In:
Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, PERSEE Program, Vol. 107, No. 1 ( 2010), p. 53-84
Abstract:
In August 2007, holidaymakers discovered two pairs of polished axeheads that had been set vertically in clayey silt on the beach of Porh Fetan, at a place called Petit Rohu. They reported their find to the Regional Archaeology Service of Brittany and to the Carnac Museum. The shape and material of these axeheads allowed them to be identified straightaway as being of Alpine origin, in common with a number of axeheads found in the region. Permission was obtained from the DRASSM (Marseille) for the Laboratory of Archaeological Research (UMR 6566, Nantes), together with the SRA (in Rennes), to undertake archaeological fieldwork, both on land in the vicinity of the findspot, and under water. Initial fieldwork, carried out during the spring tide on 28th September 2007, produced no further artefacts but did produce evidence for a submerged alignment of stelae (lying stones or fallen menhirs), of which only one was still standing ; an initial plan of this structure was made at that point, and completed during the next investigation, during the spring tide on 27th October. A third investigation, carried out during the last spring tide of the year on 26th November, led to the discovery of a fifth axehead, this time made of fibrolite, found resting against one of the lying stones. Peaty soils had been intermittently observed over many years, buried beneath marine sand ; these are being progressively eroded away by the force of the sea, as their sand cover becomes thinner. Traces of cultivation (criss-crossing each other in some areas) and of ungulate hoof-prints have been conserved on the surface of these soils. This palaeo-environmental context allows us to argue that the axeheads had been deposited in a marshy environment that had developed behind a dune system, at the foot of a remarkable stone outcrop. Rises in sea level since the mid-fifth millennium BC – the likely date at which the axeheads were deposited – mean that the shore has advanced by some 500 metres since then. Today, the findspot of the stone alignment and axehead deposit lies beneath 5 metres of sea. These architectural vestiges join the list of recent discoveries (since 1998) of submerged monuments in the Bay of Quiberon, the Etel estuary and the Gulf of Morbihan. Initial spectroradiometric analysis of the two pairs of axeheads has confirmed that they are of jadeitite, originating in the Italian Alps. Indeed, at least three of the axeheads can be related to a specific block of jadeitite. Their surface finish attests to a considerable investment of time in order to achieve their mirrorlike polish (which survives over part of their surfaces). This underlines the fact that these were not utilitarian axeheads, but instead were very special and precious artefacts 1.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0249-7638
DOI:
10.3406/bspf.2010.13910
Language:
French
Publisher:
PERSEE Program
Publication Date:
2010
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2506497-6
SSG:
6,12
SSG:
6,11
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