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Medieval Castle and Moat Uncovered in France

France Vannes Castle MoatVANNES, FRANCE—A castle, a moat, and a bridge have been uncovered in northwestern France, according to a CBS News report. Researchers from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research found the 600-year-old fortress, built by the Duke of Brittany Jean IV, underneath the courtyard of Château Lagorce. The structure measured about 140 feet long and 55 feet wide. Traces of staircases suggest that it may have been three or four stories tall. Coins dated to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, jewelry, pots, pans, and fragments of wooden bowls and barrels were recovered in a system of latrines and pipes. A mill powered by water flowing through a canal under the castle was also found. Once the flowing water had turned the mill wheel, it was released into the moat through a grated opening in the mill room. To read about excavations of a medieval cemetery in northwestern France, go to "Buried With Care."