MICMAC_II (Microbes for the Archaeological Wood Conservation_II) is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and conducted under the lead of the University of Neuchatel (Prof Edith Joseph).

The aim of the project is to examine in how far the decay of marine waterlogged woods (e.g. ships), or even freshwater finds, can be prevented by removing the sulphur and iron compounds lodged in the object. For this purpose, the use of biological agents (sulphur-oxidizing bacteria and iron-binding complexes) is now being tested on the wood, prior to any regular conservation steps.

Partners in the project are the Swiss National Museum, the Archäologische Dienst Bern (ADB), the Haute Ecole Arc Neuchatel, and Arc’Antique (France). The SNM is tasked with carrying out analyses and lab tests and preserving various pre-treated samples.

The biological pre-treatment of waterlogged woods from marine and freshwater environments was shown to be successful through this project.

Link to project

Publications

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/2/203

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/8/1656/pdf

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01908-9

Project participants

• Head of project Prof Dr Edith Joseph, University of Neuchatel
• Dr Mathilde Monachon, University of Neuchatel
• Dr Magdalena Albelda-Berenguer, University of Neuchatel
• Dr Sathiyanarayanan Ganesan, University of Neuchatel
• Friederike Moll-Dau, Conservation Department, Archäologischer Dienst, Bern
• Emilie Cornet, Conservation Department, Archäologischer Dienst, Bern
• Charlène Pelé-Mezziani, Conservation Department, Arc’Antique, Nantes (F)
• Line Pedersen, Conservation Department, Haute Ecole Arc, HES-SO, Neuchatel
• Janet Schramm, Conservation Department, Swiss National Museum
• Dr Tiziana Lombardo, Conservation Research, Swiss National Museum
• Dr Katharina Schmidt-Ott, Conservation Research, Swiss National Museum