Archaeology of destruction
rescuing archaeological material from the Príncipe da Beira Fortress in the wake of the fire at Brazil’s National Museum
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31239/vtg.v14i2.26089Keywords:
Archaeology of Destruction, Fortress of Príncipe da Beira, Brazil’s National Museum, post-fire analysis, AmazoniaAbstract
This paper presents a study on the impact of the destruction caused by the fire that ravaged Brazil’s National Museum in 2018 to the archaeological collection from the Príncipe da Beira Fortress, an Amazonian stronghold from the late 1700s. Said collection consisted of more than 7,000 fragments of metal, glass, ceramics, earthenware, porcelain, stoneware and lithic materials dated back to the period between the last quarter of the 18th century and the middle of the 1800s, and was partially retrieved from the museum’s debris during the course of a rescue campaign at the beginning of 2019. Therefore, this article looks at the main challenges and alternatives encountered throughout the rescue, reclassification and conservation processes. Initially conceived as a mere administrative requisite, the damage assessment ended up revealing invaluable data regarding the manufacture, reaction to fire and resistance of the different types of materials that composed the collection. Lastly, by looking at the National Museum’s fire as well as the results of the rescue campaign within the framework of the Archaeology of Destruction, this paper contributes to the debate on the archaeological interventions carried out in areas or contexts associated with “disastrous events” whilst shedding some light on new ways of dealing with and preserving the archaeological materials retrieved in rescue campaigns.
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