Le Yaudet, Ploulec'h, Côtes d'Armor, Brittany. An Interim Report on the Excavations of 1991–4

Abstract

The promontory site of Le Yaudet, on the north coast of Brittany, was occupied from the Bronze Age to the present day, at various stages during this period sharing in maritime exchange systems linking Brittany to Britain. In the Late Iron Age the site, of some 6ha, was surrounded by stone and rubble defences the main cross-promontory defence being of murus gallicus type. The defences are of at least two phases, the later probably dating to the time of Caesar. Occupation continued and in the late third century AD a new wall was built around the defensive circuit at a time when similar coastal sites on both sides of the Channel were being defended. On one site, agricultural activity of the early medieval period was followed by village development in the eleventh century. The present village is a shrunken remnant of the earlier, more extensive settlement.