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Conservation Research Laboratory Reports

Silicone oil and organic conservation
La Salle Shipwreck Project
Texas Historical Commission

Throughout each year, the Conservation Research Laboratory conserves material from a
number of different archaeological projects. The purpose of these CRL reports is to showcase the
conservation procedures used to treat some of the more interesting archaeological material. The
conservation of a walnut bowl recovered from the Belle is presented in this report. The Belle, one of
the ships of French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur (Lord) de La Salle, was lost in Matagorda Bay,
Texas, in 1686. It was excavated by the Texas Historical Commission.

SILICONE OIL IN ORGANIC CONSERVATION

Quite often in shipwreck sites such as the Belle,

which is buried in anaerobic sand, organic material
like wooden bowls and even rope are preserved.
Finds such as these are quite significant for they are
seldom found in land sites of a comparable age.
While it is very exciting to find these artifacts, they
create some very difficult conservation problems.
Accordingly, the Conservation Research Laboratory
has been in the forefront in developing new
techniques for conserving waterlogged wood and
other organic material. A laboratory, the
Archaeological Preservation Research
Laboratory (APRL), directed by Dr. Wayne Smith,
was established at Texas A&M University to conduct
research in these new areas.

This small, turned wooden bowl was very thin and

was contorted by the burial environment. In order
to prevent it from splitting, cracking, or shrinking, it
was decided to conserve it by a new process
developed at APRL utilizing silicone oil. The silicone-
treated wood provides a much more dimensionally
stable wood than any other conservation technique
currently in common use.

Small bowls such as these were commonly used as

eating bowls. This one was turned on a lathe and
has been identified as being made of walnut. To the
left is the bowl after being conserved with silicone
oil.

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written permission from the Nautical Archaeology Program is required for the publication of any material. Any use of this material should credit the Nautical
Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University. For additional details, contact Donny L. Hamilton (dlhamilton@tamu.edu). For prices for publishing rights to
photographs and video from the Conservation Research Laboratory and the Port Royal Project, click here. All La Salle shipwreck images and data contained
within this web site are copyrighted ©1999 Texas Historical Commission. You are free to use information or non-copyrighted images from these pages for any
non-commercial purpose. Any use of this information should credit the Texas Historical Commission. Last updated: Wednesday, 19-Jan-2011 17:50:05
Central Standard Time

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/crl/Report3/silicone.htm 04/02/2011