The scope of an archaeological endeavor such as the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project demands vast resources not only during excavation, but especially when it comes to preserving artifacts in a process called conservation.  Space, personnel, and specialized equipment are all required to properly store, conserve, and document the large quantity of recovered material.  As such, it was the establishment of the state's Conservation Lab on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC that set full recovery into motion.

Once the artifacts are brought to the surface, they immediately enter the conservation phase.  All artifacts are photographed, documented and catagorized according to a variety of factors. To date, there have been several hundred thousand artifacts recovered from the QAR.  Some are as large as cannons, others as small as specks of gold dust.   Conservators classify artifacts, first, according to their composition (e.g. iron, glass, wood, ceramic, gold, lead, pewter, copper alloy) to help determine which techniques to employ.  The molecular structure of a substance changes as a result of being submerged in sea water, so artifacts need to be stabilized and cleaned through various processes to avoid further decomposition. Iron objects such as cannon, for example, undergo a process called electrolysis.  Wood, on the other hand, is submerged in a substance called polyethylene glycol.  Interestingly, the only substance that remains (relatively) stable in seawater is gold.  Unlike other objects that can be virtually unrecognizable on the seabed, underwater, gold looks like gold.

Many artifacts recovered from underwater sites are encased in a hard substance called "concretion".  When iron objects corrode in seawater, the molecules break apart and bind to surrounding sediment and shells, as well as to other artifacts.  As a result, concretions often contain multiple objects, a challenge for conservators as, depending on its composition, each object requires its own set of conservation procedures.    Sometimes, the original iron artifact has completely eroded within the concretion, leaving behind a mold of its original shape.  Conservators are then able to pour epoxy into the mold which, when hardened, forms a cast of the artifact.

Conservation is an integral component of archaeology and requires skill, patience, time, and resources.  Once conserved, artifacts from the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck site are transferred to the North Carolina Maritime Museum artifact repository where they are kept in long-term storage and made available for public exhibit and future research.

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