The Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities has conducted three research projects between 2009 and 2013. The following refers only to the recovered objects of these three periods and in particularly to the glass and ceramic shards found in the shipwreck. It does not include the objects recovered in the past, which are now located in the Pasha’s building as part of the periodical exhibition.
Generally the preservation condition of objects found at a shipwreck site is linked to the formation process after sinking. The case of the shipwreck ‘Mentor’ has however an additional factor that played a crucial role for the condition of the objects found at that particular shipwreck site.
Lord Elgin organized the salvage of the marbles, which the ship transferred two years after the ship had sunk. As a result many objects, which were not recovered by that particular salvage mission, broke or were scraped. Therefore, many objects became a concrete aggregate, located in the stern of the vessel. Objects made out of glass, metal, ceramic, wood, stones and fossils stuck together or were forming an aggregate (e.g. two guns merged together).
During the excavation periods of 2009, 2011 and 2012 exposed objects were recovered by separating them from the rest of the aggregate by the excavators of the EUA.
By the end of the desalination procedure, the objects were categorized in the following groups: 1) intact or almost intact objects 2) fragments including parts of the aggregate 3) great number of glass shards (different types of glass) joined together with ceramic fragments.
Conservation
Initially the shards and the ceramic fragments were cleaned mechanically. Afterwards, the objects were separated in the following groups and subgroups respectively:
1) Glass: a) green transparent glass, b) light green transparent glass, c) colourless transparent glass, d) blue transparent glass, e) black glass, f) white non-transparent glass, g) light blue non-transparent glass, h) light blue-green non-transparent glass.
2) Pottery. The ceramic shards were categorized in the following two groups: a) white and light blue porcelain and b) other pottery.
Initially, the conservators continued the grouping of the ceramic shards of the excavators, while the conservators subsequently checked the different ceramic groups in order to find any fragments, which could be assembled together.
By the end of the cleaning process the following objects were discovered: 1) a silver coin dated to the Hellenistic period 2) an extendible knife 3) an iron canon ball 4) two intact bottles, one with a glass cap, the other with a wooden cap 5) three metal nails 6) a glass (preserved more than 70 %) 7) shards of glass (colourless transparent glass) 8) a neck of a bottle and a base of a light blue non-transparent glass shard 9) glass shards and ceramic shards.
The glass and the ceramic finds were cleaned, glued and categorized in the aforementioned groups.
The objects, which were cleaned in the conservation laboratory of the EUA and not on-site, could be categorized and glued including the smallest pieces of glass.
The objects were glued with PARALOID B72 and with ‘magic tape’. 19.4 % of the 2816 glass pieces was glued.
Excavating the shipwreck ‘Mentor’ is an ongoing project. Many fragments of pottery recovered in the upcoming years are expected to complete those, which have been already recovered. Therefore, no conservation reports for each single object have been filled out, until the excavation will be completed.


Funding: Ministry of Culture and Sports