Contribution méthodologique au processus de modélisation numérique pour la restitution des monuments archéologiques

Abstract

The theme falls within the strategy of defining practices developed as part of the promotion and presentation of archaeological heritage. The restitution –a concept which initially pertained to the field of conservation and promotion of cultural heritage and is often confused with the concept of restoration– was almost detached from the corpus of concepts pertaining to this field so as to define today the set of works which allow to display the ideal, pertinent image of a cultural property. This terminological evolution indicates the systemic and complex nature of the question of representing property in the digital era and reveals a real paradigm which nowadays characterises the conceptual framework of archaeological restitution. It is in this sense that this research tends to establish, first of all, a theoretical questioning which will enable the clarification of some conceptual considerations based on tangible examples in order to go from a quasi-spontaneous notion to a scientific concept. This phase, indispensable for unambiguous research work, is completed by a study of that historically contextualises the archaeological restitution, thus revealing the complexity of the approach, complexity which is chiefly due to the variation in participants, in the means and conditions which themselves depend on the variation in objectives. This will confirm the transdisciplinary nature of the matter which sometimes refers the authors to architecture, archaeology, and the historical domain, and sometimes to the domain of technical sciences, IT, and communications. This structure, evident both internationally and nationally, is confirmed through the study of some examples of the restitution of archaeological heritage in Algeria and elsewhere. This notwithstanding, the authors have tried, throughout all this work, to keep the research focused on lab goals (LVAP, EPAU). The development of the theoretical aspect will allow the assessment of the state of the art and knowledge pertaining to the digital modelisation of archaeological heritage. It will also provide the necessary bearings for the analysis and application in a case study, namely the nameless temple of Tipasa’s western park. The deductive passage from a general to a specific framework will enable a better apprehension of the question of archaeological restitution which will be considered through the definition of the values of a cultural property, as well as its authenticity, integrity, and its characteristic features. This will be carried according to a protocol which starts from the definition of functions and restitution of models and ends with a process of validation and diffusion. This last phase does not represent the completion of the project; on the contrary, it is an evolutionary phase which will serve –within a strategy of dissemination and popularisation– to develop other alternatives of interpretation and management of data. Nevertheless, the authors cannot stop at the case study because the main stake of the research –as indicated in the title– is to contribute in the elaboration of a methodology relating to the process of digital modelisation with the aim of reproducing archaeological monuments.