1 Conservation of low-fired Caution Bay archaeological ceramics Holly Jones-Amin Monash University Melbourne VIC, Australia hjjon2@student.monash.edu www.commercial.unimelb.edu.au/jones-amin/ To cite this article: Jones-Amin, H. Conservation of low-fired Caution Bay archaeological ceramics. In ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Conference Preprints, Melbourne, 15-19 September 2014, ed J. Bridgland, art. 0501, 8pp. Paris: International Council of Museums. (ISBN 978-92-9012-410-8) Abstract Lapita pottery is recorded by archaeologists as being poorly made and suffering poor preservation post deposition. Caution Bay Lapita pottery is, in fact, well made. Deterioration is due to manufacture with paddle and anvil and low firing and burial, producing pottery which is strong vertically and weak horizontally and subject to delamination. Pottery assemblages present complex deterioration challenges which remain largely unexplored in relevant literature. Analysis to establish treatment and the presence of salts in two crumbling Lapita vessels found that no soluble salts are present and that the ceramics disintegrate in water, which prevents any water-based treatments. Vessels were consolidated with Paraloid B-72 or Wacker Silres BS OH 100 to facilitate reconstruction. Key words Lapita, Caution Bay, low-fired ceramics, paddle and anvil, consolidation, Paraloid B-72, Wacker Silres BS OH 100 Introduction This paper details ongoing conservation work undertaken on pottery from Caution Bay, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Deterioration mechanisms that the ceramics were subjected to while buried in sandy deposits for up to 2800 years and the subsequent conservation treatment are discussed. In addition to stabilisation, treatment prepares pottery for documentation and travel, for display at the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery. Two Lapita pots form case studies to discuss manufacture, condition and treatment. This project is a partnership between Monash University, the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery and the University of PNG. As a result of shared results and interdisciplinary respect and