 Since the wood was very light in weight and retained little of its original cellular structure, consolidation was necessary in order to strengthen the wood, using a dilute solution of Butvar B-98, a synthetic polymer based on polyvinyl butyral.The same polymer was utilized in more concentrated form to carry out repairs; for particularly fragmentary objects, glass microspheres were added to the solution to make a paste for filling gaps and reinforcing joins.A wood species analysis was begun in 1983 by Professor Burhan Aytuğ of Istanbul University, and is now under the direction of Professor Robert Blanchette, Department of Wood Pathology, University of Minnesota.