AlexandraFeb 16, 2025
i'm in #okinawa prefectural archaeological center (yes, two -al, i'm not the one who translated this…) for a conference about conservation techniques for artefacts.
i'll live-toot with the hashtag #okimaibun mute it if you hate wooden artefacts 😁
Show threadAlexandra
#okimaibun
the first lecture is 「conservation of the golden and glass artefacts from kyo-no-uchi in shuri gusuku」, by takako kinjo, who is archaeologist at the prefectural centre. there will be a guided tour of the exhibition afterwards.
the room is full, so many people interested in artefacts conservation ?
kinjo will present the excavations of kyo-no-uchi and then the artefacts conservation.
kyo-no-uchi is part of shuri gusuku, it yielded large quantities of artefacts that are declared…
Feb 16, 2025 at 5:05amWeb
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun …national treasures. kyo-no-uchi is a religious space, very large, inside the gusuku. it has been excavated between 1994 and 1997 (bits of shuri are excavated every year).
important remains include stone walls and stairs in one corner that were filled with charred ceramic sherds. stoneware, metal and glass, really packed with them. the stones and floor were reddened too → destroyed by fire.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
they reconstructed hundreds (thousands? ) of pots and vessels, 14-15 c., from china, viet-nam, japan, thailand (mainly china)…
bowls, plates, pots, bottles… including very rare pieces, even rarely found in china, some only known in shuri, don't exist anywhere else in the world.
burnt → historical sources say there was a fire in 1459, probably this fire.
518 pieces declared national treasure in 2000.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun the centre has a one month long exhibition for those pieces every year (now).
(interestingly enough, the permanent exhibition is mainly about kaizuka period, almost no kingdom period)
metal artefacts include nails, hair ornaments, mirrors, incense burners, 「ritual implements」(no, really, like bells, it's not a code to say we don't know what it is, ＊this time＊), armor bits.
coins including some not found anywhere else.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
the armor bits are decorated with very intricated floral patterns that are found also on decorative implements of the enkakuji temple. the enkakuji ones are definitely chinese, but the shuri armor bits might be ryukyuan copies.
takako really loves those metallic decorative patterns 😁but she's running out of time…
we have helmet bits too, with iron+bronze put together. this seems to be a ryukyu-only characteristic, although the shape is japan-inspired.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
in the 15-16c. there might have been a place where they crafted those metal artefacts in iri-no-azana inside shuri. they found scories. complete things found in kyo-no-uchi, unfinished things in iri-no-azana.
glass beads melted by fire and…she does not have any time left to tell us mooooore 😓 the archaeological center, the only place where they respect the time limits for the conferences…
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
the next lecture is about the techniques and processes they used at the centre for artefacts conservation, by shiori kuniyoshi, who is archaeologist at the centre too.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
conservation uses a number of scientific techniques in order to preserve artefacts, but also includes work by artists as well for the restauration.
the center conserves artefacts in wood, metal… that deteriorate quickly after excavation.
artefacts are cleaned, some are very fragile, need to be put in ethanol or water. before that, they mesure and weight them.
the rust from metallic artefacts must be taken, the wood but be desinfected (not to rot)
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#only after they're stabilized the artefacts can be presented to public. the cenvre also used conservation techniques after seisms (kumamoto) or fire (shuri).
the artefacts from kyo-no-uchi, that had been burnt ＋ stocked a long time after excavation and needed restauration. they try to make it easily understood for the public what bit is authentic and what bit is restaured.
the glass beads have been restaured with resin.
after restauration the artefacts are put in special wooden boxes.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
the very large wooden artefacts are sent to japan, but the normal-size ones are conserved in the center.
the metal artefacts are put in sealed plastic bags with RP products and no air to prevent rust.
the wood conservation was, before, made by putting the artefacts in water but that was baaaad.
then they used PEG but it takes a long time and now, they use a product called treha. before treha was only obtained from natural sources and very expensive, but now
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
they can make artificial treha and it's more affordable. it's like conserving the wood in sugar, the 「sugar」cristalises inside the wood and makes the wood stronger, and not weak to humidity. it's very cheap so everyone is happy.
＊insert here very specialised talk about how to put your wooden artefacts in treha＊
first you kill the germs by heating the artefacts to 80 degrees for one day, then you put your artefact in treha juice, you have to change concentrations with the external
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
humidity and temperature.
then you take your artefact from the juice andwdry them (they tried different drying techniques)
the artefacts are heavier after conservation. the treha cristalises white on the surface so you have to take the surface deposit (only if you use it in exhibitions, if not, you keep the white coating, it's not beautiful but it's one more protection.)
if the wooden artefacts are broken, then, you can restaure them.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025

#okimaibun
shiori ends with saying how much she loves treha and how much it's ＊cheap＊ but she hopes she did everything well since it's a new technique and we don't know yet how it will age.

discussion ＋ questions time !
ah, someone complains that there is no scales in the photographs in the exhibition pamphlet 😁one of my french archaeology teachers ? shiori says there are scales in the real report.
the glass artefacts, especially beads : how old are they, especially magatama, and can they be

Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
#okimaibun
dated directly.
magatama are generally from beginning of gusuku, shiori gives several old examples from diverse sites.
the direct datation of glass is not technically possible for now. composition analyses help having an idea of the age by comparison.
for ceramic, even if we have small parts we can get a good idea of the original shape.
apparently i'm not the only one against the japanese way of restoring ceram with their white talk 😁
the person talks about 3d printing or virtual
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025

#okimaibun
reconstruction.

and that's the end, now we go to the gallery talk, that i won't toot because i can't type when standing…😁

Show threadJanne MorenFeb 16, 2025

@berangere444
Inability to keep talk time limits is a pet peeve of mine.

The only time I've experienced a justified go-over was a two hour conference tutorial/mini symposium where miscommunication meant the four speakers all thought they had two hours each. Some of those slides went by so fast they were turning into live animations...

Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
@jannem
i don't mind at all being kept an hour more to talk about archaeology 😁
Show threadJanne MorenFeb 16, 2025
@berangere444
Not so great when it uses up time meant for the next speaker. 😤 It's pretty rude.
Show threadJanne MorenFeb 16, 2025

@berangere444
Reminds me that I at one point tried to find information of how far afield coins have spread from the point of origin in premodern eras or antiquity.

As in how far away, say, roman, chinese, malay coins and so on have ben found from their point of issue. And whether that would work as a proxy for mapping transport patterns over time.

Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
@jannem
we have roman and ottoman coins in okinawa 😁
Show threadJanne MorenFeb 16, 2025
@berangere444
Exactly! We should be able to say a lot about trading and travel patterns with that data.
Show threadAlexandraFeb 16, 2025
@jannem
they were found in quite recent layers though. 14th century if i remember correct. i think they show them at the amawari park museum.
the archaeological centre has quite a number of coins out for the exhibition if you want to start an inventory 😁