Abstracts:
From land to sea. Littoral structures in Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin of Guadeloupe
(Jean-Sébastien Guibert and Franck Bigot)
Embarking zones, quays, wharves (XVIIIe-XIXe centuries). This prospecting project of Association Archaeology Lesser Antilles (AALA) aimed to understand the use of the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin of Guadeloupe during the colonial period by focusing on a typology of non military littoral structures. This historical archaeology project, autorised by DRAC Guadeloupe has been realised from October 2010 to January 2011. Eighteen sites, selected by documentary research (archives, ancient maps or geographical documents), have been prospected during this period. The main historical sources analysed on territory occupation of Guadeloupe Grand Cul-de-Sac were the maps of King engineers from 1768 and the ones of Caspari and Ploix from 1868-1870. The prospecting, completed by archival research, focused on eight sites in order to answer the question of relationships of Grand Cul-de-Sac inland and its littoral. This paper aims to presents the results of this project through three points: relationships of plantation sugar refineries with its littoral, the one of the secondary ports of Grand Cul-de-Sac and the importance of canals in maritime activity.