our field team.  They're kind of guiding ideas that we try to   00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:25.360 help us make good decisions as conservators. So  much like people in the medical field, we first   00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:32.160 we must do no harm. We must not apply anything  to an artifact that may continue to degrade it   00:12:32.160 --> 00:12:40.240 or contribute to its detriment. Priorities have  to be established. In many of the collections   00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:45.200 and labs I've worked with through my career, the  collections have been tremendous. And we've had   00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:50.240 this is true of us here at the Queen Anne's Revenge  Lab as well. We have a very small staff,   00:12:51.520 --> 00:12:56.720 so you have to take the time to sit and assess  the needs of the collection in order to drive   00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:01.120 priorities for conservation. So whereas, we,  you know, we obviously don't want to treat one   00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:07.520 artifact as it's more important than another,  but there will be times when you have to make   00:13:07.520 --> 00:13:14.800 those decisions, as to what artifacts are at the  most risk for loss or what objects can offer data   00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:22.080 that we didn't have before. Those will generally  be prioritized for conservation. As we work through   00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:28.080 the collection here, we often communicate  with the archaeological team, and as well   00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:33.840 as the museum team, to ensure that their needs are  being met as well. So that constant communication,   00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:38.400 you know, what is planned for an exhibit, what  is planned for study, or what would you like to   00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:42.640 learn from this collection. Those will all  play into conservation decisions as well. 00:13:45.520 --> 00:13:52.640 Minimal intervention is a key to this in as much  as we can practice it. As we'll get into the   00:13:52.640 --> 00:13:58.000 different material types, but a lot of artifacts  from marine environments suffer tremendous   00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:05.920 factors in degradation. So minimal intervention  is a great concept, but it may not always be   00:14:05.920 --> 00:14:09.840 possible. But the idea is there, that you  don't want to do something that is untoward   00:14:10.880 --> 00:14:14.800 when looking at a certain object. So  keeping in mind there are a lot of   00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:21.040 different ways to approach the same object. And  no conservator will have the same toolkit at their   00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:28.320 disposal, or you know, different ideas for the  same object. But that's what again makes you a   00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:33.440 really good skilled conservator is understanding  what's good for this iron object, may not be good   00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:39.360 for this almost identical iron object over  here. So having different ideas at hand.   00:14:40.160 --> 00:14:44.560 Reversibility comes into play again during  these critical decision-making processes   00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:53.120 to ensure that nothing that we do will impact  its health long-term or the ability to extract   00:14:53.120 --> 00:15:00.640 information and scientific data from that artifact  later on. Documentation is important every step of the way.   00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:07.120 In science, and we we do consider this a  science, if you didn't write it down, it didn't   00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:14.880 happen. So documentation is part of the entire  process and it begins in the field. We receive   00:15:15.520 --> 00:15:22.800 data about every object from the field. Usually  that will include not only where it came from, but   00:15:22.800 --> 00:15:28.160 a photographic record of the object as well to  show it's current state. And as we are actively   00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:33.680 conserving things in the lab, I will photograph  them at different stages to continue to show how   00:15:33.680 --> 00:15:38.880 they're changing, how they're related to other  artifacts if we're having to dismantle things,   00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:45.280 and again, just a record of its current  state. And we keep very detailed records   00:15:45.280 --> 00:15:50.720 of all of these conservation treatments that we  perform just in case again, 20 years from now   00:15:52.640 --> 00:15:57.040 a conservator, you know, long after any of us  retire, decides that something that we did may   00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:02.640 no longer be good for the object, and they can  then make critical decisions toward extracting   00:16:02.640 --> 00:16:10.240 it or reversing it. And again, collaboration  is critical at every stage. We continue to   00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:17.200 communicate with the field team, and then on to  the museum, so that the collection has all of its   00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:21.840 best interests at heart from start to finish.  And we can make those good decisions for it. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.080 So archaeological sites from marine  environments have, you know, we see   00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:36.640 a huge array of different materials. A lot of  different metals, a lot of different organics.   