56. Quatre communes du Morbihan : Carentoir

EAST BRITTANY SURVEY:
QUST-VILAINE UATERSHED
REPORT ON FIELDWORK IN MARCH-APRIL 1985
The fourth season in a programme of fieldwork, itself part of a
larger, multi-discipl inary
study of the rel ati onshi p between
land-use and seulement during the last two thousand years, took
place between 21 March and 13 April in the communes of Ruffiac,
Tréal , St-Nicol as-du-Tertre and Carentoir in the Morbihan in
eastern Brittany.
The aim of the study is to détermine when, how
and why the exploitation of the environment changed direction
within the
historic period, and the effects of such changes on
social groupings and labour patterns.
The complète fieldwork
programme consists of systematic fieldwalking of ail available
ploughed fields within the four communes, together with sélective
geophysical and geochemical surveys, and small excavation;
in
addition,
environmental
analysis and a survey of standing
buildings is being undertaken.
The larger study involves
(amongst other éléments) analysis of documents, including the
very detailed cadastral maps and records of the early nineteenth
century (Asti 1 1 and Davies 1982a, 1982b, 1984b).
The latter
analysis has been completed and, as demonstrated below, is of
particular significance for fieldwork.
The 1985 season involved fieldwalking over large areas at wide
intervais, as in 1982 - 84;
fieldwalking four selected areas in
5m squares for 'total' surface collection;
phosphate analysis
and soil magnetic susceptibil ity survey
of the four selected
areas;
and excavation of part of a bank and
lynchet near a
field from which 'total' collection had previously been made.
Three days (21-23 March) were spent in préparation by three
people;
the main team (consisting
largely of past and présent
students from the Universities of London and Reading) numbered
twenty-two,
including the directors;
it worked for twel ve
days, from 24 March, and had one day off;
nine people (including
one director) remained for an additional week to concentrate upon
the excavation.
Overall , 434 mandays were spent on this year's
season, including travelling time and time off;
364 of thèse
were working days.
Two of the main team spent most of their
time assisting in a survey of standing buildings already in hand
when the season started, and one spent three days taking soil
samples for analysis at the Institut
National
Agronomique
Pari s-Grignon .
The weather varied between bad and appalling
for much of the three weeks, with plenty of rainfall , but the crop
was not high and fields were often in idéal condition for walking.
The season was therefore especially productive.
Fieldwalking in Runs at 50m intervais (Transect Walking)
Fieldwalking over large areas was organised within transects
running
south/north across the communes.
L (in Ruffiac), the
only transect not yet walked, was completed and two adjacent
transects in Carentoir (F and C), which had been inadequately
covered in 1983 because
of
the height of the crop, were
rewalked;
F included the cadastral and
modem village of
Carentoir (see fig. 1).
Except for a small area in the north of
C, and for fields previously covered, ail fields under plough and
with young crop within the three transects were walked at 50m
1
intervais, using collection units of 100m;
field conditions,
features, présence of schi ste and local
pronunci ations were
noted on standardised recording forms.
463
fields were thus
covered, encompassing 772 hectares (4.01% of the surface area of
the four communes).
30.99kg of pottery and 93.92kg of man-made building material were
recovered from the transects;
45% of the pottery was médiéval,
53.6% post-medieval and 1.4% Roman.
No pre-Roman pottery was
found, but sixteen worked flints were recovered, three from
transect L, three from C and ten from F, and also a stone axe,
the stone of which has yet to be identified (F117).
Two
possible areas of ridge and furrow were noted, along with
fourteen lynchets and eight (mostly substantial) old banks.
As
in previous years there were considérable variations in the
concentration of recovered material, and the same conventions are
hereby used to distinguish between them:
fields in which more
than two neighbouring units each produced five or more sherds of
the same broad period (or five or more fragments of building
material) have been termed 'sites 1 ;
fields in which one unit
produced five or more sherds or fragments of building material,
and two or more neighbouring units produced one to four, or two
neighbouring units each produced five or more sherds or fragments,
have been termed 'probable sites';
fields in which there were
irregular concentrations of material not covered by the above
catégories - for example, one unit with five or more sherds of the
same period - have been termed 'possible sites'.
(The minimum
number of finds necessary to qualify a concentration for comment
has been de! iberately fixed at a low level
in order to secure a
wide range of possibil ities for testing;
in fact, in many cases
numbers were far higher than the necessary minimum.
It should
be stressed, yet again, that the terms are conventions for
distinguishing between greater and lesser concentrations and for
providing a means of référence to them;
they do not necessarily
dénote the position of former settlements. )
In accordance with the conventions,
187) may be classified as follows:
the
concentrations (total
'Sites'
'Probable'
'Possible'
L
4 (2.3%)
26 (14.9%)
34 (19.5%)
F
5 (3.2%)
22 (14%)
40 (25.5%)
C
9 (6.8%)
21 (15.9%)
26 (19.7%)
Total s
18 (3.9%)
69 (14.9%)
100 (21.6%)
Ail types
64 (36.8%)
67 (42.7%)
56
187 (40.4%)
(42.4%)
Fields
174
157
132
463
wal ked
(Percentages of fields walked per transect and in toto.)
