The Bay of Authie: the circular grove of trees dates from the last war, and has been wrongly interpreted as a medieval entrenchment.
In 1978, Roger Agache was awarded the Grand Prix de Géographie, and in 1983 he received the Grand Prix National de l'Archéologie. He was elected a correspondent of the Institut de France in 1991. The scientific community paid homage to him during the international conference at Amiens in 1992 (proceedings published in 1999 under the direction of B. Bréart).
In the preface to this conference, Christian Goudineau, professor at the Collège de France, wrote:
"Aerial archaeology has become one of the essential parts of the work of archaeologists and historians. And so it should be — and even more than it is now — for the preservation of our national heritage. I say it again: all of this is due to a few "flying fools" led by Roger Agache."
In an ultralight, flying as free as a bird… Photo: Ludair, an ultralight aircraft company, Abbeville aerodrome.
The contribution of Roger Agache has been the development of a methodology for aerial prospecting: take a number of pictures at each flyover, take pictures in every season (particularly in winter), build up files for each site and compare them with archive documents (land registries, old and new maps, engravings, etc.), and above all, carry out systematic test excavations on the ground.
Recently, he has converted to flying an ultralight and at 76 years old, he is happy as a child when he discovers a new site! For him, photographing the ghosts of the past has always been a fascinating game that he never tires of. He died September 17, 2011 at the age of 86 years. His scientific contribution essentially focuses on the archaeology of landscape, and the typology, implantation and evolution of rural Gallic and Gallo-Roman rural habitations.