Jersey

An archaeological dig in a field near Mont Cochon, Jersey, has provided insight into life in the island more than 2,000 years ago.

More info :

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1k3zkezrpno

A rare and complete metal spearhead dating back thousands of years to the Bronze Age has gone on display in Jersey after being found on the island.

More info :

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-56195939

Discovery of marked plaquettes at Les Varines points to earliest evidence of human art in British Isles

They are small, flat and covered in what appear to be chaotic scratches, but 10 engraved stone fragments unearthed on Jersey, researchers say, could be the earliest evidence of human art in the British Isles.

The stones were found at Les Varines, on the island, between 2014 and 2018, and are believed to have been made by a group of hunters about 15,000 years ago.

While at first glance the engravings appear to be a haphazard array of marks, experts say a careful analysis has revealed the cuts were made in deliberate ways and in a clear order with straight lines made first and deeper, curved, lines made last.

More: theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/19/engraved-stones-found-on-jersey-an-art-form-of-15000-years-ago?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Archaeologists are planning an ambitious survey of part of the seabed off Jersey where Neanderthals once lived.

The site is part-exposed during spring low tide, giving the team a four-hour window to dig while the sea is out.

Stone tools and mammoth remains have been recovered from the Violet Bank over the years.

More: bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51299755

This news item appeared in Saturday's Times and was passed to me today. Regret Times online link is only available by subscription so will have to make do with this one.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5116637/Jersey-calls-return-dolmen-stones-Oxfordshire.html

Jersey calls for the return of its 'Elgin Marbles' monument that was taken and rebuilt in Oxfordshire as a governor's retirement gift

- The dolmen stones were discovered in 1785 near the Jersey capital St Helier

- Monument was uprooted and taken to Oxfordshire estate of retiring governor

- Templecombe House in Henley-on-Thames which is on the market for £7million

- It has given the residents of Jersey a new hope that they could buy back the stones and return them to the island

One local man named Neil Holmes is planning to raise £8million through an online crowdfunder in a bid to purchase the estate.

He said: 'The aim of this is to buy the property that the neolithic Jersey dolmen currently resides on, repatriate the dolmen, then resell the estate.'

The stones were one of dozens of dolmens placed across the island which were shrouded in legend and thought to be 'the home of sprites and fairies'.

But many were broken up for building materials in the 17th and 18th century amid waning interest in the mythology surrounding the stunning monuments, according to local history experts.

General Conway was persuaded by his cousin – author Horace Walpole – to pay for the transport of his gift.

Note: There have been several previous attempts to reclaim the dolmen and the issue was raised in the House of Commons as far back as 1928.

A COLLECTION of stones has been unearthed by a team of UK archaeologists investigating fields in St Clement earmarked for a new estate of 200 affordable homes.

Five stones, which could date back to the Island’s neolithic past when the dolmens were built, were discovered by a team from the Museum of London Archaeological Services at the former Samarès Nursery site.

Read more at..

jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2017/10/18/archaeologists-find-stones-of-interest-on-estate-site/#5rD5GMXgMU4tVElq.99

"A dig in Jersey has yielded a stash of hunter-gatherer artefacts from the end of the last Ice Age, including stone pieces criss-crossed by carved lines."

bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34679202

Archaeologists in Jersey find solid gold torc hidden in Celtic coin hoard

By Richard Moss

A Celtic coin hoard discovered on Jersey has been offering up its secrets and astounding archaeologists with a series of golden treasure finds.

For the last two weeks, the Jersey Heritage hoard conservation team have been excavating in an area known to contain gold jewellery and late last week, one end of a solid gold torc was uncovered.

The find comes on the back of several finds within the hoard including two other solid gold torcs, one gold plated and one of an unknown alloy, along with a silver brooch and a crushed sheet gold tube. But the latest discovery is considerably larger than anything previously unearthed on the island.

A large, rigid neck ring, archaeologist say the torc has a massive decorative ‘terminal’, which is where it was probably locked closed around the owner’s neck. The terminal is formed from two solid gold wheels, each about 4cm across and 1cm wide.

So far, 10cm of the curved gold collar has been uncovered and it is not yet known how complete it is.

“It’s an incredible time here,” said Neil Mahrer, Jersey Museum Conservator. “Every hour or so we are finding a new gold object.

“We did see some gold jewellery on the surface of the hoard, but since we’ve started looking at this shoe-box sized area, we’ve uncovered a total of six torcs, five of which are gold and one which we believe to be gold-plated. This is the only one that we think is whole, though.”

The extent of the torc’s wholeness will be discovered in the next few weeks as the coins currently hiding it will be painstakingly recorded and removed.

Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, an Iron Age jewellery expert who has been involved in studying jewellery found in other Jersey hoards has been assisting with the interpretation. He has already identified comparable features in examples found in 2nd century BC hoards at Bergien, Belgium and Niederzier, Germany.

A small stone has also been uncovered, possibly of local granite. Archaeologists say it may be no more than a pebble in the field that fell into the treasure pit during the burial, but, as it is an odd shape and size, its purpose will be investigated.

At the end of the clearing period the torc will be scanned in place to record its position to fractions of a millimetre before being removed, probably along with some of the other jewellery surrounding it.

culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art508530-archaeologists-in-jersey-find-solid-gold-torc-hidden-in-celtic-coin-hoard

Antiquity via Past Horizons:

"Did Neanderthal hunters drive mammoth herds over cliffs in mass kills? Excavations at La Cotte de St Brelade in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered heaps of mammoth bones, interpreted as evidence of intentional hunting drives. New study of this Middle Palaeolithic coastal site, however, indicates a very different landscape to the featureless coastal plain that was previously envisaged. Reconsideration of the bone heaps themselves further undermines the ‘mass kill’ hypothesis, suggesting that these were simply the final accumulations of bone at the site, undisturbed and preserved in situ when the return to a cold climate blanketed them in wind-blown loess."

PDF download here:

antiquity.ac.uk/ant/088/ant0880013.htm

Past Horizons article here:

pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/03/2014/no-mammoth-mass-kill-by-neanderthals-at-jersey-site

A study on a Jersey site that revealed a significant piece of late Neanderthal history has been published.

Scientists working on an archaeological dig in St Brelade said teeth found at La Cotte suggest Jersey was one of the last places Neanderthals lived.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-24593772

By Becky Evans

Digging For Britain

New investigations at an iconic cave site on the Channel Island of Jersey have led archaeologists to believe the Neanderthals have been widely under-estimated.

Neanderthals survived in Europe through a number of ice ages and died out only about 30,000 years ago.

bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14677434