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The container made of riveted pieces
Credit : Max Guérout |
We were still in the grip of surprise after yesterday’s findings.
We realized how lucky we were because until that moment, none of the objects we found had kept the forgotten Malagasies’ fingerprints, even if they had been used by them. But some of the latest findings showed their energy to thoroughly use the scarce resources available. They showed the ravages of time but they also gave a striking picture of the men themselves.
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Fragments of a “Chinese” bowl
Credit : Max Guérout |
For example, we didn’t know if that dish made of copper pieces had been used and repaired several times or if it had directly been made with fragments of copper sheets. The pieces were riveted to each other, and to achieve that –it was indeed an achievement since we supposed they had few tools- the castaways made rivets with small copper rolls, which they hammered into the holes they had made in the copper sheet.
One of the uncovered objects was a thicker copper sheet, probably crumpled by the shipwreck. It was supposed to be the remains of the cauldron on board which were kept as a spare raw material.
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The wall of the original house
Credit : Max Guérout |
We cleared the area surrounding the remains of the original house wall. From that moment we were sure that the modern building was made on the remains of this house mostly by using coral blocks which composed it.
In the middle of these buildings, we considered ourselves lucky to find the remains of this wall on a length of 1.5 metre and a height of 50 centimetres, and especially the intact soil which became thicker as time went by. Its analysis provided us with information but also new questions.
Thomas Romon distinguished two sand layers mixed with ash and separated by a white sand layer, which indicated two occupation periods. Moreover, the wall was built during the second occupation period. Of course, numerous hypotheses were possible, and everybody gave his or her own explanation, but it was probably wiser to gather all the elements first.
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Another turtles brood ready to leave
Credit : Max Guérout |
The day ended with a second hatching of turtle eggs on the beach, near the Utile’s anchor. The whole team run up and gathered to observe the little turtles rushing to the sea. Their head emerged, they stayed motionless with their eyes closed for about 20 minutes, then suddenly appeared from the sand with an intact energy, in response to a mysterious signal.
As it had occurred last time, they were more than a hundred rushing towards the sea. The sun was low on the horizon so all of us helped them to reach the sea.
