After the ship was excavated all 1700 ship timbers had to be cleaned. The ship timbers had been in the ground for hundreds of years and were covered in tar, clay, animal and plant remains and they contained corroded nails. The cleaningprocess had to be done carefully as the wood can be damaged easily. The wooden timbers had to thenbe kept wet because they can breakand crackif they are left to dry out. After cleaning ,the timbers had to be put in a solution of ammonium citrate to remove any pieces of iron that remained in the wood, this process took several months. Currently, the timbers are in a different chemical solution in order to make the wood stronger, this will take around two years. After this process the timbers will be freeze dried ready for reconstruction and hopefully to be put on display.