ConNext-2021

62 Crocodile and armadillo coming of age How to preserve rubber objects KEYWORDS: rubber, caoutchouc, oxydative degradation, conservation concept. This talk is dedicated to three figures made of unvulcanised natural rubber (caoutchouc), whose materiality, origin and preservation raise many questions. The objects are part of the collection of the Weltkulturen Museum in Frankfurt am Main. They originate from Guyana and date back to the 19 th century. The figures are formed in the shape of two crocodiles and one armadillo. The material they are made of is mainly harvested from the rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ), which was and is still used as a raw material by different indigenous cultures in the Americas to make various items, ranging from medical equipment to household articles and religious figures. One of the main problems for the conservation of the figures is their advanced degradation. Caoutchouc is a carbon-based natural product and vulnerable through the degradation caused by oxygen. The three figures are over 100 years old and were nearly always exposed to atmospheric oxygen, thereby the typical material properties, which are elasticity and flexibility changed to hardness, brittleness and fragility. These changes resulted in broken parts and losses. An adapted and oxygen-free storage and display would slow down the degradation process. Developing suitable storage facilities is an important part of the conservation concept. That leads to a second major part of the preservation of the figures – the conservation concept itself. There is very little known about the context, use and origin of the objects, hence it is difficult to justify their significance and answer the question ‘Why are they worth preserving?’. With the aid of different papers as well as the collection concept of the museum, a conservation concept for the objects was established. For the justification of the significance among other things the manufacturing method of the figures played a prominent role. By visual examination, X-ray inspection, and research outcome the method could be verified as one, that is traditionally used by indigenous cultures in South America. The conservation and research of the figures are still in progress, but there are already some interesting results of hopefully general interest, that will be presented. hannah.schuermann[at] smail.th ‐ koeln.de