An excavation at Cap Corse, a peninsula on the rugged northern tip of Corsica, has uncovered the remains of a port structure from Late Antiquity, dating to the 4th-5th centuries A.D. A team from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) excavated the outcropping overlooking Meria Bay before construction. They uncovered large schist blocks and postholes indicating a wooden structure once stood above them. Archaeologists believe it was a wooden jetty.
These monoliths, some of which exceed 1.50 m in length, appear to have been deposited in a disorderly manner, without binder, but nevertheless form a very localized riprap cordon. They are then topped by a thin hydromorphic sequence, probably linked to an episode of overflow of the watercourse, followed by an alternation of stone levels (shale chips) and silty sedimentary contributions forming a flat stony surface 4 to 6 m wide and with an observed length of 13 m.
The development, which extends over a thickness of almost 80 cm, is thus an extension of the substrate, against which it rests, and allows ground to be gained from the riverbed. Slightly larger blocks are positioned at the northern edge of the construction and act as supports for the structure.
The stone platform looks rough and disorganized, but it was structured and required a great deal of effort and planning to accomplish. The design suggests it was a wharf or dock where boats were moored and their cargoes unloaded. Close to 100 metal objects, many of them bronze nails that may have been used in the construction of the wooden superstructure, have been found.
The structure was dated to Late Antiquity thanks to the discovery of more than a thousand ceramic fragments found in the archaeological layer. Very few remains from Late Antiquity have been found in Corsica, so the discovery gives archaeologists a unique opportunity to study the period.
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