Le site de Plomb « le Mesnil » (Manche), ixe-xiie siècle. Regard sur l’habitat rural du haut Moyen Âge dans l’Ouest français

Abstract

Overhanging a steep sided valley, the rural settlement of “Le Mesnil”, at Plomb (Manche), has yielded evidence of two occupation phases, one attributed to the 9th-10th centuries, the second to the 11th-12th centuries. The medieval settlement followed an earlier occupation which took the form of a ditch network around several pits, dating back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. During the 9th-10th centuries, the settlement developed within a grid ditch system, served by three lanes. One of the plots accommodated a rectangular building with rounded angles characterized by the adoption of the so-called “primitive cruck frame”. The house is surrounded by small buildings, pits and hearths. In a second plot two domestic ovens were associated with silos and hearths. A third, that yielded no constructions, was separated from the preceding plot by a sunken lane following the layout of a Gallo-Roman ditch. The pottery and plant remains identified illustrate an economy very close to that of Breton rural establishments dating to the same period. The agricultural productions consisted of spring and autumn cereals, pea and flax, the latter probably consumed in the form of paste or food pulp. Rye straw was used for the roof of the Carolingian house. This first medieval settlement was deserted in the 9th century. During the 11th-12th centuries, a rectangular building comprising both posts and stone foundations was erected while some parts of the ancient ditch system were reused. The site then appears to be uninhabited until right up to the 19th century, when a new isolated dwelling appears ; a long house, typical of the vernacular architecture of Avranchin.