ARCHAEOLOGY AND CONSERVATIONAT PONTE DELLA LAMA (CANOSA DI

PUGLIA, ITALY). SOME CONSIDERATIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH.

VeliaPolito1

1 Dipartimento di Scienze dell'antichità e del Tardoantico, Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Strada Torretta

(BorgoAntico),70122Bari, velia.polito@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the conservation activities carried out during and after the excavation of a large

underground christian necropolis in Southern Italy. The peculiar nature of the site required an emergency

conservation plan, connected with the archaeological investigation since the first campaign and aimed to

govern the critical moments of the excavation of the structures and to preserve and detect the information

comingfromthecontext.

The activities, directly realized during fieldwork activity, must be considered as the first attempt of a

possible approach to a methodological integration between stratigraphic excavation and conservation

operations. A shared strategy was set up, to assure the preservation and the conservation of structures and

findings since from the discovery moment. Some important results, including the analysis and conservation

of parts of the original plaster decoration of the galleries, and the interpretation and the assembly of an

important inscription, shattered in over 700 pieces, can help to build a path towards a more sustainable

archaeology.

Parolechiave/Key-words: Emergencyconservation,archaeologicalmethodology