This Is Guernsey

By Cheryl Latter

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have arrived in Herm for a two-week dig on the Common.

Led by Chris Scarre, the team includes students from Durham University, a French PhD student and volunteers from La Societe Guernesiaise.

They are focusing on the known tomb sites on Grand Monceau, Petit Monceau, Robert’s Cross and the Common.

Chris has worked mostly in north-west France for the past 20 years and this led to his interest in Herm.

‘Although the Channel Islands are insular and have their own character, they are archaeologically part of Normandy,’ he explained.

The team are looking to find the prehistoric ground surface beneath the Common. Sand has blown in over the past 2,000 years to cover this area, but beneath it is yellow clay which helps preserve evidence.

‘There are 19 tombs on the island, most of them on Grand Monceau leading down to Robert’s Cross and on the east side of Petit Monceau,’ said Chris. ‘There are three known on the Common and one reported under what is now the Obelisk. There was also one at Oyster Point, which is now covered in dunes.’

The team were excited to work on Herm, as many sites in Britain and France have been ‘ploughed to pieces’, whereas Herm is relatively untouched.

There were two preliminary visits this year to prepare for the dig. In June, they used geophysics to show up anomalies that could be granite blocks beneath the sand.

In July, boreholes were made in various parts of the Common. They have also used ground penetrating radar.

The team is also using the work done by Frederick Lukis in 1940 as a reference to help them decide where to explore further.

Stones and tombs unearthed by the Lukis group are still visible on the Common.

It is near one of these that Chris and his team have made an interesting discovery.

The site contains a long wall, in the middle of which is a one metre-wide stone circular structure filled with small white pebbles. Further along are more white pebbles and evidence of what may have been a container holding them which has since perished.

‘To be honest, we don’t as yet have any idea what this was,’ said Chris. ‘It is possibly the foundation of some kind of wooden building. But the circular structure with no entrances is very enigmatic.’

Samples need to be analysed but this is probably a Neolithic finding, dated from 4000 to 1000BC. A little further along the common, towards Shell Beach, is the next interesting site. The team discovered an outcrop which was buried long ago. Surrounding it was almost 100 pieces of flint and pottery.

Many of the findings were the outer layer of pieces of flint, which would have been chipped off in order to use the inner flint to make tools.

Chris believes the original coastline was much further in than it is today. Boreholes beyond this area went down to around 3m and found sand beneath. The team believes what is under this area is the original prehistoric beach.

Work will continue for another week. The team hopes to return next year to see what other historical treasures are lying just beneath the island’s surface.

Article posted on 26th September, 2008 - 2.00pm