CCI recently treated a wooden scoop from Fleur de Lys Soapstone Quarries National Historic Site in Newfoundland. It had been excavated 2 m below the surface next to a wooden platform at the base of a worked soapstone cliff face. The quarry is known to have been used by Middle Dorset Paleoeskimo peoples from about 2000–1000 years ago; carbon-14 dating of the platform gave a date of 1610±60 years before present. Archaeologist John Erwin has indicated that the research in this quarry site "has implications for defining a north eastern variant of Dorset culture on the island of Newfoundland" (Erwin 2000).

This scoop is a fine example of the carving skill of the Dorset people. Curved like a banana, it had probably been used as a cup for water or food. With sides carved down to a thickness of only 3 mm, it had been a lightweight yet sturdy utensil.

When it arrived at CCI, the scoop was in a waterlogged state. The wood, identified as spruce, was a uniform brown colour and generally in very good condition. A small hole in one side was probably the result of a knot having fallen out previously. The inside was filled with sand and gravel from the site, but an X-radiograph showed no evidence of any other artifacts within the scoop.

The scoop before (top) and after (bottom) treatment.

The sand and gravel were carefully washed from the interior of the scoop, and the wood surface was cleaned with an ultrasonic dental scaler and soft brushes. The PEGcon method (which employs software developed jointly by Parks Canada and CCI) was used to evaluate the condition of the wood and to calculate suitable polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations for treatment. The cleaned scoop was then soaked in PEG solution as directed by PEGcon; the wood absorbed the PEG and the cell walls were protected against shrinkage and collapse. The scoop was removed from the PEG solution after several months, briefly rinsed in clean water, and frozen. The water was then removed from the wood by vacuum freeze-drying (a process that removes ice as water vapour, eliminating the stresses normally associated with air-drying). After a final cleaning the scoop was dry, stable, and ready to be returned to the client.

Erwin, J. "Revisiting Fleur de Lys 1, a Dorset Soapstone Quarry in Newfoundland." p. 14 in Abstracts of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, May 3–7, 2000. Ottawa: Canadian Archaeological Association, 2000.