It is a “delicate” operation which will allow the preservation and presentation to the public of an “exceptional element”. Since the beginning of the week, archaeologists from Inrap have been busy in the Bois Grolland marsh, in Vendée, to collect a canoe dating from the Gallo-Roman era. It is a relic about 5 meters long which was discovered at the site by chance in 2019, and which has since been able to be dated, by radiocarbon, to the 1st century BC.
The canoe was able to be taken out on Thursday. “The boat partially retains its edges over a height of 0.28 m. It is straight with a flat bottom and straight edges, reports the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Pays-de-la-Loire (Drac). This is the first evidence of a wooden navigation element unearthed in the Vendée department”.
Soon visible at the Historial de la Vendée
The boat will be transported to Grenoble, where it will be restored in a laboratory specializing in the conservation and restoration of waterlogged wood. “A paleo-environmental study to better understand the landscape of this area of the marsh at the end of the Gallic period and the beginning of the Roman period is also planned”, indicates the Drac. The canoe will then be presented to the public, within two years, at the Historial de la Vendée.