00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:42.800 But today I'm just going to focus on two of  the main types of materials that we discover,   00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:50.720 that we kind of hope to discover from any marine  environment. The first of those is wood. Organic   00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:57.200 matter is, you know, as part of all of our  lives. But for shipwreck sites, you know, we, as   00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:02.480 underwater archaeologists, always hope to find a  ship that's kind of the dream of every excavation.   00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:10.400 And the preservation of those ships, it  varies extremely from site to site. So whereas   00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:17.600 one site may have excellent preservation, another  may not. So the wreck that you're looking at here   00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:23.920 is the hull of La Belle, LaSalle's ship that sank  off the coast of Texas in the late 17th century.   00:17:25.600 --> 00:17:30.560 And they had an excellent amount of the  ship pretty well preserved thanks to the   00:17:30.560 --> 00:17:36.800 conditions there in Matagorda Bay. It was in  an anaerobic environment and didn't really   00:17:36.800 --> 00:17:41.600 budge too much in those 300 years that it was  buried. On the other end of that spectrum,   00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:45.840 we have Queen Anne's Revenge that has not  survived really at all. We have very little hull   00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:50.880 because of the environment that it was buried  in in Beaufort Inlet. It's a very active   00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:56.080 environment that worked to break down a lot of  that organic matter that you would hope to find.   00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:02.240 The ship structure itself offers a lot of  information about where it was built, when   00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:08.480 it was built, who used it, and what its purpose  was. And so, you know, we all again, we all kind   00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:15.600 of dream of having this level of preservation.  So this is again is La Belle. The first steps   00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:22.400 in conserving something of this scale is, you  know, obviously I've spoken about collaboration,   00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:27.760 but a tremendous amount of planning had to  go into recovery on this scale. And that's   00:18:27.760 --> 00:18:32.720 why it's so important in the early stages of  archaeology to think about conservation as well.   00:18:33.840 --> 00:18:39.680 So once La Belle was recovered, it was placed into  a custom-built tank that was large enough to hold   00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:48.080 it. During these first few years of treatment,  the first critical steps of conserving wood is   00:18:48.080 --> 00:18:53.600 to desalinate it, to remove all of the salt from  the timbers. That happens through many years of   00:18:53.600 --> 00:19:00.800 soaking in fresh water. And hopefully, getting  to as close to zero parts really as possible.   00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:07.280 The next stage is not just letting it dry  out. And this is a theme that you'll hear   00:19:07.280 --> 00:19:13.520 across marine archaeology, is that if you don't  remove the salt, and if you let things dry out,   00:19:13.520 --> 00:19:17.920 that can be extremely detrimental to an object.  So something as large and robust as this hull you   00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:23.840 see here, or something like a cannon, would  crumble and decay upon drying out. So,   00:19:25.520 --> 00:19:30.080 you know, this is why again conservation is so  critical, particularly to maritime archaeology.   00:19:30.080 --> 00:19:35.280 Because just the act of raising something and  not having a plan in place for conservation   00:19:36.080 --> 00:19:43.760 is almost guarantees the destruction of the  objects. So in the case of La Belle here, once the   00:19:43.760 --> 00:19:49.920 the hull remains were desalinated. Typically,  with wood and especially with ships on this scale,   00:19:50.560 --> 00:19:58.000 they go through a process called impregnation  or bulking. The most common material used for   00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:03.040 that is a substance called polyethylene glycol.  It will use different molecular weights of that   00:20:03.040 --> 00:20:08.480 to penetrate the wood that is better preserved in  some areas and not as well preserved in others.   00:20:09.120 --> 00:20:15.920 So what this chemical does is to serve to  re-strengthen the cell walls of the wood   00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:22.560 before it's allowed to dry out. Because these  timbers have been waterlogged for so long,   00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:28.160 if the water was then just allowed to evaporate  off on its own, there would be nothing to support   00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:34.320 the internal cells of the wood. So it's  particularly significant to be able to   00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:39.120 re-impregnate it with something that will  strengthen it, and make sure that once it's dry,   00:20:39.120 --> 00:20:44.400 you don't again have that loss of data of the  original dimensions of the timbers. And then,   00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:50.080 you know, total destruction of the hull in some  cases. So this process can take many, many,   00:20:50.080 --> 00:20:56.400 many years depending on the scale of the objects  you have. La Belle was excavated in the 90s and   00:20:57.120 --> 00:21:02.640 it only now just went on display recently in  Austin, Texas, so it was about a 20-year process. 