Conference: The archaeological heritage buried in the Loire in Cosne and the surrounding area

The bed of the Loire preserves a rich heritage that is doubly hidden because it is buried under water and sand. This conference will provide an opportunity to see the varied remains from different periods that archaeologists discover when the water is low. In Cosne-sur-Loire, for example, the remains of a Roman bridge have been studied and dated by analysing the oak foundation piles. Nearby, in Bannay and Herry, shipments of sandstone millstones destined for mills, as well as two probable port areas, have been dated to the early Middle Ages.
Archaeologists have also recently excavated shipwrecks that bear witness to ancient navigation on the Loire, and provide details of construction techniques and the materials transported that are not to be found in archival texts.
Finally, there are the remains of mills on piles at La Charité-sur-Loire, and medieval fish traps made of lines of piles, such as those recently discovered at Saint-Brisson-sur-Loire or between Saint-Père and Sully-sur-Loire.
So it's a journey along the water's edge that you're invited to take, with many images taken on the surface and at the bottom of the river, to relive a little of the Loire's past and the long history of man's use of the Loire.