Fouille clandestine, fouille fortuite, fouille officielle : aspects de l'archéologie française en Tunisie dans la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle au début du XXe siècle. Etude et restauration de deux stèles puniques en pierre calcaire (Musée du Louvre, dé…

The Louvre’s two Punic steles and the Abbeville Museum’s Roman statue of Venus represent works of art discovered in Tunisia on French archaeological excavations of the 19th and 20th centuries. A comparison of the works illustrates an evolution in the practice of scientific archaeology as well as in museum presentation. The historical study, in association with the technical and material analysis of the three works, lead to the development of different restoration approaches: a treatment of minimal intervention on the Susa stele, a focus on a new mounting system for the funerary stele from Carthage, and an aesthetic restoration for the Venus statue. A scientific study of mortars using colorimetry allowed for the characterization of different mortar compositions, particularly in relation to their behavior during the drying process. Results indicated that mortars with Acryl 33 binders had a slower drying time than lime-based mortars, and that it is preferable to not tint mortars with pigments.