Of thèse concentrations, none
produced
predominantly Roman
material although 4.8% produced s orne Roman material; 27.3% had
predominantly médiéval,
38.5%
predominantly
post-medieval,
and 8.6% more than the necessary minimum proportions of médiéval
and post-medieval
sherds.
The
remaining
concentrations
(25.7%) had a prédominance
of
building material, at présent
treated as undatable.
2
As usual , the topographical position of the sites was analysed.
About a third of them (29.4%) were on flat 1 and while 17.1% were
on south-facing and 16.6% on south-east-f acing slopes.
Upland
concentrations were less notable than in 1984 (transects H, J, K)
with only a
quarter lying between the 50m and 75m contours;
more than half 1 ay between 25m and 50m (59.9%), as in the other
Carentoir transects.
Only 35.3% of sites 1 ay within 250m of
streams that are mapped, far less than in 1984, while a further
39% were up to 500m, and 25.6% more
than 500m, away;
it was
largely sites in F that caused this anomaly.
Comparison was
systematical ly made with the early nineteenth-century pattern of
land-use and settlement, as evidenced by the ancien cadastre, as
usual.
More than three-quarters of the concentrations (80.2%)
lay more than 100m away from early nineteenth-century settlements
and only 7.5% lay
within
50m
of them.
(This is not
signif icantly différent from distances from modem settlements).
Surface
material
tends
to
be
found
within
areas
of
nineteenth-century arable, as always - especially in bandes
(literally 'bands 1 , arable divided into tenant parcels) - and the
proportion was
comparable
with
that
of
1984 (70.1% of
concentrations in 1985, as compared with 66.7%).
The remainder
occurred in nineteenth-century meadow and/or pasture (3.8%),
marginal
1 ande
(unculti vated land, not
fallow
- a high
8.6%), woodl and (0.5%),
curtilage and areas of mixed land-use;
ail but the latter suggest some measurable change in land-use by
indicating pre-nineteenth-century arable or settlement.
In some
parts cadastral land-use, naming and road patterns themselves
indicate former settlement sites, especially where very small
fields of very mi scell aneous^ land-use are arranged in relation to
tracks, like the curti 1 agesand clos that surround settlements
both now and in
the early 'nineteenth century (Astill and Davies
1982b: 21f, 31).
Thèse cadastral suggestions coincided with
fields that produced concentrations of surface material at the
post-medieval
'site' C470 and, more arguably, the post-medieval
'probable site 1 C473, although no buildings were indicated there
in the nineteenth century.
One concentration was located in an
area which had standing, inhabited,
buildings in the early
nineteenth century, but which is now devoid of structures or
earthworks:
F212,
a
'possible
site'
(médiéval
and
post-medieval ) .
Overall, concentrations of surface material were most frequently
found in the basin to the south of Ruffiac village (the centre of
L) and in the nei ghbourhood of
Trignac,
in
the
north of
Carentoir commune (F);
however, sites were common throughout the
southern halves
of
F
and
C, particularly in the Coet
Morel /Hôtel Orl and area (Carentoir).
Surface material is
markedly absent
from fields on the
northern and southern
boundaries of L, on the east/west ridges (particularly on a band
north west of Carentoir) and - as might be expected - on most
steep slopes.
There are again, then, di stincti vely 'blank'
zones within the four communes and by contrast zones that tend to
produce greater or smaller surface scatters.
Either natural
schiste or conglomerate are usually présent on the surface of
fields in ail three transects, as also is imported
'roofing'
si ate or schi ste;
the imported material is notably absent from
fields cleared of woodl and since the 1 ate nineteenth century.
Fieldwalking in 5m squares ('Total' Coll ecti on )
In order to investigate the nature of sites identified in transect
walking, as in 1983 and 1984 some fields were the subject of more
intensive study:
four fields
(A107, D221, B216, B347) were
gridded in 5m squares so that everything on the surface of the
fields, including schiste, might be collected.
A107 had been
classified as a 'possible site', with comparable amounts of
médiéval and post-medieval pottery; 0221 had been classified as a
'possible site', with a prépondérance of médiéval
pottery in an
assemblage that included Roman wares;
B216 was a 'blank' field
which had produced no finds;
B347 was classified as a 'site 1 ,
with
Roman
pottery predominating.
Soil samples for future
phosphate analysis were taken from the topsoil in ail squares, at
5m intervais, and soil magnetic suscepti bi 1 i ty readings were also
taken at 5m intervais, at the spot from
which
samples
had
been lifted.
Fluxgate gradiometer readings were not taken since
1984 tests suggested that thèse were only useful if taken at much
narrower intervais.
Schiste was collected, totally from A107,
D221 and B216, and in a limited sample from B347 (from one square
in every nine).
This was subsequently classified in three colour
catégories (black/grey, green/grey and red/yellow) and three sizes
(<0.5cm, 0.5-1. 5cm and >1.5cm) in an attempt to find criteria for
distinguishing between local and imported material.
