Le Brivet Site archéologique

Le Brivet

The Brivet is a river that rises in the Haut-Brivet marshes at Sainte-Anne-sur-Brivet, at the confluence of several canals. It flows for around 35 km before emptying into the Méan mudflats at the foot of the Saint-Nazaire bridge. It is both the last tributary of the Loire and the main outlet for the Grande Brière Mottière marshes. It is part of the Brière-Brivet watershed, located in the Vilaine estuary, the Guérande peninsula and the Loire estuary.

30 centuries of history slumber in the Brivet mudflats
In 1994, following frequent flooding, the communes of Sainte-Anne-sur-Brivet and Drefféac decided to clean up the Brivet. And then, to the astonishment of the inhabitants, the Brivet, a quiet little river, revealed its treasures. Ceramics, dugout canoes, human and animal bones, weapons, tools, flints, millstones, fragments of spears, axes, swords, wooden crockery, oars, paddles, pontoon elements? were extracted from the mud. The archaeological material was not uniformly distributed along the entire course of the Brivet, demonstrating that populations tended to settle near promontories and crossing points, notably at Catiho, Ile Biron, My and Le Port. Dating was carried out using various techniques, showing that the most densely represented periods were the Late Neolithic (3000-2000 BC), the Final Bronze Age to the Roman Conquest (1000-50 BC) and the Middle Ages (600-1000 AD).

Pirogues
52 pirogues have been found in the mud of the Brivet. Nowhere else have archaeologists encountered such an influx of historic boats. In all likelihood, for a long time, pirogues were used primarily for fishing, a means of subsistence for the local population. Later, they were used to transport goods and agricultural produce, as well as people from one bank of the river to the other. In this country, dry crossings are very rare. The narrow width and, for the most part, flat bottom of these boats, and their size adapted to the river?s gauge, enabled them to maneuver easily through the marsh.

To date, the finds are not visible on site, but a pirogue can be seen at the Musée de Bretagne in Rennes.

DATAtourisme France