MCI Project Summaries 2008 - Smithsonian Institution

MCI 6256 El Caño Archaeological Project : Field Conservation in Panama
MCI Staff: Harriet (Rae) F. Beaubien, Ainslie Harrison, Kim Cullen Cobb
In 2009, conservators from the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute joined the
El Caño Archaeological Project to provide conservation assistance and training during
excavations in the El Caño Archaeological Park (Coclé Province), as well as the laboratory phase
at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City. Much of the excavated material
is funerary in nature and, based on initial stylistic analysis, dates to the Conte period (c.700-950
CE).
During their March-April visit, the two-person conservation team assisted with lifting
fragile finds, and carried out micro-excavation of lifted objects, as well as cleaning,
consolidation, reconstruction, and re-housing of recently excavated material. A wide range of
materials was treated, including gold, copper-alloy, ceramic, bone, and whale tooth. In July-
August, working with project researchers at STRI, the conservators treated 17 ceramics
originating from a child’s burial, which will be a featured display as part of the inaugural exhibit
of the Museum of Biodiversity in Panama City. In each phase, the conservators provided advice
and training to team members on a variety of conservation topics, including supports for fragile
finds to aid lifting, and basic ceramics conservation techniques. In September, a three-person
conservation team returned to analyze gold finds from the site, as part of a large-scale MCI study
of goldworking in Pre-Columbian Panama. Several gold ornaments found in the child’s burial
were among nearly 200 finds that were investigated using the non-destructive analytical
techniques of optical microscopy, to reveal details of fabrication, and x-ray fluorescence
spectroscopy to determine alloy composition.
Ceramics offerings in situ, associated with the child burial (Individual 1) in UE087 Tomb 2. The gold plate and
bracelets were previously lifted from the central area.
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