00:21:07.280 --> 00:21:10.240 Now following impregnation with peg,   00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:16.800 then we can start to plan for drying and for  safe storage, and for a safe safe exhibit.   00:21:18.320 --> 00:21:26.000 A lot of labs will make use of freeze dryers to  dry wooden objects. And this will again depend on   00:21:26.800 --> 00:21:31.280 the scale of the artifacts you're treating and  the capabilities of the lab. We only have a small   00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:37.040 freeze dryer here. At Texas A&M, where the La  Belle was treated, at the conservation lab there,   00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:42.000 they have kind of a custom-built huge walk-in  freeze dryer. So all these timbers were able   00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:49.680 to fit, which was great. That's probably the best,  most preferable way now that wood is conserved and   00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:57.440 then dried. Basically, skips from the water in the  wood that's remaining, skips from a liquid phase   00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:05.360 straight to a gas phase, eliminating the pressures  that can be exerted once it reaches a solid state   00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:12.720 as frozen ice. So a lot of labs may or may  not have something this large. We certainly don't,   00:22:13.360 --> 00:22:17.200 but again, just plays into what's  available to you, what you can accomplish,   00:22:18.080 --> 00:22:20.640 and what you may have to collaborate  with other labs to achieve. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:29.520 So then, we'll look at the  other most, probably most common   00:22:29.520 --> 00:22:36.400 material type found on a lot of wrecks, and that  is iron. Iron, particularly in this period we're   00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:42.480 dealing with in the historic period, is abundant  on marine sites. We find a lot of cannons. We,   00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:49.040 you know, ships are held together with large  iron fasteners. We find a lot of ammunition.   00:22:50.080 --> 00:22:53.840 So it is an abundant material type,  whether it's cast iron or wrought iron. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.240 And iron is a fascinating material to work with   00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:06.640 because you never know what you're going to find  inside that. Iron, as it is deposited in a salty   00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:12.080 marine environment, it will start to develop this  incrustation on the outside called concretion.   00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:16.800 It's very similar to concrete and has a very  similar kind of density. It's an aggregate,   00:23:17.840 --> 00:23:23.120 but this process is driven by iron  corroding. Now, when we find these,   00:23:25.120 --> 00:23:31.040 and again the development of concretion  will vary from site to site depending on   00:23:31.040 --> 00:23:37.520 specific environmental factors, but  concretion can get very, very thick.   00:23:37.520 --> 00:23:44.240 And so it can completely obscure whatever objects  it contains. We know working on our site that   00:23:45.120 --> 00:23:51.280 there's nothing naturally occurring on  our wreck that looks like this. So when   00:23:51.280 --> 00:23:56.480 we stumble across something like this, we know  that it must be man-made and we'll recover it. 00:23:58.560 --> 00:24:05.760 So once we are able to recover anything like this,  the next step is then to start assessing that for   00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:08.960 what it contains. And you can see,  you know, from this object here,   00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:13.520 a lot of these can be just amorphous blobs.  And you really don't know what's going on in   00:24:13.520 --> 00:24:18.720 them until you can get them back to the lab  to be x-rayed. So x-ray is an important tool   00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:24.640 because not only does it allow you to penetrate  this dense concretion and see what's inside,   00:24:25.520 --> 00:24:31.280 but that's really the first document that we have  of what may be in there. And it helps us guide   00:24:31.280 --> 00:24:37.840 our decision-making process in the conservation  lab. It's the first glimpse that we get at what   00:24:37.840 --> 00:24:44.960 these concretions may contain. But it also  helps guide our priorities and helps us to start   00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:50.400 making decisions as to how to progress any  specific artifacts that are located in it.   00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:56.400 Different materials will have different visual  signatures. So you may be able to tell cast   00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:01.280 iron from wrought iron and certainly wood  if it shows up. A lot of materials, however,   00:25:01.280 --> 00:25:06.640 will not be visible. So we find a lot of  glass and organic matter embedded in these   00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:12.240 that may not have survived otherwise.  But, you know, if we're careful enough,   00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:16.800 we can extract them and then have even more  than we started with, that we bargained for. