Cultural History
The spearhead is estimated to have been made between 5th-6th Century AD. Spears where one of the most common weapons used by Anglo-Saxon men at that time, with the spearhead itself usually made from cast iron mounted on a wooden saft. The spearhead was made by casting iron to a mold and then being forged by a blacksmith. Once the spearhead was sharpened it was ready to be mounted on a wooden saft and used as a weapon.
Condition Before Treatment
The overall structural condition of the object is good as no weak points could be seen from the Xray, although six small parts are detached from the object, this was likely caused by the absorption of humidity by the chlorides that were between the cracks of the object for a long period of time resulting for the parts to eventually fall off. When it comes to the surface condition, the object has been buried under the soil for a significant amount of time. As a result, a thick layer of dirt throughout the surface and inside the hollow part of the spearhead were the wooden saft is meant to be mounted is present, active corrosion along with high RH levels being absorbed by chlorides within the cracks of the object have greatly impacted the object’s surface condition.
Treatment
Dirt Removal
Mechanical cleaning was the most suitable method of dirt removal. The tools that were used for this cleaning process were, wooden soft tools such as cocktail sticks and hawthorns which managed to remove a significant amount of dirt most specifically inside the hollow part of the spearhead were the wooden saft was meant to be mounted.
Corrosion Removal
The next step on the treatment was to remove the corrosion layers on the object’s surface. Cotton swabs in white spirit and later acetone were used to clean off the corrosion layers along with the use of a bristle brush.
Air Abrasive
Lastly the Air-abrasive was used in a low-pressure setting, managed to remove any corrosion that could be removed without further damaging the structural condition of the object.
Re-joining Fragments
The next step of the treatment was to re-adhere the detached pieces back to the object. There was a total of six pieces which were smaller than 3cm in diameter, the method that was used to identify where each part belonged was by identifying similar corrosion patterns in both the pieces and the object itself. The other three pieces couldn’t be identified by this method as none of the corrosion patterns seemed to match with the object’s corrosion patterns. instead, the three remaining pieces were identified based on how they fit on the object. All the pieces were adhered by using Paraloid B72 5% in a small syringe.
Packaging
The last part of the treatment focuses on the storage and aftercare of the object. In order for the object to remain safe, a protective case was made for it in order to minimize any risk of damage. Protective foam was cut around the shape of the object along with three pockets where the bags of silica gel will be stored in order to absorb the humidity of the environment.
Reflection By The Conservator
This object was a great chance for me to hone my skills in archaeological conservation. Despite consisting of only one material, the treatment proved to be a great challenge for me as I had to treat this object with respect, coming from a burial site, while carrying so much history it reminded me how fragile can history be in the test of time.
This object was treated by Nick, click on his profile to learn more about him.