The dune has been observed to move landward, slowly pushing the forest back to cover houses, roads and portions of the Atlantic Wall.
[5] The current location of Dune du Pilat housed temporary protohistoric camps for activities related to sea salt mining.
On December 31, 2013, a tourist found a funeral urn and an accessory vase from the Iron Age, 800 years BC in the sand at the foot of the dune.
An excavation site mobilized about ten amateur archaeologists for two weeks in October 2014 to clarify the stratigraphic and environmental context of the reported discoveries.
Due to its exposed location along the sea and steep angle, the Dune of Pilat is a famous paragliding spot with great soaring conditions.