Archive note: I conducted this interview for the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training’s Preservation Technology Podcast. It was originally published by NCPTT/National Park Service on February 16, 2010. I’m preserving a record of the conversation here as part of my podcast and interview archive. The original NCPTT/NPS source remains the authoritative publication.
From the transcript
The interview keeps bringing laboratory research back to practice: what problem prompted the research, what the tests actually showed, where the method performs well, what specialized equipment it requires, and where else it might be useful. The larger question is how a promising technique moves from experimental conservation science into something institutions can realistically use.
In this conversation
- Conservation of waterlogged archaeological wood recovered from shipwrecks and marine sites
- Supercritical drying as an experimental preservation method for fragile archaeological materials
- Comparison of supercritical drying with polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment and freeze-drying
- How water, cellular structure, and dimensional change affect the preservation of archaeological wood
- Laboratory testing, materials science, and the evidence needed before a new conservation treatment can be adopted
- Equipment, cost, scale, and other practical limitations that influence whether a technique can move beyond the laboratory
- Potential applications of supercritical drying to other conservation problems and organic materials
- The relationship between conservation science, experimental research, and day-to-day collections care
Eric Schindelholz traces a path from archaeological conservation to materials science through the challenge of preserving waterlogged wood from shipwrecks. He explains supercritical drying, compares it with polyethylene glycol and freeze-drying, and describes both its advantages and its limitations.
Series: Preservation Technology Podcast
Episode: 014
Guest: Eric Schindelholz
Interviewer: Jeff Guin
Original publisher: National Center for Preservation Technology and Training / National Park Service
Theme: Conservation Science & Materials
Listen, read the transcript, and view the original episode at the National Park Service.
Preservation note: A preservation copy of the original MP3 is retained in the Voices of the Past archive.
Catalog Card
Archive Note
This 2010 Preservation Technology Podcast episode follows supercritical drying from laboratory research toward possible conservation use.
What Remains
The specific technique is specialized, but the larger problem—moving preservation research from lab to practice—remains fundamental.
Critical Questions
This artifact contributes to a recurring question in the archive:
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