A107 lies just below a flat, exposed
hilltop
on
a
south-facing slope 75-80m high.
The area was arable when the
cadastral
survey was recorded, the field being the same size and
shape as at présent but divided into bandes;
an area of
1 ande lay
to
the
north
and the nearest settlement
(La
Boulardaie) lay 130m away.
Pottery, building material
and
schi ste were collected from an area of 1 hectare, distributed
ail
over the field,
with no obvious clustering;
magnetic
susceptibil ity readings did not vary very much.
Quantities of
pottery, and of brick and tile especially, were low: 0.41 sherds
of
médiéval
pottery per square
(2.72g), 0.55
sherds
of
post-medieval
pottery per square (4.4g) and 0.29 fragments of
brick and tile (6.58g).
The assemblage included five worked
flints, one pièce of haematite and two pièces of
tegul a.
Although black/grey and grey/green schiste were présent ail over
the field, and looked like natural , red/yellow schi ste was
distributed in a pattern similar to médiéval and modem pottery
and could have been introduced on to the surface.
The small
quantities of archaeol ogical material
recovered, and its gênerai
distribution, suggest that it was brought on to the field in the
course of manuring;
quantities,
pattern of distribution and
topographie position are similar to those of B319, walked in 1983
and also interpreted as a manuring scatter
(Astill
and Davies
1984a:
20).
Six fields in the near vicinity were also walked
at 50m intervais;
thèse produced some material but no notable
concentrations.
D221 lies on the 45m contour in a flat area.
In the
early nineteenth century it 1 ay on a track and was part of a block
of arable in
the ' château landscape' associated with La Meule,
125m
to the west
(a
landscape
where
seigneurial
1 and
management
introduced
distinctive rectangular field shapes,
greater expanses of meadow and woodl and and diversions of streams
and roads for essentially aesthetic purposes [Astill and Davies
1982b: 22]).
An area of 0.62 hectares was walked, yielding
0.31 Roman sherds per square (2.77g), 0.52 médiéval sherds
(2.72g), 1.15 post-medieval sherds (4.1g) and 6.36 fragments of
brick
and
tile
(115.57g).
The
assemblage
included
second-century
central
Gaulish
Samian
and
rims
of
third/fourth-century types;
thirty-eight pièces of tegul a and
twenty-nine of imbrex;
three pièces of haematite (310g) and
two worked
flints.
Magnetic susceptibil ity readings did not
vary much, but although médiéval and post-medieval pottery were
gênerai ly distributed over the field, both Roman wares and brick
and
tile
cl ustered in the north-west quarter.
Although
quantities of
Roman pottery were small, those of brick and tile
were unusually large, and their distribution, together with the
nature of the assemblage, suggests that the field once contained a
Roman-period structure.
Médiéval and post-medieval pottery, by
contrast, probably arrived as a resuit of manuring.
B216 lies on a slight north-west si ope at 65m in an area
that was
extensive 1 ande in the early nineteenth century.
Previously, there was little to suggest that it was cultivated
before the twentieth century and it is clearly in a zone that was
marginal for most of the historic period: the nearest settlement
(La Bridelaie) is 500m away.
0.41 hectare was walked.
No
pre-medieval or
médiéval pottery was recovered and no brick or
tile;
but 0.05 sherds per square of récent post-medieval pottery
were collected and eleven pièces of haematite (1561g).
There
was little variation in magnetic susceptibil ity readings.
The
results confirm the impression that this 1 and was not brought
into cultivation until the twentieth century, and confirm the
classification made on the basis of transect walking - the field
real ly is 1 bl ank 1 .
B347 lies on a slight
east-facing
slope at 35m, beside
a stream, and its size is 0.44 hectare.
In the early nineteenth
century it was part of an area of water meadow, 250m from the
nearest settlement of Le Cleu.
0.3 Roman sherds per square were
collected
(2.11g),
with
0.4 médiéval sherds (1.63g), 0.31
post-medieval sherds (1.71g) and 2.38 fragments of brick and tile
(50.82g).
The assemblage included second-century Roman wares,
fifteen fragments of tegul a and one of imbrex.
Médiéval and
post-medieval pottery were gênerai 1 y distributed over the field
but both Roman pottery and brick and tile cl ustered
in the
north-eastern third.
As with field 0221, this cl ustering was
sufficiently pronounced (and sufficiently
distinct from the
distribution of médiéval and post-medieval pottery) to suggest
that
a
Roman-period
structure once stood on
the field.
Magnetic susceptibil ity readings produced unusually high values,
and rather more variation than did the other fields, with some
tendency for lower readings in the area of the brick/tile/Roman
cl ustering.
A pl atf orm at the north-western edge of the field
produced little material of any type;
it is likely that this
area has been ploughed down to the bedrock.
Quantities of
natural
schi ste
from
this
field
were enormous, some
squares producing 45kg;
the sampling strategy proved to be of
very limited value since it was impossible to gain a sensé of
overall distribution and
difficult to correl ate the collected
squares with the cl usters of other classes of material.
