[en] These introductory remarks, which may also serve as a brief history of the development of an Atlantic coast and river port archeology in France, additionally provide useful historiographical and epistemological references for a better understanding of the origins of and motivations behind the colloquium organized in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) in June 2018: Roman ports in Atlantic Europe and the corresponding internal waters. At the end of a 20th c., archaeologists and historians primarily worked on examining port potential, without any veritable field activity. The inclusion of this domain in research archaeology excavation, supplemented by exceptional discoveries in the context of rescue archeology, have contributed to the blossoming, at the beginning of the 21st c., of port archeology in metropolitan France, both in estuaries and along rivers. Before embarking on a long journey across the Three Gauls (Lyonnaise, Aquitaine et Belgique), with stops along the way in the best-known ports today, it seemed important to us to recall the foundations of this promising field of study. Some preliminary elements of overview and analysis are also put forward in the following pages; they are meant to encourage general reflection on this field of study, which is currently enhanced by multiple complementary approaches (ethnoarchaeology, virtual restitutions...) and are pursued in the hopes of attaining a better understanding of these ancient harbor spaces. This dossier is also enriched with an opening chapter –chronological and geographical in theme– on the other (Rhine, Rhône and Mediterranean) side of the drainage divide, and which provides a presentation of ports built in lake, fluvio-lacustrine or lagoon settings. In keeping with the conference, this chapter was deliberately angle toward a presentation of port configurations, infrastructures, architectural systems and technological choices made to equip and structure a portion of the port triptych, specifically, loading and unloading areas, the base of banks, as well as navigable space. In this regard, the river-maritime site of Rezé (Loire-Atlantique), tackled between 2005 and 2016 as part of a research program, elucidates perfectly the issue of the relationship between a port and a former branch of the Loire River. Today, its spectacular remains invite a re-appraisal of the ensemble of documentation concerning the Roman ports of the Three Gauls, enriched by recent research excavations, as well as by a wave of rescue operations carried out between 2000 and 2010.

[fr] Les propos introductifs, que l'on peut aussi percevoir comme une brève histoire de la fabrique d'une archéologie portuaire atlantique et fluviale en France, fournissent quelques repères historiographiques et épistémologiques utiles afin de mieux comprendre les origines et les motivations du colloque organisé à Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) en juin 2018 sur Les ports romains dans l'Arc Atlantique et les eaux intérieures. Au terme d'un xxe s. durant lequel les archéologues et les historiens ont surtout travaillé sur les potentialités portuaires, sans investissement réel sur le terrain, la prise en compte de ce champ d'étude en fouille programmée, complétée par des découvertes exceptionnelles en contexte d'archéologie préventive, ont contribué au début du xxie s. à une véritable éclosion de l'archéologie portuaire en France métropolitaine, aussi bien dans les estuaires que dans le domaine fluvial. Avant d'entamer un long voyage dans les Trois Gaules (Lyonnaise, Aquitaine et Belgique), avec des étapes dans les ports aujourd'hui les mieux connus, il nous paraissait important de rappeler les fondements de ce champ d'étude prometteur. Quelques éléments de synthèse préliminaires sont également avancés dans les lignes qui suivent, invitant à une réflexion globale sur ce champ d'étude, aujourd'hui enrichi de multiples approches complémentaires (ethnoarchéologie, restitutions virtuelles…) et au service d'une meilleure lisibilité des espaces portuaires anciens.