Marine invertebrates during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age on the French Channel-Atlantic seashore: state of the art and first synthesis

The exploitation of marine invertebrates (molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms) on the French Channel -Atlantic coast is a poorly known topic in archaeology for the Bronze Age and the Iron Age (2300/2200 to 25 BC). The primary aim of our work is to assess whether this lacuna is due to the absence of data or rather to a bias related to researchers' lack of interest in this type of archaeological remains. We have drawn up an inventory of all the 240 archaeological sites (including both islands, coastal -continental and inland -continental sites) where marine invertebrates were identified. Archaeomalacological studies were available for 41 sites, 39 of which were studied by the authors of this paper. Firstly, the unprecedented discovery of some species led to new methodological developments. Secondly, the results enable us to broach a variety of issues, such as the types of exploited environments, the subsistence economy (diet, geographical specificities, exchange networks), artisanal activities (dyeing, personal ornaments, construction materials), as well as funerary and ritual practices (deposits, ritual meals). Combined with other archaeological data, the study of marine invertebrates thus contributes, in an unprecedented way, to a better understanding of the socio-economic and cultural systems of coastal and continental communities during this period.