The LATAM stone conservation course took place in Mexico, from 10 to 22 October 2016. This two-week course focused on “Observation, documentation and diagnosis”, and combined a series of theoretical and practical sessions. The eleven participants, including archaeologists, architects, conservators and geologists, used the Maya archaeological site of Chicanná as a case study.
The main objectives of this mid-career training course were to:
- discuss and test an organised visual observation approach, which allows an objective description of heritage sites and their conservation problems;
- evaluate the use of glossaries of stone decay;
- evaluate and use various documentation methods and techniques;
- produce a preliminary diagnosis on specific case studies within the archaeological site of Chicanná, located in the south-eastern state of Campeche, Mexico.
Participants found the course highly useful (several called it “mind-changing”) and plan to use these techniques on return to their home institutions. In particular they considered the visual observation approach to be extremely useful and applicable to other types of heritage as well.
This is the third LATAM stone course. These courses, along with seminars on the same topic held between 2013 and 2016, are encouraging the development of a network of conservation professionals dealing with stone conservation in the region.
Member States represented - Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru
See also:
National Coordination of Cultural Heritage Conservation (CNCPC-INAH)
LATAM: Conservación en Latinoamérica y el Caribe
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