The Analysis and Conservation of The Belle Footwear Assemblage
Anthony Randolph Jr.
Thesis: December 2003
Chair: C. Wayne Smith
Nautical Archaeology Program
Nautical archaeology can be loosely defined as the study of the material
remains of ships and their contents as a component of a broader cultural
system. The oceans and lakes of the world are replete with shipwrecks fro111
a11 eras, and these sites have become the premier source of data for the
nautical archaeologist. The inter-relationship between vessel, cargo, and
crew is expressed in the assemblages recovered from these sites, and
analysis of these remains serves to fill in the expansive gaps between human
behavior and the material culture that they leave behind. The excavation of
the French barque Belle, which had been part of La Salle's ill-fated
expedition to the Mississippi in 1684, yielded several hundred leather
artifacts, predominantly in the form of shoes. This thesis first proposes to
analyze the Belle footwear assemblage both as a representation of
seventeenth century French culture and as a facet of La Salle's final
voyage. The harsh environment of the sea floor, however, affects remains
from the Belle site in myriad ways. Metal artifacts are transformed into
non-descript conglomerations of marine growth and sediments called
encrustations, while organic remnants are preserved via chemical reactions
with metals, or by quick burial in anaerobic soils. Equilibrium established
between artifact and its benthic environment is disrupted upon recovery, and
remains must be carefully treated to ensure long-term stability. This is the
purview of the archaeological conservator. The role of the archaeological
conservator is by no means limited to the stabilization of artifacts. They
are also responsible for cleaning, documenting, and analyzing the objects
that they treat. The recent introduction of polymer passivation
technologies, which relies heavily on silicon oils, provides archaeological
conservators with a new option concerning the treatment of organic
artifacts. This thesis also proposes to examine this new methodology,
particularly focusing on the treatment of the leather objects recovered from
Belle.