 |
 |
 |
| The medieval site of Colletière is one of the three settlements that have been preserved underwater, in Paladru Lake. It has been occupied for approximately thirty years, between 1008-1010 and 1040. | ||
 |
Colletière, at present the only place to benefit from systematic excavations, has an area of 1300 square metres and happens to be under 1 to 4 metres of water before summertime. A reed bed has occupied a part of the site and the reeds' roots have certainly contributed to the cohesion of archaeological sediments, which have been thus preserved from wearing away. |
 |
| V. Paquier discovered this site of the south of the lake at the beginning of this century. But it was not until 1921 that an archaeologist intervened in this place. | ||
 |
That same year, thanks to a water subsidence, Hippolyte Müller took soundings on the site of the " Baigneurs " bringing to light flint implements he thought to be dating from the Neolithic Age, and discovered, in a recently dug channel in Colletière, thick strata of peat with high pottery and objects content . However, he did not start any real excavation and thus left the site of Colletière undamaged. In 1971, a municipality project to build a little harbour on this site arouse the archaeologists reaction. |
| Once the destruction danger stopped, rescue excavations started in January of 1972. These were the first stratigraphic excavations of an underwater settlement in France, using specific and improved techniques. Since then, such an excavation takes place each year. | |
 |
 |