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Oxygen consumption by conserved archaeological wood

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Abstract

Rates of oxygen consumption have been measured over extended time periods for 29 whole samples of conserved, archaeological wood and four samples of fresh, unconserved wood, at 50 % relative humidity and room temperature. Samples from the Swedish Warship Vasa and the Danish Skuldelev Viking ships are included. Most rates were close to 1 μg O2 (g wood)−1 day−1 and the process persisted for several years at least. Consumption of oxygen is related to change in chemical composition, which is, in turn, related to degradation. It is thus demonstrated that despite conservation, waterlogged archaeological wood continues to degrade in a museum climate.

The warship Vasa in Stockholm. Photo: Hans Hammarskiöld and Swedish National Maritime Museums

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Acknowledgments

This work was performed as part of the Swedish National Maritime Museums’ research program “A Future for Vasa”, which is financially supported by The Swedish Research Council (VR), The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences, and Spatial Planning (FORMAS), and The Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA). This support is gratefully acknowledged. The Danish Ministry of Culture and the Danish National Museum are also kindly acknowledged for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Museum of Denmark, Department of Conservation, I. C. Modewegsvej, 2800, Lyngby, Denmark

    Martin N. Mortensen & Henning Matthiesen

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  1. Martin N. Mortensen
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  2. Henning Matthiesen
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Correspondence to Martin N. Mortensen.

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Mortensen, M.N., Matthiesen, H. Oxygen consumption by conserved archaeological wood. Anal Bioanal Chem 405, 6373–6377 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7039-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7039-2

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