Le port romain du quartier de Saint-Lupien à Rezé/Ratiatum (Loire-Atlantique) : origine et évolution

• Main Authors: Jimmy Mouchard, David Guitton, Martial Monteil, Xavier Favreau, Nicolas Ménez, Matthieu Yacger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: CNRS Éditions 2021-04-01
• Series: Gallia
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/gallia/5773

The small town of Rezé/Ratiatum is located at the end and along the south shore of the Loire estuary facing Nantes/Condevicnum. Located in the province Aquitania and Pictones territory, the town is situated at an important crossroads of land, river and sea routes. It developed along the river, spreading over at least 40 to 50 ha at its peak, toward the beginning of the 2nd c. AD. The excavations carried out between 2005 and 2016 in the neighborhood of Saint-Lupien made it possible to confirm the existence –over a distance of nearly 200 m– of riverbank developments in close connection with a series of warehouses, previously identified in the 1980s. Initially, beginning at the start of the 1st c. AD, these constructions were light-weight and relatively modest, mounted on posts, including probable installations of fascines, which then gave way to the installation of much more imposing structures from the end of the 1st c. onward. Henceforth, the whole district underwent a vast program of restructuring which was primarily characterized by the reconstruction and expansion of the warehouses at the top of the riverbank and by the establishment of large terraces built according to the timber box formula at the base of the riverbank. These structures, which served as docks along the riverbank of the main river bed, present a mixed framework, consisting of wood and stone, specifically a very elaborate and robust oak frame, including half-timbered facades and significant dry-stone filling. This invaluable evidence of carpentry and masonry work, carried out with feet in the water, supports the idea of ​​an almost unending river project taking place throughout the Early Roman Empire and which profited from exceptional financing resources. These platforms were then subjected to numerous repairs or reconstructions, until a gradual abandonment of wood in favor of stone was introduced for the final terracing endeavor. Along with a nascent hydrological crisis at the end of the Early Roman Empire, the docks were subsequently destroyed and abandoned, gradually being replaced by the installation of a slipway, that would remain active until the beginning of the Middle Ages.