Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement

These introductory remarks, which may also serve as a brief history of the development of an Atlantic coast and river port archeology in France, additionally provide useful historiographical and epistemological references for a better understanding of the origins of and motivations behind the colloq...

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Main Author: Jimmy Mouchard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: CNRS Éditions 2021-04-01
Series:Gallia
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/gallia/5770
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spelling doaj-87a2249e09ef407fb8b1bde04c2d8ae72021-05-04T08:35:05ZengCNRS ÉditionsGallia0016-41192109-95882021-04-0177112810.4000/gallia.5770Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnementJimmy MouchardThese introductory remarks, which may also serve as a brief history of the development of an Atlantic coast and river port archeology in France, additionally provide useful historiographical and epistemological references for a better understanding of the origins of and motivations behind the colloquium organized in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) in June 2018: Roman ports in Atlantic Europe and the corresponding internal waters. At the end of a 20th c., archaeologists and historians primarily worked on examining port potential, without any veritable field activity. The inclusion of this domain in research archaeology excavation, supplemented by exceptional discoveries in the context of rescue archeology, have contributed to the blossoming, at the beginning of the 21st c., of port archeology in metropolitan France, both in estuaries and along rivers. Before embarking on a long journey across the Three Gauls (Lyonnaise, Aquitaine et Belgique), with stops along the way in the best-known ports today, it seemed important to us to recall the foundations of this promising field of study. Some preliminary elements of overview and analysis are also put forward in the following pages; they are meant to encourage general reflection on this field of study, which is currently enhanced by multiple complementary approaches (ethnoarchaeology, virtual restitutions...) and are pursued in the hopes of attaining a better understanding of these ancient harbor spaces. This dossier is also enriched with an opening chapter –chronological and geographical in theme– on the other (Rhine, Rhône and Mediterranean) side of the drainage divide, and which provides a presentation of ports built in lake, fluvio-lacustrine or lagoon settings. In keeping with the conference, this chapter was deliberately angle toward a presentation of port configurations, infrastructures, architectural systems and technological choices made to equip and structure a portion of the port triptych, specifically, loading and unloading areas, the base of banks, as well as navigable space. In this regard, the river-maritime site of Rezé (Loire-Atlantique), tackled between 2005 and 2016 as part of a research program, elucidates perfectly the issue of the relationship between a port and a former branch of the Loire River. Today, its spectacular remains invite a re-appraisal of the ensemble of documentation concerning the Roman ports of the Three Gauls, enriched by recent research excavations, as well as by a wave of rescue operations carried out between 2000 and 2010.http://journals.openedition.org/gallia/5770
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Jimmy Mouchard
spellingShingle Jimmy Mouchard
Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
Gallia
author_facet Jimmy Mouchard
author_sort Jimmy Mouchard
title Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
title_short Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
title_full Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
title_fullStr Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
title_full_unstemmed Les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en France : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
title_sort les ports romains atlantiques et intérieurs en france : équipement, architecture, fonction et environnement
publisher CNRS Éditions
series Gallia
issn 0016-4119
2109-9588
publishDate 2021-04-01
description These introductory remarks, which may also serve as a brief history of the development of an Atlantic coast and river port archeology in France, additionally provide useful historiographical and epistemological references for a better understanding of the origins of and motivations behind the colloquium organized in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) in June 2018: Roman ports in Atlantic Europe and the corresponding internal waters. At the end of a 20th c., archaeologists and historians primarily worked on examining port potential, without any veritable field activity. The inclusion of this domain in research archaeology excavation, supplemented by exceptional discoveries in the context of rescue archeology, have contributed to the blossoming, at the beginning of the 21st c., of port archeology in metropolitan France, both in estuaries and along rivers. Before embarking on a long journey across the Three Gauls (Lyonnaise, Aquitaine et Belgique), with stops along the way in the best-known ports today, it seemed important to us to recall the foundations of this promising field of study. Some preliminary elements of overview and analysis are also put forward in the following pages; they are meant to encourage general reflection on this field of study, which is currently enhanced by multiple complementary approaches (ethnoarchaeology, virtual restitutions...) and are pursued in the hopes of attaining a better understanding of these ancient harbor spaces. This dossier is also enriched with an opening chapter –chronological and geographical in theme– on the other (Rhine, Rhône and Mediterranean) side of the drainage divide, and which provides a presentation of ports built in lake, fluvio-lacustrine or lagoon settings. In keeping with the conference, this chapter was deliberately angle toward a presentation of port configurations, infrastructures, architectural systems and technological choices made to equip and structure a portion of the port triptych, specifically, loading and unloading areas, the base of banks, as well as navigable space. In this regard, the river-maritime site of Rezé (Loire-Atlantique), tackled between 2005 and 2016 as part of a research program, elucidates perfectly the issue of the relationship between a port and a former branch of the Loire River. Today, its spectacular remains invite a re-appraisal of the ensemble of documentation concerning the Roman ports of the Three Gauls, enriched by recent research excavations, as well as by a wave of rescue operations carried out between 2000 and 2010.
url http://journals.openedition.org/gallia/5770
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