Le port romain du quartier de Saint-Lupien à Rezé/Ratiatum (Loire-Atlantique) : origine et évolution

Résumé Fr En

L’agglomération de Rezé/Ratiatum (Loire-Atlantique) est localisée au fond et en rive sud de l’estuaire de la Loire face à la ville de Nantes/Condevicnum. Située en province d’Aquitaine et en territoire picton, elle occupe un important carrefour de voies terrestres, fluviales et maritimes et se développe le long du fleuve sur au moins 40 à 50 ha à son apogée, au début du iie s. apr. J.-C. Les fouilles conduites entre 2005 et 2016 dans le quartier de Saint-Lupien ont permis de confirmer l’existence d’équipements portuaires en étroite relation avec une série d’entrepôts déjà reconnus dans les années 1980. Relativement modestes dans un premier temps (constructions sur micropieux), ces aménagements de berge deviennent bien plus imposants à partir de la fin du ier s., époque durant laquelle l’ensemble du quartier fait alors l’objet d’un vaste programme de restructuration. Leur édification se singularise par l’emploi du bois et de la pierre, suivant le principe de construction en caisson, le tout étant fermé par des façades élevées en pan de bois. Durant toute l’Antiquité, cet ensemble de plates-formes, supportant des bâtiments et servant de quai en pied de berge, va être soumis à de nombreux travaux de réfection ou de reconstruction, avant de laisser place progressivement à l’établissement d’une cale en pente douce, encore active au début du Moyen Âge.

The small town of Rezé/Ratiatum is located at the end and along the south shore of the Loire estuary facing Nantes/Condevicnum. Located in the province Aquitania and Pictones territory, the town is situated at an important crossroads of land, river and sea routes. It developed along the river, spreading over at least 40 to 50 ha at its peak, toward the beginning of the 2nd c. AD. The excavations carried out between 2005 and 2016 in the neighborhood of Saint-Lupien made it possible to confirm the existence –over a distance of nearly 200 m– of riverbank developments in close connection with a series of warehouses, previously identified in the 1980s. Initially, beginning at the start of the 1st c. AD, these constructions were light-weight and relatively modest, mounted on posts, including probable installations of fascines, which then gave way to the installation of much more imposing structures from the end of the 1st c. onward. Henceforth, the whole district underwent a vast program of restructuring which was primarily characterized by the reconstruction and expansion of the warehouses at the top of the riverbank and by the establishment of large terraces built according to the timber box formula at the base of the riverbank. These structures, which served as docks along the riverbank of the main river bed, present a mixed framework, consisting of wood and stone, specifically a very elaborate and robust oak frame, including half-timbered facades and significant dry-stone filling. This invaluable evidence of carpentry and masonry work, carried out with feet in the water, supports the idea of ​​an almost unending river project taking place throughout the Early Roman Empire and which profited from exceptional financing resources. These platforms were then subjected to numerous repairs or reconstructions, until a gradual abandonment of wood in favor of stone was introduced for the final terracing endeavor. Along with a nascent hydrological crisis at the end of the Early Roman Empire, the docks were subsequently destroyed and abandoned, gradually being replaced by the installation of a slipway, that would remain active until the beginning of the Middle Ages.