An Experiment in the Vilaine Estuary (Brittany, France)

Coastal archaeological heritage is threatened by a variety of environmental changes and anthropogenic activities. To address how coastal sites may be affected by these processes in western France, we have developed specific and testable methods which have been implemented to assess their relative vulnerability within the framework of the ALERT project (Daire et al. 2012 in the current issue). This has been tested in the Vilaine estuary area (Southern Brittany) where 22 coastal archaeological sites were investigated using one of the tools referred to as the VEF = Vulnerability Evaluation Form. The results of the test indicate which archaeological sites are in the greatest danger of being destroyed, leading to a preliminary effort to map vulnerability in the Vilaine estuary area. The results demonstrate that this approach provides a technique for assessing heritage vulnerability and can be used in a broader context as a benchmark for the management of archaeological sites.