The Colombier farm in Varennes-sur-Seine (16th-18th centuries)

The Colombier farm was located on the right bank of the Seine River, not far from its confluence with the Yonne River, in the middle of the swamp. It was created during the 16^th century and disappeared during the 18th century. Discovered and studied by Inrap from 2004 to 2007, this modern rural establishment benefited from its excavation over a large surface (4 ha) and its good preservation conditions, especially of organic remains. The data recovered are the object of a multidisciplinary archaeological, paleoenvironmental, historical and archaeo-geographic study. By replacing the archaeological data in a historical and sociological framework, the authors reconstruct, beyond a “fortified house”, the totality and economy of a site, an environment, a territory and the social practices of its inhabitants. This research traces the construction and rise of small rural elites and illustrates one of the little know aspects of the mutations of the rural world between the end of the Medieval period and the Modern period. This approach is original and exemplary of current developments in “modern” archaeology.