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An estuarine tidescape of production: terrestrial laser scanning of fixed fishing structures and a tide mill in the Léguer Estuary, Brittany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2020

Michael Lobb
Affiliation:
Trent & Peak Archaeology, Nottingham, UK Geography & Environmental Sciences, University of Southampton, UK
Tony Brown*
Affiliation:
Geography & Environmental Sciences, University of Southampton, UK
Jules Leyland
Affiliation:
Geography & Environmental Sciences, University of Southampton, UK
Vincent Bernard
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Rennes Cedex, France
Marie-Yvane Daire
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Rennes Cedex, France
Loïc Langouët
Affiliation:
Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Rennes Cedex, France
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ tony.brown@soton.ac.uk

Abstract

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides a means of rapid and highly accurate survey of archaeological excavations and structures at landscape scales, and is particularly valuable for documenting tidal environments. Here, the authors use TLS to record tidal fixed fishing structures and a tide mill within the Léguer Estuary at Le Yaudet, in north-west France. As part of a comprehensive resource-exploitation system, the early medieval (sixth to eighth centuries AD) structures lie within, and exploit different parts of, the tidal frame. The results are used to quantify production within an estuarine landscape associated with seignorial or monastic control of environmental resources.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

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