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.360 The next stage in iron conservation is to then  start removing all of that encrustation. And   00:25:25.360 --> 00:25:31.600 this is done using a number of different tools.  Whether dental picks or hammers and chisels.   00:25:32.560 --> 00:25:39.440 We tend to use an air scribe. So this is the  cluster of folks working at left from the   00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:46.080 Texas A&M conservation lab using pneumatic chisels.  So these are basically tiny little jackhammers   00:25:46.080 --> 00:25:51.760 that pulverize the concretion down to a dust.  It allows us a really fine amount of control   00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:57.600 and ensures that those things that we didn't  know were there, like glass or organics that   00:25:57.600 --> 00:26:04.880 I mentioned previously, won't be damaged in the  process. So it is a very time consuming process.   00:26:06.320 --> 00:26:10.000 You can get, you know, a lot done in a day  or you can get very little in a day. And a   00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.960 concretion may contain 100 objects or may contain  one object. But the air scribe again helps us   00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:23.840 maintain that caution and care and control that we  can exercise towards the object's best interest.   00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:30.480 And this was one such complex project,  again from Texas A&M's conservation lab.   00:26:31.280 --> 00:26:36.400 This is a chest of tools from the Brother  Jonathan shipwreck. And you can see just   00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:41.840 how much detail can be preserved by that  surrounding encrustation. And how much   00:26:42.800 --> 00:26:49.440 you can learn if you, you know, have the time  to exercise caution. And what can be preserved   00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:55.680 in that. So I thought this was a great cluster and  perfectly representative of what some concretions   00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:01.520 may contain. And why it takes us so long to get into them and to be as careful as we can. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:11.200 Now once we dismantle everything, we'll get down  to the iron. Then it's time to treat the iron.   00:27:11.760 --> 00:27:17.600 So ideally, we'll have a really robust artifact  by the end of the deconcretion process, or using   00:27:17.600 --> 00:27:23.520 our different tools to get all the encrustation  off. Then comes kind of the the lengthy part,   00:27:23.520 --> 00:27:29.520 the hands-off part, where you let the artifact  kind of do its thing. So this process that you   00:27:29.520 --> 00:27:34.400 see here is called electrolytic reduction. This  is one of many different ways in which iron   00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:40.800 can be treated. So it's not the only way, but  it's a common tool that we use here at our lab.   00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:47.920 Electrolytic reduction involves the use of  an electric current to encourage all of those   00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:53.200 salts that I mentioned earlier, so damaging  to wood as well are doubly so to iron. But we   00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:57.840 want to get all of that out before we allow an  iron object to dry out. And then ultimately,   00:27:57.840 --> 00:28:04.560 you know, safely display it. So this process,  as you can see, the wiring in these tanks here   00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:13.440 involves connecting a negative charge to the  artifact and a positive charge to either the anode   00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:20.400 plates that you see in the tank. In this case  is the tank itself, but creating a magnetic pull   00:28:21.280 --> 00:28:26.960 so that the negatively charged salts in the iron  are forced out into the water into the solution.   00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:34.800 And we can gradually rinse them out of it. We know  that salts drive corrosion, so we want to get iron   00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:45.120 as salt free as possible before it can be safely  displayed. This process, the length of time,   00:28:45.120 --> 00:28:50.720 varies depending on the size of the artifact  and the capability of the lab as well.   00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:57.840 So you know time is not standard. It just really  depends on a lot of different factors. But for us,   00:28:57.840 --> 00:29:03.920 if we have a large cannon, conservation of  a cannon can easily take 10 years from start   00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:08.800 to finish. From the time that we recover it,  until the time that we can fully get all of the   00:29:08.800 --> 00:29:14.000 concretion off it and extract all the artifacts  from it, you know, desalinate it like you see   00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:21.520 here, and then finally are able to safely dry  it out and put it on display is easily 10 years   00:29:21.520 --> 00:29:28.640 for us. But again, that is very lab specific and  will vary depending on a lot of different factors.   00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:35.360 So once we get all of the salt out, you can see  the images right here, a chemical coltanic acid   00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:42.400 is being applied to act as a rust converter and  a preventative measure. So that once the iron   00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:48.000 is dry it won't be reactivated to corrode in  the face of fluctuating relative humidity and   00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.840 any salts that are residual in there. We can't  get all the salt out, but we try our best. