It is enough to contemplate its skeleton resting at the bottom of the ocean for the majesty and power of a whale to strike us. The same goes for the wreck of a sailboat from the early Middle Ages found in Villenave-d’Ornon, a small town on the banks of the Garonne, currently excavated by a team from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap ). Still half buried in the silted bed of a stream, its frame, irresistibly evoking that of a cetacean, is enough to reflect the imposing size it must have had when it was still sailing on the river and perhaps along the coast. Atlantic, between the 7th and 8th centuries. About fifteen meters, estimate the archaeologists, even if today, there are only 12.
Credits: Patrick Ernaux/Inrap
The object is an exceptional testimony to the naval architecture of this period, so little known is it, for lack of texts. In France, there is only one other copy, found in Charente, but in much worse condition than that of Villenave-d’Ornon. Executed upstream of an urban development project, the excavation of this new vestige, which consists of removing it from the mud piece by piece, should continue until next September.
A construction site of the impossible
The story of this boat since 2019 is arguably far more epic than the adventures it must have had on the waters while in service; it is estimated that it was a cargo ship intended for the transport of goods. Discovered in 2013 during a very first diagnosis of the land, its excavation only began six years later, after the validation of a project to build housing, shops and offices. Started in August, it will prove to be apocalyptic, to the point that Laurent Grimbert, its manager, is forced to stop it along the way. “After torrential rains, storm Amélie put an end to our work. The walls of the excavation pit collapsed and the marquee itself ended up collapsing”says the archaeologist. “Unable to fight the elements, we had to rebury the boat, not knowing if we would ever see it again.”
Credits: Patrick Ernaux/Inrap
But for an exceptional vestige, exceptional funding: the State, through the DRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine, decided to pay for a second excavation, a rare occurrence. Thus begins in the spring of 2022 a new site with, this time, technical means up to the task: enormous metal buttresses sunk more than six meters underground now support the walls of the pit. Enough to allow archaeologists to finally work on the wreck, and no longer to constantly consolidate its environment. It turns out to be surprisingly well preserved. In many places, the wood still seems sturdy, and you can see many nails. Ropes were also found in the bottom of the hull. But this good conservation hangs by a thread: if it is not constantly sprinkled with fresh water, the wood can crumble into dust in just a few hours.
Bulk foodstuffs
Further study of the structure of the ship should reveal more about how it was built and used, but researchers have already been able to establish that it was a solid boat, says cargo sailboat, capable of navigating both the Garonne and cabotage, perhaps as far as Portugal, as evidenced by the residues of a plant endemic to the country found on the floor.
Credits: Patrick Ernaux/Inrap
The very presence of this floor also suggests that the boat must have been transporting bulk goods. “We found remains of various cultivated plants, wheat, but also grapes”says Marc Guyon, archaeologist specializing in naval architecture. “But we are waiting until we have dismantled the boards to access the bottom of the hull and possibly find other more telling clues.” For the moment, apart from ceramic shards, the only object found is a piece of wooden spoon, “perhaps forgotten by a worker during the construction of the boat or fallen later, between the slats”pursuit Laurent Grimbert. “It is in any case not impossible that he had a phase of recovering the objects when the boat sank.”
Understand its history
The way in which he was shipwrecked, precisely, must still be clarified. So far, archaeologists have found no obvious puncture marks that could indicate why the boat sank there, where a heap of trees and shrubbery now stands. “We believe that there was a small port near the mouth of a side stream of the Garonne, in a marshy area exploited since antiquity and throughout medieval times”indicates the person in charge of excavation. “It is possible that this location was a sort of garage, and that the boat ended up sinking due to wear and tear. For this, it will be necessary to push the analyzes even further, even if the discovery of the enclosing wall of a vast domain dated from the second half of the 1st century of our era, “perhaps a riverside villa or an establishment linked to the Garonne”is a good index. “We know that these fertile lands had been occupied for millennia. Lands at the crossroads of the northern world and the Mediterranean world, at a time itself straddling the ancient world and the medieval world.”
Credits: Patrick Ernaux/Inrap
Until the ship perhaps joins the collections of a museum, there is therefore a lot to learn. In particular its astonishing reinforcement elements, intended to support its frame and which have not yet been seen on any other boat so far. Perhaps also that once completely out of its clay soil, when scientists will have access to the outer face of its hull, a name will be readable. “We nicknamed him Pepin the Short. Maybe we’ll find out that we hit the bullseye!”jokes Marc Guyon.
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