Recent discovery of oysters basins (Vth-VIth century) in Soulac-sur-Mer (Gironde, France)
Découverte récente de bassins d'affinage des huîtres (Ve-VIe siècle), à Soulac-sur-Mer (Gironde)
Résumé
Massively found on antic sites, the native flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, is well known from texts source and from consumption sites on the Aquitaine. The flat oyster was harvested, consumed, and even produced on the Aquitaine coats during the Antiquity. However, any production sites haven’t been reached by archaeological excavations until the discovery of oysters ‘basins on the site of Soulac-sur-Mer, an intertidal beach threatened by current erosion, located on the Atlantic side of the Médoc peninsula (Gironde). At Soulac-sur-Mer, latest research have allowed the discover of several quadrangular structures filled up with oysters and dug into antic intertidal mudflat. According to the geoarchaeological analysis, this intertidal area was the previous location of a vast salt marsh connected to the Gironde estuary by tidal channels and protected of oceanic influence by a coastal dune barrier. The continuous survey of the environmental and archeological remains uncovered by erosion has allowed many archeological discovers including nine oysters ‘basins. Combining sedimentary, stratigraphy, archaeological and preliminary malacological analysis of the basins and of channel network, it has been possible to study both the artificialization of the network channel and the function of the basins. Based on morphological, sedimentary, and archeological criteria, the man-made structures and their relations with the “natural” channel network have been distinguished. The basins are connected on the meandering tidal network by straight supplied canals. The shape and the infill of those basins and canals differ from the channels sequence. The basins don’t’ seem to bear specific man-made structures. However, two wood stacks pontoons crossing two canals have been studied and dated between 425 and 585 AD, dating those structures back to the Late antiquity. Moreover, the study of the oyster shells (sizes, shapes, locations…) highlights significant differences between the channels and the basins. Oyster shells are abundant and calibrated within the basins. Each basin seems related to a specific oyster size. This testifies at least a process of oyster selection. A more extensive malacological analysis should help in establishing whether Soulac basins were used to mature or refine oysters, and possibly in assessing a putative production stage for each basin, to finally reconstruct the entire production chain of oyster farming. At this state of the scientific knowledge, this is the only attested example of refine oyster parks of the roman world. Those discoveries corroborate and highlight the antic authors testimonies. And the existence of oyster farming generated many issues that those discoveries will answer.
Les recherches récentes menées à Soulac-sur-Mer (Gironde) ont permis la découverte de plusieurs structures quadrangulaires, creusées dans les niveaux de vasières antiques et remplies de coquilles d’huîtres. Les études géoarchéologiques montrent que ce secteur d’estran était auparavant occupé par des marais ouverts vers l’estuaire de la Gironde auquel ils étaient reliés par des chenaux tidaux et séparés de l’océan par une barrière dunaire. Le suivi de l’érosion qui affecte ce littoral sableux a permis de découvrir de nombreux vestiges archéologiques parmi lesquels neuf bassins alimentés par des canaux venant se raccorder à un réseau de paléochenaux. Les coquilles d’huîtres s’avèrent particulièrement nombreuses dans ces bassins et leurs dimensions résultent d’une sélection en fonction de leur calibre. Des dates radiocarbone faites sur les pieux de deux pontons franchissant des canaux placent la construction entre 425 et 585 ap. J.-C. En l’état actuel de nos connaissances, il s’agit du seul exemple attesté dans le monde romain de parcs d’affinage des huîtres. Ces découvertes viennent corroborer et éclairer les témoignages des auteurs antiques. L’existence d’une ostréiculture antique a suscité jusqu’à présent beaucoup d’interrogations auxquelles ces découvertes apporteront des réponses.
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