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:59.840 As I mentioned previously, and keep  kind of bringing up, documentation   00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:04.640 is key along the way. So artifact photography  will be part of that. X-ray will be part of that.   00:30:05.840 --> 00:30:11.440 We have a few other tools here in our lab that we  use. X-ray fluorescence - to identify what metals   00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:17.040 we're dealing with is an important part of the  documentation process. But also the old-fashioned   00:30:17.040 --> 00:30:23.920 artifact illustration is an incredibly useful  tool. All of these other things you know x-ray,   00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:30.720 XF photography, don't always convey exactly  every detail that you can see in an object.   00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:35.920 So many times, we'll take the time, especially  if something has maker's marks or evidence of   00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:40.880 use marks, I will take the time to illustrate  it. Because many times the human eye can see so   00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:48.160 much more than a camera lens. And so all of those  techniques really play into full documentation of   00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:52.080 what an artifact really is and all of the  information you can gain from it. 00:30:57.120 --> 00:31:01.040 And then, finally I mentioned,  you know, the concept of curation.   00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:07.600 The big goal, and what we all want to see in  archaeology, is all of our efforts on display.   00:31:07.600 --> 00:31:12.400 You know, we all get a huge kick out of  being able to see the things that we spent,   00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:16.640 you know, five, ten years conserving,  finally on exhibit and for everyone to see.   00:31:17.760 --> 00:31:24.880 So that's kind of the dream of any excavation  I think, but should also really be planned for   00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:29.600 in the very early stages of excavation. Where  is this good collection going to end up? Will   00:31:29.600 --> 00:31:35.440 it be exhibitable? You know, and can the public  appreciate it? Is it, would it be, a big tourist   00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:43.280 draw? So again, just it's an important factor to  consider. Exhibit halls aren't just kind of a room   00:31:43.280 --> 00:31:47.280 that you just shove a whole bunch of stuff in.  They need to be carefully planned out as well.   00:31:47.280 --> 00:31:52.880 So you have the issues of environmental controls,  you know, I mentioned with the iron, you have   00:31:53.440 --> 00:32:00.640 issues of relative humidity. If it's too humid in  an atmosphere, that may be extremely detrimental   00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:06.480 to exhibit iron in. If it's too dry, that's  going to be detrimental to wood. So those kind of   00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:12.400 fluctuations need to be controlled and carefully  monitored. And even at this stage, you know,   00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:18.080 you have usually, you have different staff caring  for an artifact on display. But communication   00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:23.440 with the conservator, with the archaeological  team continues. We work very closely with our   00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:28.880 museums to ensure that collections we have on  exhibit are not degrading. Or if they, you know,   00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:35.280 see signs of corrosion or degradation, and they'll  tell us right away. So that's a great part of   00:32:35.280 --> 00:32:41.840 this, it is such a collaborative project, and  it's such a collaborative field across the board. 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:48.400 So I just wanted to leave you with some  recommended readings. I'm not trying to   00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:54.320 assign anyone homework, but these are a lot of the  books that I tend to reference fairly regularly   00:32:55.040 --> 00:32:57.600 because I feel like they're up-to- date or they're great compendiums.   00:32:59.120 --> 00:33:04.640 You know, not only for conservation practices,  but to help you keep in mind, you know, what   00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:08.880 you know what is the nature of an  object, and what can you learn from it.   00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:14.880 So there's a huge array of literature  out there on conservation. I would,   00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:20.880 you know, recommend anyone getting into it,  would take a peek at a lot of these things.   00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:27.760 There's some really great books and a lot of  articles on very specialized topics in this field.   00:33:29.600 --> 00:33:34.320 I do want to take the time to briefly acknowledge  some folks that help me gather images for this.   00:33:35.040 --> 00:33:40.240 Karen Martindale and Dr. Chris Dostal from Texas  A&M's conservation research lab provided me with   00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:45.440 some great images from their archive. And he's  granted me permission to use them for this.   00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:51.360 Steven Atkinson, my friend and co-worker at the  North Carolina Underwater Archaeology branch   00:33:51.360 --> 00:33:56.640 dug through our archive and found some great  images. And I want to thank again the staff   00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:02.640 at the NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary for  inviting me to participate in this webinar series. 