The evidence revealed through archaeological investigation at Ile de la Passe (Fig. 29) fulfils a number of vital roles. Firstly, the immediacy of the material remains with which archaeology is concerned brings a freshness and vitality to the historical and archival records, while the buildings and remains of buildings together with the gun emplacements, mortars and more mundane fragments of military occupation are evocative in themselves. Architectural and archaeological studies continue to fill in gaps in the archival record, such as the sequence of structural phases and function associated with the Central Platform. At the same time studies are providing tangible evidence for the various schemes that were drawn up by military architects, some of which were never built while others were unfinished. Thus the debates around the defensive value of Ile de la Passe for the protection of Mauritius are seen to be reflected in the piecemeal modifications and the failure to fully implement large schemes.
      There is slight but important evidence for the installation of Gribeauval traversing platforms behind newly designed emplacements on the Upper Battery, which provided the gun crews with the facility to follow their target and for neighbouring crews to concentrate fire on a single target while at the same time allowing for smaller gun crews. In order to permit the broad sweep of the traverse the barrels of the guns could not be restricted by the width of a splayed embrasure (as was the case in the earlier Lower Battery). The new emplacements had basalt sills above triangular niches, the latter probably for lights. Although this meant that the heads of the gun crews were more likely to be visible above the parapet, the much more elevated location of the Upper Battery, together with its greater distance from the water, would have made them very difficult to hit from a boat in the channel. These sophisticated arrangements and advanced weaponry, as well as the setting up of huge iron mortars cast in France, indicate that when it was considered necessary Ile de France could be provided with state of the art weaponry.
      Although coastal batteries were set up on Ile de la Passe, in other ways the islet resembled a ship. All supplies, building materials, ammunition and guns, food and drinking water had to be supplied from the mainland. The sea can be rough and landing difficult. Officers, soldiers, craftsmen and labourers were isolated from the mainland, cut off from the company of others and creature comforts. To be posted on Ile de la Passe must have seemed like cruel punishment. This might be reflected in the almost complete absence of rubbish from periods of military occupation. Officers would have had a hard time keeping the men from excessive boredom which could be partially alleviated by continual cleaning. It is only since the Second World War, whence the islet has been given over to fishing parties and campers, that rubbish has accumulated. Exceptionally, however, it has been seen that there may be some possibility of documenting certain aspects of French military life on Ile de la Passe through further careful excavation in trench TR11. Here preliminary results include evidence of burning and the good preservation of animal bone from levels that should probably be dated early on in the period of French activity. There is also a slight possibility that faunal remains from yet earlier times might be recovered from immediately above the bedrock.