Wrecks and fishing in an “exemplary” state of conservation. These are the remains recently found on the sandy banks of the Loire, near Ancenis (Loire-Atlantique), and which delight archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap). Submerged by water for most of the year, cotton island and the island of Poulas have in fact become the scene of new discoveries. Near the first a dozen wrecks from the 17th and 18th centuries have just been exhumed. Rare and remarkable, these boats, which show signs of wear, were deliberately filled with stones and installed laterally, to create two rockfills more than 40 meters long.
“The first hypothesis is that it was dams that protected the tip of Cotton Island,” explains Anne Hoyau-Berry, an archaeologist. “But the discovery of a third perpendicular riprap makes us lean towards the development of a port or the desire to bring water to this precise location”. These flat-bottomed barges are characteristic of the merchant ships of the time that transported raw materials (wood, stone, slate, sand), salt or wine.
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About 14 meters long, they are cleared stone by stone by the archaeologists on duty, who must both pump the water that rises from the ground and irrigate the wood to prevent it from deteriorating as it dries. “It is physically difficult strenuous work,” admits the archaeologist. But the summer drought allowed us to work in good conditions ”. And it is now a “race against time before the return of water” that engages scientists, comments Denis Fillon, managing director of Inrap in the Pays de la Loire and scientific director of the sites. The works will end in October with the arrival of the floods.
fishing of the twelfth century
Upstream, on the island of Poulas, three fixed 12th-century fishmongers were discovered, made of stone and wooden stilts. Arranged in a “W” shape, they were used to catch fish that go upstream (salmon) and those that go downstream (eel). Belonging to local lords and ecclesiastics, they made it possible to respect the approximately 150 “lean days” per year imposed by the Church at the time. Traces of boat-mills have also been brought to light, a sign of the density of river activities.
These archaeological sites, which mobilize 33 scientists, with a budget of 1.6 million euros, are part of a vast re-balancing program of the Loire bed led by Voies navigables de France (VNF), between Les Ponts-de-Ce and Nantes. Construction is expected to start next year.
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