00:34:04.800 --> 00:34:08.080 If you would like to follow  our project, specifically,   00:34:08.080 --> 00:34:13.520 you can find us on Facebook, under the Office  of State Archaeology. Or more specifically, the   00:34:13.520 --> 00:34:17.040 Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck  Project. And I would, you know, be happy to   00:34:17.040 --> 00:34:23.200 answer questions, if you care to email us. And I  think you can still find archaeology on Instagram.   00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:29.680 And if you'd like to know more about conservation,  specifically as to how it pertains to   00:34:29.680 --> 00:34:36.160 the preservation of the USS Monitor, I strongly  encourage everyone to join the next conservation   00:34:36.160 --> 00:34:40.400 themed webinar by Will Hoffman of The  Mariners' Museum, who will be sharing   00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:44.880 his insights on that collection on May  18th. So mark your calendars for that.   00:34:46.080 --> 00:34:50.640 So thank you all very much. I really appreciate  everyone's time and interest in joining us today. 00:34:50.640 --> 00:34:55.520    00:34:55.520 --> 00:34:59.600 [Mark Losavio] All right. Thank you very much  for that great presentation,   00:34:59.600 --> 00:35:02.960 and we do have quite a few questions. But  first I want to let you know that you did   00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:06.240 get a shout out from the students  at St. Mary's College in Maryland. 00:35:09.040 --> 00:35:15.040 But I'll go ahead and ask the first question.  We do have a member in the audience, who I think   00:35:15.040 --> 00:35:20.240 their favorite shipwreck museum is the Viking  Ship Museum in Oslo, and they were wondering   00:35:21.120 --> 00:35:27.920 do you communicate or share procedures with museums  like that one or any other ones?    00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:34.640 [Kimberly Kenyon] That's a great question. Yes, we do all the  time. We, you know, have run across some special   00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:41.040 problems I guess through the years, as  does every conservation lab will. You know,   00:35:41.040 --> 00:35:45.200 something will arise that we haven't faced before  or haven't seen before, and so we don't hesitate   00:35:45.200 --> 00:35:50.960 to reach out to other labs. And we've had the  pleasure of several labs reaching out to us asking   00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:57.040 advice. We discovered waterlogged paper here a  number of years ago and that's been an interesting   00:35:57.600 --> 00:36:03.680 quest to figure out what's best to do with it.  So we've been working with archival conservators   00:36:03.680 --> 00:36:07.200 with that. And we've had a number of labs  internationally reach out because they   00:36:07.200 --> 00:36:13.360 are now finding papers that's, you know, yeah  we do that all the time. And that's again, this   00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:19.440 is just a part of this field, and collaborating  with experts from everywhere.    00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:24.160 [Shannon Ricles] Okay Kim. This is Shannon. One of the other  questions they want to know is what was the most   00:36:24.160 --> 00:36:31.440 difficult artifact that you have ever worked on?  [Kim Kenyon] Oh man. That's a good question. There   00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:37.040 have been quite a few. I guess one of the most  challenging objects I've had to do, to deal with,   00:36:37.680 --> 00:36:41.840 there are a lot of different facets to that  question, but when it comes down to it, some   00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:46.720 of the the things that I find most challenging  are mechanical objects. So I conserved a musket   00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:53.920 recently. And just trying to keep in mind all  of the moving parts and how a musket functions,   00:36:54.640 --> 00:36:59.440 I had to really learn, you know, a lot about  guns that I didn't think that I ever would   00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:05.440 need to know. And then trying to make those  decisions for an object that is made of both   00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:10.400 wood and iron and copper, you know, and some of  the iron was gone. So I had to recreate that.   00:37:12.080 --> 00:37:18.400 So, you know, making those good decisions  to ensure that something that I was doing for   00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:22.000 the iron wouldn't negatively impact the  wood, while keeping in mind, you know,   00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:27.040 the functionality of all these moving  parts of such an intricate mechanism. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:35.920 [Mark Losavio] We have an interesting question.  We want to know what led you to this career and   00:37:35.920 --> 00:37:40.880 how would you recommend others best prepare for  it? [Kim Kenyon} Oh, that's a great question.   00:37:42.240 --> 00:37:50.400 So I have to reach back a little bit. So I always  loved archaeology. I was always fascinated with   00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:57.200 that and my mom took me to the library all  the time. And I grew up in a very small town,   00:37:57.200 --> 00:38:01.200 and so I think I read every book on  archaeology that that library had to offer.   