5
Excavations (EBS85 Tl and T2)
Small -scale excavation of earthworks was undertaken in
order
to begin investigation of the soils and archaeology within field
boundaries
near
sites
identified
in fieldwalking.
As
indicated previously, one of the areas of greatest environmental
potential lies in attention to the pedology and sedimentol ogy of
the soils themselves, especially where this can be precisely
rel ated to the archaeol ogi cal évidence (Astill and Davies 1984c:
58).
The features chosen were
close
to
A116, a
concentration of médiéval pottery ('site') discovered in the
course of transect walking in 1982.
In 1983 a 'total' collection
was organised over the
same
area,
with geophysical
and
geochemical prospection. The results
suggested that there was
domestic occupation on some part of the field, at least during the
médiéval period (Astill and Davies 1984a: 20).
A116 lies to the north of Ruffiac, between Coetion and Le Vivier.
It is located in a small damp valley bottom, on a north-facing
si ope, at 70m. At least one platform can be seen. To the north of
the field, in the lowest part of the valley, is an area of
permanent pasture in which there is a prominent bank and a
possible platform (see fig. 2). The bank runs diagonally across
the valley bottom.
130m to the west of this bank, at the bottom
of the south-facing slope of the valley, is a pronounced lynchet
some 1.8m high.
This area is near the
northern
periphery of the Ruffiac
commune, and the ancien cadastre
indicates that it was a zone
of extensive 1 ande in the early nineteenth century. Set within
the 1 ande was
the
petit
château
of
Coetion, with its
metai ries (associated farms) of La Touche Gourelle, Bas Coetion,
Ruis, Gayon, and Le Vivier.
The surroundings of the château
seem to
have been deliberately landscaped with long, straight,
tree-lined approach roads, copses and a fish pond, and the farms
are surrounded by the
large
rectangul ar blocks of arable
characteristic
of
the ' château
landscape".
Since
the
château appears to have been built by the seventeenth century,
and the associated landscaping at least considerably pre-dates
the nineteenth century, the settlement at Allô was presumably
abandoned before
seigneurial interests put their mark on this
landscape.
The bank, which lies
in
an
area
of
nineteenth-century meadow and is not
shown
on the ancien
cadastre, may
therefore relate to
earlier land-use;
the
lynchet lies at
the
edge
of
the château arable, about
which - at least - it should furnish some useful information.
After three days préparation, excavation
took place over eight
days
with a team of nine
people, making a
total
of 52
working days. The weather during this period was appalling, with
torrential rain and high winds: one complète day was lost and
extremely
difficult
conditions prevailed on another three.
Excavation therefore had to be more limited than was intended.
The excavation strategy was similar to that used by Martin Bell to
sample lynchets and valley bottoms in the south of England (Bell
1977; 1983). A 2m-wide trench, 14m long, was eut across the large
lynchet (Site Tl), and a lm-wide trench, 18m long, across the bank
(Site T2). This was done using a JCB, a method that would allow a
preview of the stratigraphy .
lm-wide trenches were excavated
to the side of the machine cuts,
and thèse were divided into
mètre squares to facilitate excavation and recording.
Soil was
excavated using trowels
and ail the finds, with the exception of
schiste, were three-dimensional ly recorded.
Because
of the
quantities recovered and the lack of time, the schi ste was
collected in 5cm spits.
The bad weather prevented total excavation of the trenches. In
Trench 1 work
was concentrated in areas where features had been
observed in the machine-cut trench:
64% (9 of the 14 mètre
squares) was dug.
As no features were seen in the machine
trench,
alternate
squares were excavated in Trench 2 and hence
50% (9 of
the 18 mètre squares) was dug.
Soil samples for
micromorphol ogical and
pollen analysis were taken in columns
from the
sections, using purpose-made meta! containers. Small
test holes were also eut by machine at every 15m to the north of
Trench 1
(up the side of the south-facing valley) in order to
record the depth of the subsoil (see fig. 2).
Trench 1.
A shallow ditch was located, eut into the
subsoil and natural schi ste. It had a slightly sloping bottom
(33cm wide) and was situated 5m north of the crest of the présent
lynchet; the ditch was on approximatel y the same alignaient as the
lynchet. The ditch was fi 1 1 ed with a homogeneous silty loam which
contained two sherds of médiéval pottery and two pièces of (?
médiéval) tile. The
fill
of the ditch was indistinguishable
from the overlying thick 1 ayer of loam, which constituted the
main body of the lynchet and lay immediately below the modem
plough soil. The loam and the plough soil produced 112 pièces of
brick/tile and 92 sherds of pottery.
Most of the pottery was
of fabric 1 (64%), the most common médiéval type found in surface
collections throughout the study area, with 11% of fabric 5, a
soft cream fabric used for médiéval table wares. There was a small
proportion of both Roman and
early médiéval types (3% [fabrics
13 and 16] and 2% [fabric 10] respecti vel y;
see below, 10).
The
absence
of
the
highly
fired
quartz-tempered wares
characteristic of the région in the sixteenth to early eighteenth
centuries was notable: only 3% of
post-medieval pottery was
recovered, and that mostly modem.
