Public establishment created on February 1, 2002, Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. 20 minutes met Gracy Pradier-Guldner, interregional director of Inrap Nouvelle-Aquitaine et overseas, and Patrick Bretagne, general secretary, who talk to us about the evolution of the institute’s archaeological excavation missions, and the particularity of the linking the overseas territories to New Aquitaine.
Why is Inrap in Nouvelle-Aquitaine attached to the overseas territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, Réunion and Mayotte)?
Patrick Bretagne: The historical reason comes from an old tradition of the French administration which wants the administrative relations of the overseas departments to pass through Bordeaux and Aquitaine. This is the legacy of the colonial era of which Bordeaux was the main anchor, and the administration has kept this habit despite decolonization.
What are the main differences between archeology in New Aquitaine and overseas?
Gracy Pradier-Guldner: The investigation tools may differ, such as the use of Lidar. And some investigations are specific, such as prospecting on foot in the forest. Finally, the context is different, with everything Amerindian, pre-Columbian on the territory of Guyana and the West Indies.
Patrick Bretagne: The Lidar is an airborne radar system particularly suited to the forest environment and in particular the Amazon, even if it can also be implemented in mainland France. These are radar waves which have the particularity of crossing the forest cover, to be reflected on a system on board an aircraft and to obtain an excessively fine X-ray of the reliefs of the ground. This is useful for everything related to Amerindian occupations: Inca, Aztec, Olmec, Toltec… This has made it possible, in Guyana, to identify from the outset crowned mountainswhich are Amerindian settlements on hills, which would resemble the oppidums as we know them in the Gallic era.
You were talking about prospecting on foot in the forest, because you don’t search in the same way in the Amazonian forest as in New Aquitaine?
Patrick Bretagne: Of course. Among the types of development in these regions, there are mining operations, which cover huge areas, such as that of the Montagne d’Or. It is certain that we do not proceed in the same way in these areas as for a career project in Limousin or in Poitou-Charentes. You have to imagine what missions in the Amazonian forest are like, you have to trace a path with a machete, borrow canoes… It’s not far from Indiana Jones. And you can come across clandestine gold washers, or more or less friendly animals. But the greatest risk is still getting lost in the forest, even if our teams are equipped with satellite links to trigger rescue just in case. You can’t take just any archaeologist to send there, it takes preparation and training.
Back to New Aquitaine. How do you see the future of your activity, with regard to regional planning policies which are likely to evolve in the coming years?
Gracy Pradier-Guldner: There are reflections on the question of zero artificialisation, of the soil, the implementation of which is planned within ten years. This leads us to change our practices. There will always be archaeological activity, but we will certainly have fewer interventions in rural areas, and we will be called upon much more for operations where we remake the city on the city, for urban renewal. These will be new ways of intervening, on territories in an urban environment that we will study more systematically, on smaller surfaces and with questions of soil pollution that could potentially disturb our excavation objects.
Is the climate issue also likely to change your practices?
Gracy Pradier-Guldner: Erosion, submersion, can contribute to the destruction of remains. But today there is no framework for intervention that allows the triggering of archaeo-prevention on the basis of natural risks. These are also reflections in progress at the level of the State services, and a coastal mission is planned within the regional archaeological service, because we realize that in New Aquitaine, the entire northern Médoc coast is affected by a significant erosion phenomenon.
Patrick Bretagne: The reflection is even already underway in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, where the authorities are considering the relocation of the current city, and are asking the question of the preliminary archaeological study.