La Varde dolmen ‘damaged by Occupation workers’
OCCUPATION workers caused damage to a Guernsey dolmen, local archaeologists believe, after a very rusty spade was found.
The States archaeology team is investigating the stone circle at La Varde dolmen and is on the third day of its dig.
States Archaeologist Dr Phil de Jersey said the team was not surprised to find the site had been damaged.
‘We know there was disturbance during the Occupation, because we found part of a German army shovel during the dig,’ he said.
‘There was a machine gun nest on the other side of the dolmen and we can tell from cut lines in the soil that they must have also dug a trench through this area. We have compared the shovel with ones at the occupation museum and local experts have assured us its one used by the occupying forces.’
Dr De Jersey had been expecting to find the remains of the kerb stones that had surrounded the site, which were documented in the original dig almost 200 years ago. Instead what they have discovered was evidence of a cairn of stones.
‘Archaeology is like that, you rarely get what you think is going to be there,’ Dr de Jersey said.
‘They tended to cover the mounds with stones, which might have been decoration, but in truth we have no real answer to why they did it.’
The La Varde dolmen, which sits at the highest point of L’Ancresse Common, is approximately 6,000 years old and archaeologists have shown that wear from sea water on the stones proves that many were brought up from the beach.
It was a burial and cremation site for more than 1,500 years.
‘The heaviest stone was over 30 tonnes in weight, experimental work has shown they must have used oxen, wooden rollers and rope made from vegetable fibre to move the stone.
‘But even so, it’s hell of a lot of effort. So it implies this was an important site for the neolithic residents of Guernsey.’
And Dr De Jersey is sure the site has much more secrets to be unearthed.
‘We are hoping to excavate around the burial mound next year, which will hopefully throw up some interesting finds, perhaps evidence of burial and cremation which were discovered when the site was originally discovered back in 1811.’
The dig is due to finish this weekend.
