This operation took place under the direction of Catherine Moreau (DRAC) and Jean-Marc Large (Gvep) with a team of professional archaeologists (Universities of La Rochelle, Rennes and Nantes, Cnrs, etc.) and volunteers. This study is conducted jointly with the SCIP (Société de Conservation de l'Ile du Pilier).
Île du Pilier is a rocky island located 4 km from the north-western tip of the island of Noirmoutier, Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile (Vendée), from which it is separated by the canal de la Grise. With an area of 4 ha, it is now uninhabited.
Examine areas threatened by marine erosion
The challenge is to carry out a study on the archaeological heritage present on Pillar Island to complete the knowledge acquired by the ancient pedestrian surveys (Gilbert 1970, Gilbert 1990, Chauveau, Lacoste et Forré 2009, Large et al. 2013, Large et al. 2018, etc.) and identify and examine areas threatened by marine erosion. A multidisciplinary team of archaeologists spent a week isolated on this island to study it from all angles: topographical survey, geophysical prospection, drone view, analysis of shellfish clusters, site inventories, etc.
An island occupied since the Neolithic
Several archaeological entities are already known. This operation will confirm and complete our knowledge of the history of this island. The Neolithic occupation (6000-3000 BC) is well marked. The Pillar’s insularity at this time is not proven. The study of sea level variations suggests that the sea level was about 5 m lower than the current one. The first surveys, conducted in 1990 by J.-M. Gilbert, showed the presence of shellfish clumps and lithic furniture (firing pin and cutting). Subsequent surveys in 2009, 2013 and 2018 confirmed and documented the presence of a flint industry on the assigned island between 5e and the 3e millennium before our era.
The future of this island remains unknown until medieval times. The texts recount that in 1172, the Cistercians of the Abbey of Saint-Bernard de Buzay founded a hermitage on the island of Pillar. The difficulties of life on this windy island weakened the monastic ideal and the monks took refuge on the continent. In 1205 they founded the Abbey of Notre Dame de la Blanche in Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile.
A defence system to ensure the security of maritime trade
At the end of the 17the A battery tower was built in the centre of the islet of the Pillar in 1693 as a result of the proliferation of attacks by Biscay and Norman privateers on Nantes ships returning from Santo Domingo. Completed in 1715, it helped ensure the security and defense of maritime trade in the bay of Bourgneuf and the estuary of the Loire, Nantes becoming the kingdom’s first port of arms.
After a hiatus of several centuries, a first cylindrical lighthouse was built in 1829 to secure navigation, then a second square section in 1877. The semaphore of the pillar island was built a few years later, in 1888, under the direction of the National Navy to ensure coastal surveillance and communications with the ships. It was built inside the old round fort: there are still traces of this military architecture with the presence of a drawbridge, ramparts, ditches and its glacis. The latter was disused in 1921.
This archaeological intervention allows us to make an inventory of our knowledge about the occupations and the reason for their presence on this island.
Archaeological operation carried out in collaboration with the SCIP, the Gvep, the Conservatoire du Littoral, the direction of the Lighthouses and Beacons, the University of La Rochelle (LIttoral Environment and Societies (LIENSs), the University of Rennes (CReAAH), the University of Nantes, and the Heritage and Archaeology Department of the Vendée department
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