Abstract
Carrying out a new preventive archeology excavation on the late prehistoric site of la Viaube provided the opportunity to study a rural landscape occupied over several millennia. The surveyed land covers an area of 7 000 m², north of Poitiers, in the alluvial plain bordering the left bank of the Clain river. The first traces of occupation of this sector date from the beginning of the Bronze Age. They are mainly characterised by numerous storage pits linked to a much larger occupation that probably covered several hectares. The carpological analysis of the pit fills point to the collection of acorns and the cultivation of emmer, einkorn, spelt, wheat and barley. Other pits contained human and animal remains. The numerous artifacts from these features (pottery, lithics, macro tools) help to define the Early Bronze Age material cultures in west-central France. After a chronological hiatus of several centuries, the site is reoccupied at the end of the Bronze Age. This phase is marked by the construction of two quadrangular buildings on planted posts, one with a supporting module, the other with a row of ridge-bearing posts. Three storage pits, a large polylobed pit intended for the extraction of building earth and a combustion structure interpreted as a possible oven, provide abundant pottery ensuring occupation of this territory during the Late Bronze IIIa. The Early Iron Age occupation is only represented by two excavated storage features that yielded many different plant taxa (barley, common millet, emmer, einkorn and spelled among others) and Hallstatt D2/D3 pottery. Finally, a few scattered features bear witness to the occupation of the site, always for agricultural purposes, during the Middle Ages.