00:38:02.160 --> 00:38:07.360 So when I reached kind of junior high age, I  discovered maritime archaeology for the first   00:38:07.360 --> 00:38:13.200 time in a French archaeologist exploring  the sunken city of Alexandria in Egypt in   00:38:13.200 --> 00:38:19.360 the 90s. And then, kind of my interest was really  piqued by that, and I wouldn't let the notion go.   00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:26.560 And so I stuck with that and went to Texas  A&M University at Galveston to pursue a degree   00:38:26.560 --> 00:38:32.080 in maritime studies, because I knew that I  then wanted to go on to Texas A&M to get a   00:38:32.080 --> 00:38:37.360 master's degree in their nautical archaeology  program. And so while I was there, I really   00:38:38.640 --> 00:38:45.760 gained a love for working with my hands. I was  given a chance to work in the lab there. And I do   00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:52.080 quite a lot of field work, overseas primarily, but  those aspects of both field work and being   00:38:52.080 --> 00:38:57.280 able to work in the conservation lab, that's what  really I just fell in love with the technical   00:38:57.280 --> 00:39:02.480 part of that. And being able to take something  that no one else has touched in, you know,   00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:06.640 hundreds, if not thousands of years, and kind of  bring it back to life and give it a story again.   00:39:07.600 --> 00:39:12.640 So that is how I got into this this career. There  are a lot of different ways that people do that.   00:39:13.600 --> 00:39:18.560 I came in from an archaeology perspective.  There are many different schools that offer   00:39:19.120 --> 00:39:23.360 degrees in conservation. There's some fantastic  schools in the UK, as well as here in the U.S.,   00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:28.160 where you can specifically study  objects - how they deteriorate,   00:39:28.160 --> 00:39:34.000 the scientific processes of conservation,  and that are very theory based. So those are   00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:38.320 kind of the main two tracks I would say as  to how to get into conservation as a career. 00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:44.560 [Shannon Ricles] Okay and one of the other  questions that we have is, when you're dealing   00:39:44.560 --> 00:39:50.240 with iron, does the conservation process differ in  fresh water? And if so, what are the differences? 00:39:52.720 --> 00:39:59.200 [Kimberly Kenyon] It can. In my experiences, freshwater  objects, because there's not as much salt,   00:39:59.200 --> 00:40:07.280 they don't take as long. We may still apply  the same kind of concepts to make sure that   00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:11.440 there's no residual salt in the end, as  that is the most damaging thing for iron.   00:40:12.560 --> 00:40:17.360 But yeah, in my experience it's been a  difference of not necessarily applied technique,   00:40:18.080 --> 00:40:23.840 but the length of time it takes to get all the  salt out and prepare it for exhibit in the end. 00:40:26.240 --> 00:40:34.160 [Mark Losavio] Here's another question. How  is there a distinguished, I guess distinction,   00:40:34.160 --> 00:40:39.120 and how do you distinguish between historically  significant and insignificant wrecks? 00:40:39.120 --> 00:40:45.440    00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:52.880 [Kimberly Kenyon] That is really not a call for any individual to  make honestly. That is something that is very   00:40:52.880 --> 00:41:01.760 much guided by someone's individual research. I  think every shipwreck is significant in its own   00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:08.960 way. What, you know, what it can tell us  and what information it can offer. So that   00:41:10.080 --> 00:41:16.000 to me guides, you know, my desire to help preserve  them in any capacity. Whether that means to   00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:21.520 fully excavate them and study them, you know,  in a lab like we do, or to leave them in place,   00:41:21.520 --> 00:41:25.840 so that someone, you know, 100 or thousand  years from now can then find it. And then,   00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:31.840 you know, answer questions that they may have.  So yeah, significance is kind of a hard word to   00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:40.320 define, but I guess I see it as a duty to preserve  underwater cultural heritage no matter the age.   00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:45.360 Because you never know what someone else  may want to learn from that wreck. So it's   00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:50.560 our kind of collective responsibility to make  sure that those kind of sites are preserved,   00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:56.320 so that everyone can appreciate them, and  we can all learn from them.    00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:59.440 [Shannon Ricles] Okay. And then we have a question  that's been asked a couple of times.   00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:06.480 Does the ocean protect the ship in any way  or does it do more damage to it?    00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:15.680 [Kimberly Kenyon] It can certainly do both, you know, in the  case of La Belle in Texas, that sediment level,   00:42:15.680 --> 00:42:19.520 there really helped to preserve the wood  and that's not something you would see here in   00:42:19.520 --> 00:42:25.440 North Carolina. We see a lot of degradation to  wood because of large storm events because of,   00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:35.600 you know, dredging or you know, any kind of human  driven event. So yeah, it really can both be very   00:42:35.600 --> 00:42:41.600 damaging and work towards preservation, depending  on the environment. Depending on what type of   00:42:41.600 --> 00:42:46.240 material you're looking at. And we find things on  shipwrecks that you may not find on terrestrial   00:42:46.240 --> 00:42:52.880 sites. You know, because of the same thing, you  know, the acidity of the soil, the oxygenation,   00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:57.840 or human activity has a lot of impact on  preservation for terrestrial sites as well. 00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:02.960 [Mark Losavio] All right. We'll  take just two more questions.   