Archaeologists excavated an area in front of the church entrance last month, ahead of building work starting to create a new entrance and toilet.
While the area was now a path, it had historically been the side of the church, and as expected they found some bones. They had been disturbed by drainage work and historically disorganised burials.
‘We did find some bones in the end, but not as many as we expected,’ States archaeologist Phil de Jersey said.
‘We did get parts of three skeletons, at about one-metre deep.’
One was a set of legs. But it was the two skulls from two other skeletons that have caused a stir.
The current church dates back to 1175. So finding two skeletons, with the bodies going under what is believed to be the foundations of an original wall, came as a surprise.
‘They would not have buried them under the walls,’ Dr de Jersey said.
‘This would mean they pre-date the wall and could be earlier than the 12th century We will radio carbon date them – they could be 10th or 11th century.’
Local building specialist John McCormack was called in to have a look, and confirmed the wall was believed to be an original gable. This has suggested that there was an original St Andrew’s chapel, maybe with a smaller footprint, which pre-dates the current church, but evidence of it has been lost when the current structure went up.
The local archaeologists have found older bones before – in Herm and around Castel Church – but changes in the acidity of the soil affect bone preservation. Even small differences can have a big effect on how well bones survive.
‘The bones have not been damaged by the wall and these are not bad at all,’ Dr de Jersey said.
‘They are now drying out, and we will clean them up and do a report on them.’
The skulls are mostly intact, and even still have some sturdy molars.
‘They are quite robust,’ Dr de Jersey said.
‘There was no ribs or spines –those had disintegrated completely. With one skull we can see two or three arm bones – enough to see they were crossed across the stomach.’
However any other surviving bones will be under the church. It means the historians have no pelvises to study, which would help determine gender.
Dean of Guernsey Tim Barker is the rector at St Andrew’s Church and was following the dig’s progress.
‘It’s fascinating,’ he said.
‘Archaeology often comes up with fascinating insights about the past and it helps us to understand how things are today and how the church developed.’
Dr de Jersey said they would be back on site in the future, as the church planned to create a cesspit, and the archaeologists planned to dig the area where it would go before it was installed.
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.