 Although the wood recovered from the Levels was visually intact , it was extremely degraded and very soft . Where possible , pieces of wood in good condition , or the worked ends of pegs , were taken away and conserved for later analysis . The conservation process involved keeping the wood in heated tanks in a solution of polyethylene glycol and , by a process of evaporation , gradually replacing the water in the wood with the wax over a period of about nine months . After this treatment the wood was removed from the tank and wiped clean . As the wax cooled and hardened the artifact became firm and could be handled freely . 
