The concept of reversibility in the structural restoration of archaeological sites

摘要

Once the concept of a monument as a document forming part of the archive of a civilization's material history has been accepted, we are faced with the problem of conserving the monument in its material integrity in the interests of future historical research. This problem affects the whole of our historical building heritage, but is particularly crucial for archaeological remains, which owe their existence and conservation entirely to their documentary value. The archaeological heritage is subject to a number of natural and man-made hazards inducing continuous degradation. As time goes by, measures have to be taken more and more often to ensure conservation, and this tends to modify the status quo and compromise the artefact's integrity. Hence the methodological requirement for the "reversibility" of any conservation measure. Unfortunately however, even when reversibility finds consensus in methodological terms, it comes up against resistance both at the planning stage and on site, so that in reality most of the interventions carried out today are irreversible. The problem is particularly complex in the field of structural restoration (which would be better named "construction restoration"). Our research has investigated the topic of "potential reversibility" in both theoretical and practical terms, including the analysis of numerous restoration techniques and some case studies in the restoration of major archaeological monuments. At the theoretical level we have considered the problem of establishing the history of interventions carried out in the course of time, which more often than not compromise a monument's integrity. In practical terms we have identified a series of criteria to be followed during an intervention, which tend to ensure integrity and sufficient reversibility.