Three-year project into ancient land begins
Archaeologists hope to learn more about the land surrounding La Hougue Bie chamber in Jersey.
A three-year initiative to explore an ancient Jersey site has commenced, with archaeologists beginning a two-week excavation.
The endeavor aims to uncover more about the terrain surrounding a 6,000-year-old passage grave. For the next fortnight, archaeologists from England, Wales, Sweden, and Denmark will be working in the field directly across from the entrance of the La Hougue Bie chamber in Grouville, which is recognized as one of the world's oldest Neolithic sites, according to project leaders.
This excavation is part of a three-year collaborative project with Jersey Heritage and La Société Jersiaise. The goal is to understand how the landscape was utilized millennia ago.
Olga Finch, Jersey Heritage's curator of archaeology, described this as the start of "an exciting new chapter of archaeological discovery for Jersey." She expressed the archaeologists' hope to discover "what the deep buried records of Ice Age sediment beneath the field can reveal about climate change and ancient people, including Neanderthals, during the last quarter of a million years."
Dr. Matt Pope of the University College London Institute of Archaeology stated that the project will "help to unlock Jersey's full story" while investigating the vicinity of "one of Europe's most spectacular prehistoric monuments, La Hougue Bie."
The current excavation is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, August 6, and will resume during the subsequent two summers. Project leaders announced a free open day for visitors to observe the dig, taking place in the field on Sunday, August 2, from 10:00 BST to 14:30.