There was no
apparent
zoning
of particular fabrics, which
would suggest a constant accumulation of soil produced by near
continuous ploughing of the field to the north, at least during
the médiéval period (see fig. 3).
The trial holes up the slope
to the north of Trench 1 showed that the subsoil occurred at a
shallow depth (about 30cm), in contrast to that recorded at the
north end of Trench 1 (lm), and at the crest of the lynchet
(1.8m), indicating notable col 1 uvi ation . The schi ste
recovered
from the lynchet was not derived from the yellowish-red type which
constituted the natural bedrock in the trench. Most was of a
grey/green colour.
The greatest amounts
were recovered at
depths of between 5 and 40cm, as was also true of the other
material.
The pottery, brick, tile and also this schi ste were
probably brought on to the field in the course of manuring.
Trench
2.
The
remains
of
a
bank, only 20cm high, were
found lying on the natural, midway along the trench.
The bank
was made of redeposited natural clay;
no associated structural
features were observed nor dating évidence recovered.
The
bank appears to have been sufficiently big for soil to accumulate
behind and eventually over it, thus producing a shallow lynchet.
This soil was a homogeneous loam. It produced only seven pièces of
brick and tile and 47 sherds of pottery. Most of the pottery was
of fabric 1 (44.7%); there was also a notable proportion of the
médiéval
tableware,
fabrics 5 (12.5%) and 6 (21.3%). The
post-medieval wares were mainly nineteenth-century types (8.5%).
As in Trench 1, there was no apparent zoning of particular
fabrics.
The
quantities
of
the
(non-local)
schi ste
progressi vely decreased with depth, and the small amount of brick
and tile is in striking contrast to that in Trench 1.
The excavations are important for demonstrating the archaeol ogical
potential
of small -scale work on field boundaries in this area.
The ditch in Trench 1 is likely to be an earlier field boundary,
perhaps marking the division between cultivable 1 and and the wet
areas of the valley bottom.
In Trench 2 the bank may have
marked the boundary between plough land and meadow and could also
have acted as a kind of flood barrier;
the shallowness of the
loam deposit would argue for a shorter period of ploughing in the
lower northern slope of the valley (the area immediately behind
this bank).
The absence of brick and tile coul d indicate that
this happened before brick and tile were in common use.
Both
trenches have shown that lynchets could have a complicated
history, with their origins in other features. From the point of
view of land-use history, the pottery suggests that this area of
Ruffiac commune was intensively cultivated from the 1 ater twelfth
century (although small amounts of earlier pottery could reflect
earlier activity), while the absence of early post-medieval
wares suggests a lapse in arable cultivation during the early
modem period or changes in manuring practice.
Since the two
trenches showed différent amounts of soil buildup and material in
the two areas, changes in manuring practice rather than lapse in
cultivation may be more relevant in explaining the data from
Trench 1.
The land-use around Trench
2 clearly changed when it was
exploited as meadow,
apparently
in the early post-medieval
period.
The range of pottery
found in both field boundaries
reflects closely that recovered from 'total' collection of Allô.
The
désertion of the médiéval settlement may have been connected
with the remodelling of this area when or shortly after the
château
was
built.
It is therefore
hoped
that
further
investigation of Allô will
clarify the relationship between
settlement and surrounding earthworks.
To date, nothing suggests
that this area was intensively cultivated before the Roman period,
but the weight of évidence suggests intensive cultivation in the
late middle âges that was limited in the early modem period with
changes in the social status of the 1 andowner and in his method of
1 and management.
8
Envi ronmental , Pottery, Architectural and Language Work, 1984-85
In the course of the last year pollen analysis has been carried
out on samples taken during 1984, in particular from buried soils
beneath banks
in
woods
near
Le
Vivier (not far from the
excavation site) and Le Rond Point
(Carentoir),
areas of
extensive 1 ande in the early nineteenth century.
Although the
sample was small, in both cases there were indications of cereal
cultivation in phases previous to those dominated by grass and
calluna heathlands.
Further samples have also been tested for
diatom préservation:
diatom floras do survive, though often in
a fragmented state, and it does not look profitable to pursue this
work in the near future.
The preliminary stages of analysis of
the pedology and sedimentol ogy of the soils have been initiated.
Dr Marie-Agnès Courty and M. N. Fedoroff, with their assistant
Anne Gebhardt, visited the study area during the season and
proposed - as part of an investigation into the application of
microscopic
techniques
to the identification of traces of
agricultural and pastoral activities in the soils and sédiments a sustained programme of soil analysis in close association with
other field and archive work in the area.
Samples were taken
from Trench 1 and Trench 2;
more will
be taken during the
summer;
and micromorphological analysis will begin in September.
The samples taken from 'total' collection sites
in
1984 for
phosphate analysis have ail been processed and a study was made
of phosphate
concentrations at the deserted médiéval settlement
at Kerlano.
This
site,
partially
excavated by M. Patrick
André nearly twenty years ago, is located in the granité upland
of the Landes de Lanvaux, 30km west of the study area, and is the
nearest known surviving médiéval settlement (André 1974).
