Le Dehus
The Dolmen Le Dehus on the Channel Island of Guernsey is a V-shaped megalithic passage tomb with side chambers. It is located near the sea, in the parish of Vale , on the Le Clos du Valle peninsula , north of the small Bordeaux Harbor, in the northeast of the island, on Dehus Lane (road).
Research history
The name probably comes from the Old Norse Dys (or Dysse), which means dolmen . The monument was mentioned in writing as early as 1753 as "l'Autel de Dehus". In 1775 it was bought by John de Havilland to protect it from further destruction. Joshua Gosselin of Guernsey (1739-1813) mentioned it in 1813 in his description of the four "Druid Temples" on the island and called it "La Pierre du Dehus". He drew two views of the facility and a diagram of the capstones. The 30 supporting stones of the chamber and corridor and the stone pillar supporting the ceiling only protruded about 75 cm from the floor and Gosselin assumed that this represented the full height of the chambers. Le Dehus was excavated by the family between 1837 and 1847, especially by FC Lukis , who unfortunately published little. Further excavations or investigations were carried out in 1893, 1915 and 1928. Today's appearance goes back to the reconstruction by Vera Christina Chute Collum (1883–1957) in 1932.
The hill
The round hill, slightly indented on the entry side, has a diameter of around 20 m. This seems to correspond to the original condition, as Lukis described the curb circle as almost complete. According to his records, limpets shells were found in large quantities inside , leading to speculation that the entire memorial was erected in a kitchen rubbish heap .
The dolmen
The floor plan of Le Dehus has come down to us in different versions, which do not match in terms of shape and number of side chambers. There is only agreement on the main chamber. The number of five accessible side chambers (A + B on the north and C, D, E on the south) that exist today is called into question by the only four (without E) determined by Lukis. The fifth room can be the result of an incorrect reconstruction.
The aisle
Le Dehus is a relatively short passage grave . The access is in the northeast, towards the coast. The corridor is three meters long and one meter wide and has a trilith as an entrance. At the transition to the main chamber, Lukis found a pair of stones that narrowed or marked the passage to the chamber on both sides. These stones, which were not high enough to reach the underside of the cap stones, have since been removed. The corridor is covered by four cap stones. The inner three were found in situ . The entrance lintel was offset and re-launched by GE Lee in 1898.
The main chamber
The corridor and main chamber form a "bottle-shaped" floor plan. This shape is typical of some monuments in northern France and the Channel Islands ( La Varde , Le Creux ès Faïes ). The chamber is comparatively spacious, about six meters long and 3.5 meters wide at its broad end. It was probably covered by four capstones, three of which are western original. The walls consist of orthostats which, together with a pillar that stands free within the chamber, support the cap stones. The support of the second capstone, which becomes considerably narrower at its northern end, was necessary because it was too short to reach the northern bearing stone wall. Load-bearing pillars within megalithic systems are extremely rare in Europe. This second capstone is adorned with an anthropomorphic incision on its underside . It appears that he (like that of Catel) once a freestanding Statue menhir was, which was re-used in the construction of Le Dehus. Such procedures are documented from the Morbihan department ( France ). The inside height is not enough to look closely at the underside of the capstone. One has to lie on his back to see the human face and hands that adorn the narrow side of the stone. In one hand only the fingers peek out from under the support that supports the capstone. Today there is another short menhir at the entrance to side chamber C (which does not appear on Lukis' plan). Starting in 1837, Lukis excavated the passage and most of the main chamber. Between layers of limpets, earth and ashes, he discovered corpse burns and bones. In the lowest layer of yellowish clay, human skeletons, bones, stone and bone tools and fragments of ceramics have been found on alluvial soil.
Under the second capstone of the chamber, which had fallen at some point, he came across a layer of clay pots and human bones. There were seven or eight containers in total, mostly cups. Below that was part of a drinking cup, the remaining parts of which were found in side chamber A. It appears that many of Le Dehus' drinking cups were deposited near the base of the pillar of the chamber.
The side chambers
Side chamber A
Side chamber A measures 1.6 × 1.65 m and is 1.45 m high under the intact original capstone, which is approximately 40 cm thick. Lukis found human bones along with pottery. A piece of the earthenware was the base of an ornate drinking cup, the remains of which were discovered in the main chamber, near the column. There was a small ledge to the right of the entrance. There was a polished ax of serpentine spotted with ornaments.
Side chamber B
Side chamber B is small, with 1.07 m at its widest point. Lukis didn't discover the side chamber until 1844. The entrance is so narrow that nobody can squeeze through. The original height under the capstone was 1.27 m. Although the capstone, which is only 15 cm thick, is noted as "present" on modern plans, the side chamber is now covered with concrete. Most of the northern wall was supplemented with dry masonry. Two skulls were found under the 15 cm layer of earthen and limpet shells. They belonged to two otherwise complete skeletons, kneeling next to each other to the east and west, pointing in different directions. No pottery was found in the side chamber.
Side chamber C
Side chamber C is the largest. It is oval with a diameter between 1.47 m and 1.68 m. The orthostats are 1.42 m high. No capstone was in situ when discovered, but large stone fragments found in the chamber could be part of a capstone. The Lukis plan shows two fragments. A large slab built into the concrete roof as a supplement could be one of these fragments. Lukis did not discover the side chamber until 1847. While digging through the usual mixture of earth and limpets, Lukis first found a layer of pebbles under which lay more limpets and three groups of human bones. The bones rested on flat plates and each group included a round-bottomed vessel. The southern bone position appeared to be that of a child.
Side chamber D
Side chamber D can be entered from the corridor or through a gap between the orthostats in the "new room E". According to Lukis, this room had no access, neither from the corridor nor from side chamber C. Side chamber D is irregular in shape and approximately 1.47 m long. During the excavation, a large flat stone was found in the east of the side chamber, which could be a fragment of a capstone. The side chamber appears to have undergone changes during various excavations and restorations.
FC Lukis examined the side chamber D in 1847. He suggests several periods of use. Under the ubiquitous layer of earth and limpets , he found small granite slabs with piles of human bones on top. About 30 cm below there was a second layer of plates, which also carried piles of bones. 60 cm below this slab layer was the grown soil with other finds. In the southeast corner and in the west, Lukis found crouching skeletons at ground level. An inverted bowl was found on the north side. It rested on three stones arranged in a triangle. Human rib bones were found under the bowl. The bowl was the only piece of pottery found in side chamber D. The area between side chambers C and D was examined by TWM De Guerin during the 1915 excavation. A "rubble wall" mentioned by TD Kendrick (1895–1979) in 1928 was apparently removed during the 1932 excavation.
The location of the finds in different layers indicates that this side chamber was used several times. This is difficult to reconcile with Lukis' finding that there is no access from the other chambers. In view of the capstone and mound structure, it is difficult to see how access from above should have been possible.
See also
literature
- Heather Sebire: The Archeology and Early History of the Channel Islands . Stroud, Tempus 2005. ISBN 0-7524-3449-7 .
- Mark Patton: Megalithic transport and territorial markers: evidence from the Channel Islands . In: Antiquity 66 (251), 1992, 392-395.
- RJ Schulting, H. Sebire & JE Robb: On the road to paradis: New insights from AMS Dates and Stable Isotopes at Le Dehus, Guernsey and the Channel Islands middle Neolithic. Oxford Journal of Archeology 29/2, 149-173, 2010.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 29 '49.7 " N , 2 ° 30' 22.93" W.