version anglaise du site principale

Located on the marches of Brittany, Ille-et-Vilaine has a rich, diverse heritage that reflects its history and gives it its identity.

The finest example of archaeological work in Ille-et-Vilaine is the underwater archaeological dig on the wrecks in La Natière offshore from Saint-Malo. In fact, La Natière has become a world reference for the understanding of maritime events in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Since 1999, archaeologist-divers have brought more than 2,500 objects back to the surface from two privateering frigates that were wrecked in the channel at Saint-Malo. The objects are currently undergoing restoration. The first wreck discovered, L`Aimable Grelot, sank in 1749 and was identified in 2002.
The second wreck in the Natière archaeology site was known for some time as La Natière I, since it could not be accurately identified.
Now, however, it is known that the privateering frigate was La Dauphine which sank in 1704 while towing a captured English vessel.

The Natière collection, which is the only one of its kind, is expected to be put on public show in the future regional museum of maritime history in Saint Malo (probable opening date 2011).
Led by Michel L`Hour and Elisabeth Veyrat, this epic dig may end in 2007 after nine years of research.

In 2006, the Adramar Association launched an ambitious project ? an archaeological atlas of underwater cultural heritage in the Atlantic Arc, an inventory of maritime and underwater archaeological heritage along the coastlines of the Atlantic.

Adramar website: http://www.adramar.fr