At
least one building in the settlement had a central hearth, and
middens (represented by pottery dumps) were located around the
buildings immediately outside their walls.
In an attempt to
understand phosphate concentrations and magnetic susceptibil i ty
readings from the fields
of the study area, and to pursue the
problem of surface scatter arising from middens, it was decided to
investigate
phosphate and magnetic susceptibil ity readings from
this
known
settlement
with its known pattern of rubbish
disposai.
In
December
1984
soil samples and magnetic
suscepti bil i ty readings were taken at
mètre intervais along
transects intersecting in the middle of an unexcavated building.
In gênerai both magnetic susceptibil ity readings and phosphate
quantities were very low, at less than 10 Si/kg and lOOppm, but
over the site of the building, especially inside and immediately
outside its walls, there were higher levels of 26-37 Si/kg and
200-300ppm.
The experiment suggests that we might expect
structures and middens in the study area to produce relatively
high levels.
Pottery from the 1984 season has been sorted and classified by
Astill, Cook and Wright, and compared with the existing fabric
séries.
No changes have been suggested for this séries, which
now comprises 16 fabric groups for prehistoric, Roman, médiéval
and early post-medieval pottery.
In December 1984 the fabric
séries was compared with that generated by survey undertaken
around St Malo by the Centre Régional Archéologique d'Alet.
Similarities in some of the médiéval fabrics were noted, and there
was a striking visual similarity between fabric 10 and pottery
from a kiln found at Guipel ( 1 1 1 e et Vilaine). The kiln produced
an archeomagnetic date of 895-945 AD.
A survey of ail standing buildings has been in progress in the
study area since October 1984, undertaken by Pete Addison, working
as a fui 1 -time research assistant.
To date, 4000 buildings have
been recorded on standardised recording forms, coding their
attributes to enable electronic sorting.
Thèse forms are
accompanied by notes and drawings, together with 1000 photographs.
Although the main work has been of
recording, provision of a
dating framework for the undated buildings is at an advanced
stage, assisted by the récognition of characteristic seventeenthand 1 ate nineteenth-century types.
It is clear that some
settlements
have a prépondérance of one or other of the two
common types of building - the single cell , with ground floor
hall and storage loft above, and the long-house, combining byre
and hal 1 .
Local pronunci ation material collected while fieldwalking has
again suggested that the influence of the vernacular language is
évident in scattered parts of the study area;
initial stress on
Trignac and Kerhal , for example, are notable.
Pi scussi on
The 1985 season
produced the highest number
of sites in
transect walking and by far the greatest quantity of material,
including very large amounts of brick and tile.
The season
also allows further observations on the problems identified in
1984 and some reinf orcement of the suggestions made there, with
some useful focussing on early modem, pre-cadastral use: the
relevant problems are those of distinguishing manuring from
settlement scatters and of determining the extent of
scatter
generated
from
inhabited
buildings (Astill and Davies 1984c:
55-8).
It is even
clearer that crude quantities of surface
material are no sure guide
to the ci rcumstances
of
its
déposition:
distribution over the field is as significant as
quantity and fields - and even gardens - beside long-establ ished
inhabited settlements do not
necessarily produce the greatest
quantities of material;
27 fields hard by buildings tended to
have as much post-medieval
as médiéval pottery but only seven
produced
sufficient concentrations to warrant classification;
fields penetrating the buildings at Rangera, Bussonaie, Pied,
Gaincru and early médiéval Lodineu ail produced no, or next to no,
material.
As in 1984, even fields with inhabited structures in
the early nineteenth century produced no more material than that
sufficient to qualify as a 'possible site' (F212);
and, as noted
above, most of the high concentrations occurred more than 100m
from présent and cadastral settlements.
In the particular case
of Roman wares, only small quantities have been recovered and
the 'total' collections made from D221 and B347 both suggest that
Roman sites generate little pottery on the surface, though they
may produce large quantities of brick and tile.
0f course,
sometimes fields by inhabited settlements produce plenty of
material, such as other parts of Gaincru, the field beside La
Charmille on the outskirts
of Ruffiac, and those beside the
château of Peccaduc;
most notable are the quantities in and
lO
around
the
small
settlement
of
Trignac
and
on
the western
outskirts
of
Carentoir
village,
a
striking contrast with that
collected around Treal centre in 1984
(Astill
and
Davies 1984c:
56).
In fact, the combination of material again
suggests that
modem settlements
generate
little
scatter and that - in
this
study area - large quantities
indicate
1 ate médiéval
and/or
early
modem
(twelfthto
seventeenth- century)
activity.
Indeed,
further,
surface
finds
suggest
that
settlements
throughout the modem period may have
generated
less than 50m of
scatter:
in L90 finds occurred within 20m of the buildings at the
side of the field and not beyond;
at
the
petit château of Gre'e
Orlain
there were
fields
that were
'blank'
a short distance
between inhabited buildings and 'probable sites'.
Of course, it is
not merely past settlement that is of interest
but
past
land-use
too.
