The Seminar on the Archaeology of Western France, which focused on the islands of Brittany, was held on 1 April 2014 at the University of Rennes 1. The desire to organize this seminar arose spontaneously from the dynamism which currently animates archaeological research on island spaces of the western seaboard of France. Indeed, the seminar took place during a pivotal period of archaeological research covering these islands. A multidisciplinary approach to the question of insularity appears essential, in view of the large amount of research currently undertaken on this topic from the historical, ethnographic and geographical points of view. Accordingly, a comparative analysis of prehistoric and recent island societies would seem to have a true long-term potential for research (to understand in a diachronic way the organization between islands, the relations between large and small islands, the dynamics of exploitation of resources and the degree of dependence with respect to the continent, etc.). Comparisons with other island systems would also offer a particularly rich and relevant approach to refine our study of the problems of insularity. This publication brings together various participants of research on islands, including archeologists, archeometrists, archeomalacologists, geographers, historians, etc.

Ce livre est consacre a la recherche sur le developpement de la production et des echanges ceramiques entre le continent et les iles de Bretagne, du Neolithique a la periode gallo-romaine. L'analyse archeometrique de la ceramique est utilisee pour explorer le developpement des reseaux de communication: la circulation des personnes et des produits entre les iles et le continent. Ces iles produisaient-elles leur propre poterie ou etaient-elles dependantes de la production continentale? En determinant si la poterie a ete produite ou importee localement, il est possible d'identifier les degres variables de connexion ou d'isolement avec des reseaux plus larges. Plusieurs methodes d'analyse ont ete utilisees pour examiner 368 tessons de poterie provenant de 25 sites. Des observations macroscopiques ont ete effectuees afin de documenter les traitements de surface, ainsi que l'examen microscopique de coupes ceramiques minces pour l'identification de la composition mineralogique de l'argile et pour determiner ses origines geologiques et geographiques. Ces techniques ont ete completees par des analyses chimiques: SEM-EDS, XR-D et P-XRF. Enfin, une nouvelle approche methodologique a ete utilisee pour la provenance des argiles: l'analyse LA-ICP-MS. Cette methode est basee sur des comparaisons chimiques des inclusions minerales dans les pates ceramiques avec les memes types de mineraux dans les roches meres. Elle permet de determiner plus precisement les origines des argiles, surtout lorsque les pates n'offrent pas d'elements caracteristiques qui permettent de les distinguer des autres productions. La longue portee chronologique de cette etude nous permet de documenter l'evolution des caracteristiques ceramiques et les lieux changeants de l'approvisionnement en argile et de la production de poterie. Les resultats de cette recherche apportent de nouvelles preuves de l'occupation prehistorique des iles bretonnes. English Abstract Sea, ceramics and islands in western France: archaeometric approach to paleo-economic relations of island populations from the Neolithic to Antiquity This book is about research on the development of ceramic production and exchange between the mainland and islands of Brittany from the Neolithic to the Gallo-Roman period. Archaeometric analysis of ceramics is used to explore the development of communication networks: the movement of people and of products between the islands and the mainland. Did these islands produce their own pottery or were they dependent on mainland production? By determining whether pottery was locally produced or imported, it is possible to identify the changing degrees of connection with, or isolation from, wider networks. Several analytical methods have been employed to examine 368 sherds of pottery from 25 sites. Macroscopic observations were made in order to document surface treatments, as well as microscopic examination of ceramic thin sections for the identification of the mineralogical composition of the clay, and to determine its geological and geographic origins. These techniques have been complemented with chemical analyses: SEM-EDS, XR-D and P-XRF. Finally, a new methodological approach has been used to provenance the clays: LA-ICP-MS analysis. This method is based on chemical comparisons of the mineral inclusions in the ceramic pastes with the same mineral types in the parent rocks. It can determine more precisely the origins of clays, especially when the pastes do not offer characteristic elements that allow them to be distinguished from other productions. The long chronological scope of this study allows us to document the evolution of ceramic characteristics and the changing locations of clay supply and pottery production. The results of this research provide new evidence about the prehistoric occupation of the islands of Brittany.