Posted on 11/07/2021 9:12:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv
A medieval port has been discovered in a 2,500m2 building site and archaeological dig surrounding a chateau in Vendée, western France.
Among the discoveries are a large number of oak beams that are extremely well preserved thanks to the levels of underground humidity in Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, where the dig has been taking place...
Archaeologists have already been able to identify a river bank and a gutter on the site.
As the Atlantic coastline is only a few kilometres away from the site, an initial hypothesis is that boats and ships could have transported merchandise and people to the chateau from England or even Spain, between the 10th and 16th centuries.
Archaeologist Stéphane Augry said: “We can see clearly that the stones that were brought here to build the chateau come from four kilometres away, and transporting them here by boat would have been much easier...
Other findings include artefacts that indicate there was a strong wine trade in the area, including remnants of grape must (freshly crushed grape juice including the skin, seeds and stems of the fruit).
A metal pilgrims medal has also been discovered, indicating a fishing trade and economic exchange.
(Excerpt) Read more at connexionfrance.com ...
:^) It would be difficult to find a port on the east coast of France. ;^) The other coast of France is on the Med.
I couldn’t find a clip, soooo:
Food Quotes: Who Said What In Which Movie? [#21]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmariani/2020/09/15/food-quotes-who-said-what-in-which-movie/
The actual chateaux seems to be some miles from the sea so I figured the port was along an old river course. There are currently two nearby waterways that may be navigable and one may be descended from the one that was associated with the old port.
I’m sure there has been silting (my glasses need cleaning, my typing looks fuzzy) but when the sealevels were higher, the estuaries were deeper and broader and reached further inland. Rivers and even what look like small streams today worked pretty well for the smaller ships of the time.
The lack of deepwater harbors in western Europe was a problem for the Allies during WWII after DDay, for example.
I wonder if mapping the medieval shoreline and the extents of estuaries on the eastern seaboard of N America would be a worthwhile first step for looking for ProColumbian Scandinavian landfalls, and for earlier Roman Warming Period Celtic landfalls, and for the much much earlier Red Paint maritime culture.
Yeah, they’d have to sail across dry land to reach those eastern ports. Oh, that screeching sound the hull would make as it slid along would be annoying.
The same thing happened in West Carolina, and again in East Dakota.
I am glad someone read that and let me know
Thank you.
I didn’t read about the Vendee until about 5 years ago.
I am 60 years old and a bit of a history buff.
Shows you how well the murder of the Vendee has been concealed.
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