As
demonstrated
by
the
'total'
collection
sites of D221 and B347, even
one
field
can
produce
distribution patterns
that differ by period;
the
cl ustering
of one class
of material
can
suggest
structures, the lack of
cl ustering
of
another
can
suggest
the
effects
of manuring.
Comparison with
cadastral
land-use
can
also
be helpful here.
Sites
like
Trench
2
- which
fall
in
areas
of early
nineteenth-century
meadow
or 1 ande
are
likely
to
represent
pre-nineteenth-century
activity,
and
as
the excavation
clearly
demonstrates
sometimes
cultivation,
pace our
earlier
suggestion
(Astill
and Davies 1984c:
58).
This
year concentrations on meadow/1 ande most frequently produced
a
prédominance
of
post-medieval
pottery.
This
suggests
that
many of
the concentrations were
in areas of early modem arable;
in
the
case
of those in the
1 ande they may indicate the taking
in of new arable in marginal areas in the
context
of
population
pressure.
Here, both this
year' s
excavations and the récent
pollen
analysis
provide
compl ementary material,
with
their
suggestions
of
cultivation
in
areas
that were certainly - at
différent periods
peripheral
1 ande.
Fields walked on
recently
cleared
woodl and
also
produced
some
compl ementary
material,
as
in 1984.
Again, much of
the established woodland
of the early twentieth century lies in 'blank' areas that produce
no surface material when
the wood
is cleared and fields walked;
again, this suggests no médiéval or early modem
cultivation
in
those
parts.
However,
a small proportion of recently cleared
woodland did produce surface material.
This was sometimes Roman
and
sometimes médiéval
but it was also sometimes post-medieval.
In the 1 atter cases the woodland (deciduous as well as coniferous)
can hardly be more
than
two
hundred years old.
In such ways
surface
scatters,
in
association
with
other
évidence,
are
beginning
to
suggest
precisely localisable changes in land-use,
especially during the 1 ast millenium.
This year also saw a major attack on
the
problem of
the local
schi stes.
The
problem
is a simple one:
because of outcrops
and deep ploughing, fields
more
often
than
not have a
surface
scatter
of
freshly broken
and/or
abraded schi ste;
schiste is
also the most common building material
in
use
in the study area
between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries.
Given that
vacated
buildings
are
often
left
to di sintegrate ,
collapsed
buildings
are
likely
to
leave
a
surface
scatter of schi ste;
where
this is distinguishable from natural, the distinction ought
I \
to be noted since the material may be just as significant as
surface brick and tile.
We have made some
progress in
characterising the local schi stes - which are of very mixed
character and considérable local variation - by identifying small
quarries within the study area and comparing samples with material
from buildings and from surface collections (principally during
May 1985).
This is sufficient to make it clear that a
proportion of the commonly occurring surface material on our
fields is imported - from good quai ity modem si ate to harder
schi stes, both
used largely for roofing but also within the mud
si urry cores of walls.
The harder schi stes are of three
distinctive colours - black, pink-purple and grey - and can only
very rarely be found on inhabited buildings now, although piles of
both black and pink-purple sometimes survive in the fields beside
collapsed structures.
The présence of this material on the
fields therefore indicates imports into the study area for
building purposes.
It is so common on the surface of présent
arable that it is reasonable to explain most of it as the product
of manuring activities;
it only does not occur notably on
recently cleared woodland (F231, F594, C405, C436, for example).
It
is
therefore
at
least
a
useful
indicator
of
pre-twentieth-century
arable.
However,
there
are
also
différences in colour combinations for there are zones with ail
three colours, others without pink-purple and others with black
only; for example, the dense scatters on the long-used fields on
the western outskirts of Carentoir have ail three ^colours while
the area of the ' château landscape 1 around Gree Orlain and
Herblinaie has only black and grey.
(In fact, black zones do not
seem to be distinct from black and grey.)
This needs more
observation and more testing but at présent it suggests that the
présence of pink-purple imported roofing schi ste is an indicator
of areas of 1 ate médiéval and early modem arable while its
absence
is an indicator of land more recently taken into
cultivation.
Potentially;
then, this is an excepti onal ly
important
source
of
information
about
land-use
in the
pre-cadastral period.
As for the local schi stes that form the
bulk of walling
materials,
although
it
i_s_
possible to
distinguish thèse by
eye in the field and even localise them
within the study area, it is probably impractical to attempt to
instruct a teamamateurs to do so.
However, it would be
possible, in some areas, to be précise about the source of local
building material and deduce patterns of its movement within the
study area over time.
More quarry samples and some
further
limited testing of 'total' collection sites would therefore be
useful,
particularly from a site with a known, though collapsed,
cadastral settlement;
the nature of the red/yellow schi stes
unevenly
distributed
on
A107 and the grey/green schi ste
introduced into the field bounded by the lynchets and eut by
Trench 1, need some further investigation.
The next season
Next year will see two main seasons of fieldwork: fieldwalking
and small excavation from 22 March - 5
April
1986 and three
weeks
of
excavation during September.
