PROBLEMS OF CHARRED WOOD PRESERVATION (using the example of a find from the settlement of Toksanbai)

Abstract

The article discusses the problems of research and preservation of objects from charred wood using the example of a fragment of a wooden dish discovered during the study of a room on the northeastern slope of the Toksanbai settlement (Beineu district, Mangystau region) in 2005. Excavations were carried out by an expedition of the A.Kh. Margulan Archeology Institute under the leadership of Z. Samashev, with the participation of A.S. Ermolayeva within the framework of the state strategic project “Cultural Heritage”. The article provides an assessment of the actions of archaeological specialists basing on a specific example. The article shows the stages of work of restoration specialists. It also gives recommendations for working with items from degraded materials. During the study of the monument by archaeologists, a full range of measures is being taken to fix real objects. Items of degrading materials require a special approach in terms of extraction and storage. In the field, researchers, when conducting field preservation of weakened objects, use improvised materials, often these are chemical compositions, and not always, there are the necessary ones that are suitable for use in a particular case. A wooden dish from the dwelling of the Toksanbai settlement belongs to the category of “charred wood”. The wood object burned without air access, its original structure collapsed, but the impact of the fire, in such a case, became the preserving element that allowed to partially preserve the shape of the object. After a series of conservation and restoration works, the dish was deposited in the funds of the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan).