Monitoring

Giorgio Buccellati – April 2011

A chapter of the digital monograph: Site conservation

NOTE: on this topic, cf. also the dedicated topical book on “CONSERVATION”.

The physical aspect/confrontation

Constant monitoring of the physical state of what is being preserved is obviously at the core of the issue. The very concept of preservation means to engage in a fight with events that take place over time. Once exposed, structures and other features in the open air are subject to constant danger from atmospheric elements, and thus a close check of their physical state will inform us about the success or failure of protective mechanisms that have been set in place, and alert us to to new dangers for which nothing has been arranged as yet.

What results from a regular confrontation with the physical dimension is in the first place a decisional moment, when concrete steps must be taken to countervene problems.

The internal record

But there is obviously an obligation to record not only the preventive measures taken as a result of monitoring, but also any and all the observations that have been made in the course of the physical review. This is an internal record, that follows the conceptual and organizational criteria of the conservator, and may lead to an independent publication of the results.

The global record

Within the Mozan system, it is indispensable that all observations resulting from monitoring be integrated, beyond the internal record of the conservator, within the framework of the overall system, in such a way as to reflect conservation concerns in relationship to each individual feature. The conceptual nature of the record as it is conceived within our website is particularly responsive to the notion of monitoring. Monitoring expects potential change. A given feature, once exposed, is not abandoned to itself. It must rather remain present to the attention of the archaeologists as excavations continue, and of site managers, if excavations have stopped.