00:43:03.520 --> 00:43:09.200 One of them is - is the Queen Anne's Revenge are  pieces of it still being recovered from the site?   00:43:11.200 --> 00:43:16.880 [Kim Kenyon] Not currently. We typically  have a fall field season every year,   00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:21.280 but it's been a number of years since we've  recovered anything. We're in the mode now of   00:43:21.280 --> 00:43:27.280 monitoring it for its safety, but that's it. We  recover and uncover things in the lab every day,   00:43:27.920 --> 00:43:31.120 but we haven't actually raised anything  from the site in several years. 00:43:31.120 --> 00:43:38.960 [Shannon Ricles] Okay. And so our last question  is - what happens when priorities clash?   00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:43.680 Say for example, an artifact needs immediate  attention but may not be the most important   00:43:43.680 --> 00:43:50.320 addition to a museum collection. [Kim  Kenyon] That's a good question. My   00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:56.880 priority is always artifact centric. So  whether something is deemed uninteresting or,   00:43:56.880 --> 00:44:01.360 you know, if we for instance we have a quarter  million pieces of lead shot from this project,   00:44:03.760 --> 00:44:09.680 my first instinct is to say that whatever the  artifact needs, that is the priority. If you   00:44:09.680 --> 00:44:15.920 have something that is actively degrading.  That gets the highest priority over anything   00:44:15.920 --> 00:44:22.160 else. It is always our duty to protect and  preserve the artifacts no matter what they are. 00:44:22.160 --> 00:44:26.880 [Mark Losavio] All right, great stuff. So   00:44:28.160 --> 00:44:31.920 we had a lot of really great questions, and I'm  sorry I wasn't able to get to them all today.   00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:37.920 But if you want more information about the  Queen Anne's Revenge, you can go to their   00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:42.800 website to learn more information. And if you did  not get your question answered or if you think of   00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:47.360 a really good one down the line, you can email Kim  at this email down here at the bottom of the page.   00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:55.840 Once captioned, a video recording of this presentation will be made available on   00:44:55.840 --> 00:45:01.680 the sanctuary's webinar archives page, found  at the URL listed here at the top. In addition, 00:45:01.680 --> 00:45:08.160 this webinar, it will also be archived on the  Monitor's website. Click on the multimedia section   00:45:08.160 --> 00:45:13.200 tab right here to access the webinar's box. And  don't worry, all this information will be sent   00:45:13.200 --> 00:45:19.200 to you in a follow-up email once the recording is  ready. So if you missed that social media slide,   00:45:19.200 --> 00:45:23.840 it will also be recorded and you can  look at it again once we send it to you.   00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:31.840 Be sure to register for our next Submerged NC  webinar airing on Tuesday, April 20th at 1pm   00:45:33.040 --> 00:45:38.640 and learn from Mr. Stephen Atkinson, the assistant  state archaeologist with the North Carolina Office   00:45:38.640 --> 00:45:43.840 of State Archaeology about the North Carolina  shipwreck beach tagging program. In addition   00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:48.960 to Mr. Atkinson's presentation, the Submerged  NC series also has these webinars coming up in   00:45:48.960 --> 00:45:54.960 the near future, and the previously mentioned talk  with Will Hoffman is May 18th there at the bottom. 00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:03.040 Be sure to go to our website, monitor.noaa.gov,  and click on the link on the home page for more   00:46:03.040 --> 00:46:09.440 information on the Submerged NC webinars and  to register. If you enjoyed this webinar,   00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:14.800 please be sure to check out others in the National  Marine Sanctuaries webinar series. On April 21st,   00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:19.440 join Travis Marcoux as he learns and teaches us  about the biggest fish in the ocean,   00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:26.560 the whale shark. Lastly, as you exit this webinar,  there is a short survey for formal and informal   00:46:26.560 --> 00:46:31.040 educators. If you are an educator, NOAA would  really appreciate it if you would take a minute   00:46:31.040 --> 00:46:35.840 or two of your time to complete this survey. Your  answers will help us develop future webinars to   00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:42.080 meet your needs. Your participation is voluntary  and your answers will be completely anonymous.   00:46:42.080 --> 00:46:46.000 Once again, we would like to thank Ms.  Kenyon for a really fascinating presentation.   00:46:46.640 --> 00:46:52.000 And I would like to thank you for taking the  time to join us this afternoon. And I hope   00:46:52.000 --> 00:47:06.880 you have a wonderful day. This concludes the  presentation, and I will now end the broadcast.