Candie Gardens dig finds are mostly animal bones

They helped clean the findings of La Societe’s archaeological dig at Castle Cornet which had taken place in February.

Fifty trays’ worth of items – thousands in total – were washed mostly using old toothbrushes and water, with delicate finds cleaned more sensitively.

La Societe archaeological secretary Tanya Walls said the majority of items discovered during the dig were animal bones dating back hundreds of years.

‘Most of the bones are from the 15th century and would have been part of the animals being eaten by those living in the Castle,’ she said.

‘In among those there are some bits of pottery and building materials too.’

She said that, once cleaned, the items would be sent to an expert in Switzerland, who would identify each of the bone fragments.

‘We probably won’t have the results back for about five years as it takes time and money to identify each item.’

Among those assisting in the clean were Tom Bourgaize and his daughter Ava, 8.

‘Ava is fascinated by this sort of thing.

‘She wants to be a palaeontologist when she’s older so it’s good experience for her,’ said Mr Bourgaize.

Ava enjoyed taking part and liked trying to identify the marks found on some of the bones.

‘One of the bones had a big butchery mark on it,’ she said.

Jim Le Lievre was accompanying his daughters Katy, 7, and Darcy, 4, to the clean.

The three of them are members of La Societe.

‘We often do stuff like this. I think it’s great for the girls to be able to take part in such a wide range of stuff,’ said Mr Le Lievre.

Among Katy’s favourite items she had cleaned were a rat’s skull and a set of teeth.

‘I’ve got quite muddy doing it but that’s what happens when you scrub hard,’ she said.