La Varde
Coordinates: 49 ° 30'8 " N , 2 ° 32'12" W.
La Varde is the largest megalithic complex in the Channel Islands and one of the largest in Great Britain . The Neolithic monument was discovered in 1811 during military exercises on L'Ancresse Common under a dune on the Le Clos du Valle peninsula , in the north of the island of Guernsey . The gray granite structure is now located on the grounds of L'Ancresse Golf Club.
description
The Entrance Grave consists of an approximately 10.0 m long chamber that widens in a V-shape and is 3.6 m wide at the end. The system is a maximum of 2.1 m high inside. The access is in the east. The originally seven bearing stones support six cap stones, the size of which decreases from west to east. In 1898 the largest capstone was given a modern buttress.
Initial excavations uncovered the fragments of two or three clay pots, human bones and corpse burns. The genealogist William Berry (1774-1851) from Guernsey described La Varde in 1815 as "consisting of five stones in decreasing size from about 25 to 10 tons" and gave the dimensions of the facility. The antiquarian Frederick Corbin Lukis (1788–1871) found fragments of beakers, bowls and more than 150 urns , fragments of a thin bronze plate as well as stone objects and skeletal remains during his excavation in 1837 . The finds indicate that the facility was used between 3500 and 2000 BC. A small stone circle stands about 30 m away from the dolmen .
The side chamber
The chamber, discovered in the mound of the La Varde megalithic complex, contained two unusually placed skeletons. While digging on the hill, a large, flat stone was discovered that turned out to be the capstone of a small chamber. After removal, two human skulls were visible in the upper part, belonging to skeletons, one facing north and the other facing south. The chamber was filled with earth and limpets, which were gradually removed during the examination to reveal the skeletons of the dead kneeling. The well-preserved teeth and jaws show that they came from adult young men. The limb bones were less decomposed than the upper part. The reason the skeletons were buried in this unusual position could not be determined. Presumably the dead were subordinates who were killed - or possibly buried alive - on the occasion of the funeral of a famous person who was buried in the main chamber of the Passage Tombs . The complete lack of additions in the small chamber shows that the people buried in the adjoining chamber were less valued.
The stone box of La Mare ès Mauves is located about 200 m from the beach on the grounds of the L'Ancresse Golf Club.
See also
literature
- Heather Sebire: The Archeology and Early History of the Channel Islands . Sutton, Stroud 2005; ISBN 0-7524-3449-7 .
- Mark Patton: Megalithic transport and territorial markers: evidence from the Channel Islands . In: Antiquity 66 (251), 1992.
- Edmund Fillingham King: Ten Thousand Wonderful Things , 1860
Web links
- Description + picture
- http://www.megalithicguernsey.co.uk/lavarde/
- Description of side chamber with sketch
Individual evidence
- ^ William Berry: The History of Guernsey, Part of the Ancient Duchy of Normandy: From the Remotest Period of Antiquity to the Year 1814. Containing an interesting account of the island; its government, civil, military and ecclesiastical; peculiar privileges, customs, etc. With particulars of the neighboring islands of Alderney, Serk, and Iersey; compiled from the valuable collections of ... Henry Budd ... as well as from authentic documents, etc. London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1815