Abstract
This talk covers a period rich in archaeological discoveries at Saida, from a decade before the discovery of the sarcophagus of Eshmounazor II (1855) to the start of French excavations at the dawn of the First World War. A brief chronological overview will provide clarifications and corrections on these discoveries, as well as on the identity of their authors under the Ottoman Empire. Finally, a selection of objects from these early finds (invariably lacking stratigraphic data) will demonstrate that the analysis of this documentation is nonetheless a powerful tool that validates the proposed evolution of a specifically Sidonian art.
