Site conservation during excavation: stabilization and consolidation of Roman funerary monuments in Carthage

Abstract

Foreign archaeological excavations in North Africa and the Middle East are beginning to include architectural or site conservators. The site conservation activities during the Yasmina cemetery excavations in the summers of 1994-95 illustrate how the presence of an architectural conservator, carrying out timely consolidation treatments using lime-based hydraulic grouts and mortar repairs on masonry, wall plaster and stucco decoration, insured the safe excavation and future preservation of several Roman funerary monuments, two of which had been severely damaged in antiquity by an earthquake. Some of the monuments had been partially uncovered in the early 1980s, and were ‘temporarily’ protected with gauze facings and plaster edging repairs before reburial. These emergency treatments, in particular the facings, were revealed to be neither necessary nor easily reversible. Site protection between excavation seasons is discussed. In this case, the archaeologist chose to construct temporary brick structures around the monuments, rather than backfill with soil, due to cost and time constraints. This option was not very successful, especially in preventing crystallization of salts on the wall plaster surfaces. Although recourse was then made to poulticing as an alternative preventive measure against salt damage, backfilling with soil remains the best technique for site protection between seasons unless methods that are less labor-intensive can be found.