Guernsey Press

‘Puzzling’ sea mammal burial story attracts global interest

A MYSTERIOUS burial on an islet off Guernsey’s west coast has captured the imagination of people across the world.

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States archaeologist Dr Phil de Jersey with the bones of the large sea mammal that were unearthed on the islet Chapelle Dom Hue on the west coast last week. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 19387597)

States archaeologist Phil de Jersey discovered the burial of a large sea mammal on Chapelle Dom Hue last week.

What makes the find so curious is that in around the 14th century someone had dug into the bedrock to carefully bury the animal, which is believed to be a porpoise or a dolphin.

Dr de Jersey said he never expected the story – which first appeared in the Guernsey Press last Monday – to get so big.

‘We did a video on Youtube and it now has had 115,000 views,’ he said.

‘The story has been in the Guardian, the Times and the Daily Mail. Then the US got into it and so we have had National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and Science Magazine. I did a radio interview for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Full story in today's Guernsey Press