Am Gürtel der Alamannin

Sicherung eines organischen Befunds

Abstract

Hanging from her belt. Securing organic findings
Belt-hangings are personal belongings and are evidence of faith and daily life of early medieval women. Composed of individually chosen items, These composite objects form a challenge for today’s conservators. While working on a belt-hanging from an in situ en-bloc-recovery by the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg, essential questions arose which were to be answered in a master thesis: How far should the process of cleaning go and what should be left in the object? How can a conservation be achieved and to what extent should the objects stay in their preserved context? The complete removal of the surrounding soil was aimed at on the basis of promising CT scans. An adequate support had to be found, providing long-term stabilization and yet allowing future handling in eventual examinations. Starch-based adhesive fabric tape proved a suitable packing material for the long-term storage of the object.