Early Copán Acropolis Program 2000 Field Season

Conservation of Artifacts

The other half of the ECAP conservation program is focused on preservation of excavated archaeological materials which are removed to the field laboratory at the Centro Regional de Investigaciones Arqueológicas (CRIA) located adjacent to the site. During the 2000 field season ECAP again benefited in countless ways from the expert work of a professional conservator, Lynn Grant of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Conservation Department. During her stay at Copán, Lynn worked as part of the research team that completed the removal of offering from the Margarita Tomb (Figure 1). In this capacity she was once again responsible for assessing the conservation needs of all objects exposed in the excavation process, and to prepare for their removal and transport to the ECAP field laboratory. Something of the critical and demanding nature of this job can be realized by knowing that during the 2000 field season a total of 3,707 artifacts (not including unidentified clusters and samples) and 13 human bones (mostly small hand and foot bones) were removed from the Margarita Tomb floor. Only the close cooperation between archaeologists and conservator working day after day together in the tomb enabled so many ephemeral artifacts and materials to be successfully recovered.

When especially fragile objects were encountered on the tomb floor, these were usually conserved in situ before their removal. The final stage in the excavation of the Margarita Tomb during the 2000 field season exposed numerous especially important and fragile artifacts, so that the presence of Lynn Grant’s conservation expertise once again proved critical in the excavation and removal of these items. The largest and most complicated offering on the Margarita Tomb floor appeared to be an amorphous clump of cinnabar and debris when first cleared (Figure 2). It turned out to be a concentration of over 2,000 objects, including a painted basket and other organic objects, two pyrite mirrors, seashells, stingray spines, and a large mass of jade beads and shell rings that were probably strung together into necklaces and other adornments. These objects had originally been placed in baskets, bags, and painted gourds grouped together in the center of the floor.

One of the most remarkable of these decorated perishable containers was a stuccoed basket lid painted with a fine-line polychrome design. Careful excavation and conservation of the lid determined that it had fallen and buckled over a neighboring object, resulting in layer after layer of friable paint flakes. When it was first discovered only a fragment of the rim and the stucco layer with well-preserved impressions of the now decayed basketry was visible. Guided by Lynn, the excavation team was able to consolidate, lift, and clean the fragment to reveal a representation of a figure in profile wearing a decorated turban headdress similar to those depicted being worn by kings on Copán’ s monuments (Altar Q, for example). After the painted basket lid had been removed, work began on the rest of the central deposit. This concentration included perishable containers filled with strands of jade beads, bundles of worked bone needles, and carved shell rings. Some of the rings were carved with faces whose incised features were highlighted by a filling of bright red cinnabar, and with eyes inlaid with jade. These objects are especially interesting since such quantities of rings and needles have not been found in other Copán burials. Stingray spines that could have been used for blood-letting were found nearby, and the bases of two of the straw baskets were preserved below the strands of jade and shell beads they had held for over 1500 years.

On the eastern side of the central deposit were two slate and pyrite mirrors. Similar to mirrors found at Kaminaljuyú and other Maya sites, these were made of pieces of highly polished pyrite anchored to slate backs painted with colorful, fine-line designs. The mirrors had been wrapped in a closely woven textile and bundled into a loosely twined container before they were placed on the tomb floor. Our first indication that the slate backings of the mirrors might have been painted came as the edge of the lower mirror was cleared. This revealed a series of small painted yellow dots and stars. Further cleaning revealed the entire back was covered with a design. Unfortunately, the decay of the pyrite that made up the reflective surface of each mirror produced sulfuric acid, corroding and discoloring the slate backing and its stuccoed surface. Although difficult to see, the mirror backs are decorated in the same fine-line style seen on a vividly painted vase nick-named the "Dazzler" found in 1993 when the Margarita Tomb was first opened (see Analysis of Other Artifacts). Both mirrors were probably worn suspended from a cord.

The eastern side of the tomb floor was covered by quantities of needles in two groups bundled into an organic wrapping, probably a textile. While all of the needles are made of worked bone, the ones in the northern group are stained a bright blue-green color. While the needles may have formed part of a "tool kit," there are far more than could have been used at one time by a single woman. Several years ago noted Mayanist Linda Schele had suggested that elements of the burial costume may indicate that the woman in the Margarita Tomb was dressed as an aspect of the Moon Goddess, and the needles add support for this thesis since they would have been an important part of the weaving tools that characterized some representations of that deity.

The remainder of the tomb floor was covered with a series of deposits similar to those found in the center—concentrations of jade beads, painted gourds full of cinnabar, and two small grinding stones, possibly used to prepare pigment. A pair of jade mosaic mother-of-pearl earflares was found near the north end of the floor, while the south end contained a ceramic bowl and a few other artifacts. Disturbance of the objects on the west side suggests that the chamber was re-entered in antiquity, consistent with earlier observations made in other areas of the tomb.

After clearing and preliminary treatment in the tomb, these delicate remains were removed to the field laboratory for further study, cleaning, and conservation. It is in the field laboratory that the second facet of Lynn’s work takes place during each field season (Figure 3). Following the transport of all the artifacts from the Margarita Tomb floor to the field laboratory in 2000, each was checked to assess its conservation needs. In the cases of the two pyrite mosaic mirrors, considerable additional work was required to clean and stabilize the remains of the fragile stucco-painted designs. This effort was an outstanding success, since as a result, almost all of the design area on one mirror, and one half of the design area on the second mirror could be exposed, conserved, and documented by drawings and photographs. Many of the other highly fragile objects recovered from the Margarita Tomb, such as the basket lid with stucco-painted designs, received similar successful treatment that ensured that each was conserved, thoroughly recorded, and safely stored in secure containers.

Finally, measures were taken to ensure that one of ECAP’s primary objectives will continue to be met long after the research and conservation process has ended. The goal in this case is to secure the long-term conservation of all materials recovered by ECAP’s excavations over the span of its research at Copán. This goal is being met by the continued effort to rehouse all previously excavated materials in archival-quality enclosures, and by continued monitoring of all artifacts in their storage environment, with the application of additional conservation for these objects when needed. To solve the problem of a growing shortage of secure storage space, FAMSI funds were used to purchase and install two additional lockable steel artifact storage cabinets. As a result, with the end of its 2000 field season ECAP has met its obligation to provide secure storage space for all the excavated artifacts and samples.

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