Gustave Paille, an archaeologist for hire in Brittany (1898-1905)

Trained at the Ecole du Louvre and known for his participation in the excav ations of Etruscan necropolises in Falisc land, Parisian Gustave Guillaume carried out, from 1898 to 1905, five campaigns of archeological prospecting and subsequent excavation at the expense of Marquis Pierre-Auguste de Mont aigu to set up an archeological museum at Bretesche Castle, in the Missilla c area (in the Loire-Atlantique region). Recently given to the Dobree museu m, Paille's letters to his commissioner and the documents they include enab le us to follow and analyse the work of a prospector and a field "archeolog ist," north of the Loire-Inferieure region and east of the Morbihan Departe ment at the turn of the 20th century. His precarious condition led to lamen table plunder a man who originally appeared as a theoretician and a precurs or.