The development of standards in Europe for the preservation of cultural heritage is carried out by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) where all EU (including EU candidate countries) and EEA countries are members. CEN created the committee CEN / TC 346 Conservation of Cultural Property to direct the development of standards for cultural heritage and cultural protection. Italy is leads the work. Norwegian participation is coordinated by Standards Norway. The standardization work aims to harmonize a European common strategy for the conservation of cultural heritage.

The scope of CEN TC 346 is to establish standards in the field of the processes, practices, methodologies and documentation of conservation of tangible cultural heritage to support its preservation, protection and maintenance, and to enhance its significance. This includes standardization on the characterization of deterioration processes and environmental conditions for cultural heritage, and the products and technologies used for the planning and execution of conservation, restoration, repair, transportation and maintenance.

NTNU University Museum represents Norway in CEN / TC 346 Working Group 9, and is a member of the Norwegian CEN / TC 346 Mirror Committee.

Contact:
Elizabeth E. Peacock

Project Duration:
2004-

The purpose of the project "Reburial and Analysis of Archaeological Remains" (RAAR) is to investigate and consider alternative methods for preserving wet archaeological finds.

Archaeological investigations under water and on land-based wet environments often generate a multitude of artefacts in urgent need of conservation. With limited resources for conservation, reburial seems to be a realistic option for storing instead of disposing of recovered archaeological artefacts.

The aim of RAAR is to analyze the preservation or degradation of various modern materials buried in a marine environment in Marstrand harbour, western Sweden. The project is based on the decay rate of different materials over a period of 50 years focusing on long-term deposition in the marine environment. The buried sample materials are recovered and analyzed at predetermined intervals.

Bohus County Museum and Studio West Sweden Conservation, Sweden, manage the project. Institutions in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Australia with relevant expertise coordinate the project’s six subprojects.

NTNU University Museum is responsible for and coordinator of the non-wood organic materials group (textile, leather, bone, horn and antler) sub-project. Phases I (2002-2005) and II (2006-2010) have been completed. Phase III awaits funding.

Contact:
Elizabeth E. Peacock

Partners:
Bohus County Museum, Sweden; Studio West Sweden Conservation, Sweden; National Museum of Denmark; University of Gothenburg, Sweden; and, Western Australian Museum, Australia.

The Deepwater Preservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (DePMAS) project at NTNU University Museum seeks to establish new knowledge about the protective and destructive mechanisms that influence the preservation of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) in deepwater environments.

Currently, these are poorly understood and documented. As a consequence, threats to UCH’s continual survival are difficult to assess, using our existing knowledge base.

DePMAS seeks to provide methodologies to characterise, understand and assess the significance of these threats, in a local, national and international context.

The research will establish a sound research foundation for the development of deepwater cultural heritage management protocols to address the shortfall in current knowledge.

Through extensive investigations and interdisciplinary research, DePMAS aims to develop practical, appropriate, in-situ conservation and monitoring methods and guidelines for the protection of marine heritage in deep water environments.

Contact:
Elizabeth E. Peacock & Fredrik Skoglund

Project duration:
2008- (awaiting funding)

SAGA is an international research network project involving 115 experts in geophysics, archaeology, and soil science from 37 countries, coming from research, heritage management and commercial environments.

The overall goal is to promote the study of archaeological sites using geophysics and, in particular, to develop research activities to advance in interpretation of proxy data (geophysical and soil data) for archaeological purposes.

Contact person: Researcher Carmen Cuenca-Garcia.

For more information, as well as a full list of partners, please visit the SAGA project website.

The archaeological deposits in cities with a medieval origin constitute a valuable source of knowledge about the human condition throughout long-term processes of environmental and socio-cultural changes.

Skeletal remains and other biological materials are key in this respect, providing a direct window into past lived life.

The FUTURE PAST project involves excavation of selected areas in Stavanger, and advanced analyses of biological remains, both recently excavated, and from the existing collections.

It will combine multi-scale assessment of material and environmental conditions with state of the art bioarchaeological methodologies. The project promotes a new line of research within conservation science; the conservation and management of biomolecular cultural heritage. 

Web site: Medieval life before and after death

Duration: 2020-2025

Contact person: Associate professor Marie-Josée Nadeau.

SEADA - Saving European Archaeology from the Digital Dark Age is a European research and innovation network that focuses on establishing a priority research area in the archiving, dissemination and open access re-use of archaeological data.

Its goal is to bring together an interdisciplinary network of archaeologists and computer scientists; experts in archaeological data management and open data dissemination and re-use. It will create publications and materials that will set out the state of the art for archaeological archiving across Europe and recommendations to preserve the data for future generations.

Further information, including a list of network partners, can be found on the SEADDA project website.

Contact person: Raymond Sauvage.

Info about project: NTNU AMOS - Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems

Contact person: Øyvind Ødegård

Info about project: Future preservation of past life: A multidisciplinary investigation into preservation of ancient biological remains from medieval cemeteries 

Contact person: Marie-Josée Nadeau