L’utilisation du numérique, nouvelles perspectives pour la conservation-restauration des œuvres - Le cas particulier du site de la Carapa, Kourou, Guyane

In our age of ‘dematerialisation’, the field of conservation is also affected by the emergence of digital tools, among which 3D modelling is now becoming easily accessible for everybody. In addition to its promising use for the restitution of elements of sculpture or of buildings, 3D modelling also seemed interesting to us in the case of the engraved stones of Carapa, at Kourou in French Guiana. This site, classified as a historic monument in 1993, has been subjected to a full study and to digital condition reports since 2013. The size of the site, the numerous folds of the rock and the presence of a roof made the creation of an overall view from above very difficult. The now ‘classic’ method involving the annotation of a digital picture proved time-consuming and even inappropriate. This gave rise to the experimentation of a new 3D surveying and annotation system, developed by the CNRS-MAP laboratory (CNRS/MC). Thanks to funding from French Guiana’s DAC (Direction of Cultural Affairs) and the collaboration of the CNP (National Centre of Prehistory), we had the chance to test and evaluate the ‘Aïoli’ platform during our conservation work on the site. This article is an account of that experimentation, highlighting the limitations of the 2D survey undertaken on Photoshop® Elements, then detailing how and to what extent Aïoli® can solve these problems.