Conservation of a Wooden Vessel from the Ust-Edigan Burial Ground

Abstract

The authors present the result of conservation work conducted in 2025 on a wooden vessel from the Ust-Edigan burial ground of the Bulan-Koba culture. The object was found by an archaeological team led by Y.S. Khudyakov in 1990 during rescue archaeological works in the flooded area of the Katun Hydroelectric Power Station. The significance of these well-preserved wooden artifacts lies in their rarity in archaeological sites of this period. Wood is easily affected by microorganisms and rodents, which hinders conservation of wooden artifacts. Furthermore, timber reacts strongly to changes in humidity, swelling or, conversely, drying out. Upon removal from burial, the object under study was dried quickly and without supervision, which affected its integrity and deformed its shape. This publication presents the main stages of restoration work on dry archaeological wood objects. Parallels with contemporaneous Early Iron Age assemblages from the Altai region are provided. The multidisciplinary approach to studying a single object made it possible to reestablish its shape and manufacturing technology, and introduce a new source for the history of the Bulan-Koba population into scholarly circulation.