Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1990, Side 149

VIPGERÐ Á LEÐURHYLKI OG VAXSPJÖLDUM FRÁ VIÐEY
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Summary
In 1987 conservators at the National Museum of Iceland were asked to treat a leather
case and five writing tablets of wood, identified as most likely birch, that wcre found at
the Reykjavík Museums’s exavation in Viðey, an island just off the north coast of Reykja-
vík. These tablets from Viðey are among the few writing tablets found in Europe that still
have remains of wax with lcgible text.
A few years earlicr one writing tablet, lacking the wax, was found at a site in South
Iceland, called Stóraborg, Rangárvallasýsla.
Lars-Uno Johansson from the Central Board of National Antiquities and the National
Historical Muscum in Stockholm was a consultant throughout the project.
The tablets were all approxinrately 8.4 X 5.5 cm and 2.0 mm thick. A recessed central
area on both sides of thc tablets held the thin layer of wax which was written in with a
stylus. They were in a leather casc identified as cowhide, 11.2 x 6.7 cm wide and 2.1 cm
decp. The leather was 2.0 mrn thick. On the case was a lid also identificd as cowhide,
9.9 X 6.0 cm wide and 2.0 mm thick. Inside the case on its bottom was also a piece of
leathcr, 7.3 X 6.2 cm wide and 2.0 mm thick.
When brought to the laboratory, the tablets and the case were wet and muddy, and
extremely vulnerable. As the wax tablets were also stuck to each other, they first had to
be separated with a scalpel. Then the wax tablets and the leather were cleaned with a soft
brush in distillcd water.
The leather lid, the leather from the bottom of the case and the writing tablets were
impregnated with 10%PEG 400 (polyethylene glycol) in distilled water. Ferrochloride
stains on the tablets and the leather were cleaned in 9% oxalic acid in distilled water.
Aftcr being cleaned the leather case was imprcgnated with 20% PEG in distilled water.
Thc writing tablets, the leather lid, and the leather from the bottom were then put
between thin layers of plexiglass and put in a freezer. Afterwards all the objects were
freeze dried.
Some of the wax on the writing tablets was rather loose. After being freeze dried it was
refastened to the tablets with watersoluble glue (Acronal 300D).
To restore tablct one and two, which had some pieces needing to bc joined, I used
beeswax.
It was recommended that the writing tablets were not exhibited after conservation,
since they are very vulnerable. They need to be kept in a stable %RH, ca 50-55%, and
will dry up or be otherwise damagcd if exposed to lighting exceeding 50 lux or giving
off any kind of heat.
HEIMILDIR:
Jakob Benediktsson, Magnús Már Lárusson: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder,
bitid XIX, bls. 590-591 og plance 8, Reykjavík 1975.
Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, 1988: Fornleifarannsókti í Viðey 1987, Árbæjarsafn, Reykjavík.