Meanwhile Pete Addison
will complète the survey of standing buildings; a small team will
dévote February, March and April to 'total' collection; analysis
of pollens
from the Mauffrais podsols
and the River Aff
\1
backswamps will continue;
and work on the local
schistes will
be pursued
intermittently by Wendy Davies.
In the Easter
season
transects with uneven coverage will
be
rewalked,
especially the northern part of E and parts of A and B, to achieve
a relatively even survey of ail
parts of the study area.
The
process of sampling the surrounding communes will
be begun:
transects will be taken radially from the area of intensive study,
and fields within them walked at 50m intervais.
Excavation of
Allô will begin, in order to ascertain the relationship of this
year's excavated
features with the settlement and at the same
time make some assessment of the
quai ity of préservation of
sites;
two 25m squares within the field have already been
prospected using a f 1 uxgate gradiometer in order to assist choice
of areas for excavation.
Thereafter further sites from which
'total'
collection has been made will be investigated in small
areas to continue exploration of the meaning of surface scatters
and to extend the range of environmental
study.
Investigation
of the pedology and
sedimentol ogy of lynchet deposits will
continue to be integrated with archaeol ogical investigation of the
sites.
This report, in French,
will appear in the next Dossier of the
Centre Régional Archéologique d'Alet.
The season's work was
undertaken with the authorisation of the Ministère de la Culture,
Direction des Antiquités de Bretagne, and many thanks are due to
M. Le Roux, director of
the circonscription,
and
to the
conservateur M.
Clément and Michael
Batt
for facilitating
the smooth runing of the programme.
Excavation was undertaken
with the permission of the owners of Allô, M. and Mme. d ' Argentre",
and the tenant, M. Poyou, and the Kerl ano site was tested with the
permission of M. Le Labourier;
without their help much of this
year's season would have been impossible and we are therefore
immensely grateful
to them.
Fieldwalking and excavation were
financed by the British Academy,
the Society of Antiquaries of
London, the University
of
Reading, the University of London
Central
Research Fund and University
Collège
London;
the
buildings survey is financed by the Leverhulme Trust;
we are in
ail sensés indebted to thèse bodies for their support.
We are
also especially grateful to Professor P.-R. Giot, Dr L. Langouet,
Professor G. Mei ri on-Jones and Dr S. Wright for devoting their
time and expertise to particular aspects of the project;
to Dr
R. Battarbee for testing samples
containing diatoms, Dr T.
Stevenson and Judi
Darley for work on pollens, Robin Iles and
Martin Cook for testing phosphate samples and
Anne Gebhardt for
micromorphological
work;
to Bill
Campbell
for considérable
assistance with computer mapping and very generous use of his
software 'Mapics';
to Steve Ford, Lorraine Mepham, Liz Musgrave,
Eric Norton, Frances Raymond, Kate Sergeant, Mog Tingle and Cathy
Wilkey for their invaluable help in supervising work in the field;
and,
as ever, to our
team,
who worked stoically in awful
conditions and ensured such a productive season.
We should
like to express our thanks, as ever, to ail who have given time,
labour and energy, as well as to those who have provided financial
support.
G. G. Astill
Department of Archaeol ogy
University of Reading
Wendy Davies
Department of History
University Collège London
Whi tekni ghts
Reading RG6 2AA
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
30 July 1985
REFERENCES
André",
P.
1974
'Le site médiéval de Kerl ano-en-Pl umel ec
(Morbihan)', Archéologie en Bretagne, ii, 27-34.
Astill, G. and Davies, W.
1982a
'Un
recherche sur le terrain dans l'Est de
Bretagne, xxxv, 24-42.
nouveau programme de
la Bretagne', Arch. en
Astill, G. and Davies, W. 1982b 'Fieldwalking in East Brittany,
1982', Cambridge Médiéval Celtic Studies, iv, 19-31.
Astill, G. and Davies, W. 1984a 'Recherches sur le terrain dans
l'Est de la Bretagne (EBS) - 1983', Arch. en Bretagne, xxxix,
13-23.
Astill, G. and Davies, W. 1984b 'Prospections archéologiques
dans l'Est de la Bretagne', La Prospection Archéologique en
Haute-Bretagne ,
Dossiers
du """Centre
Régional
Archéologique
d'Aï et, no. G, 251-60.
Astill, G. and Davies, W. 1984c
Bretagne.
Résultats de la
Dossiers du CRAA, xi i , 49-59.
'Prospection
campagne de
Bell,
M.
1977
Excavations
Archaeol ogi cal Collections, cxv.
at
dand l'Est de la
Mars-Avril 1984',
Bishopstone,
Sussex
Bell, M. 1983
'Valley sédiments as évidence of prehistoric
land-use on the South Downs', Proceedings of the Prehistoric
Society, xlix, 119-150.
1+
EAST BRITTANY SURVEY 1985
£J3
fields
walked m 1965
■— — commune boundaries
A • ■ sites
A c* U
probable
• médiéval si tes
sites
■ post médiéval sites
A o □ possible sites
A undated sites
Fig. 1