Société Jersiaise Archaeology

23/09/2025

A wonderful autumn equinox sunrise at La Hougue Bie, a 6000 Neolithic passage grave where the first of the sun's rays pe*****te deep into the chamber and light it up. Members of the Archaeology Section and a few guests.
Thought to be part of the seasons recognised by the ritual of the Neolithic people who built the structure, the equinoxes mark the beginning of spring (for growing crops, raising animals) and autumn and the time of harvest.
Owned and preserved for future generations by
Société Jersiaise - managed by Jersey Heritage
Photographs courtesy of Underground

04/09/2025

Two coins found on our Summer excavation. The first is a Roman coin of Octavius dated to 29-30 BCE. This was found by metal detecting just before we dug our first trench.
The second is an older Celtic coin dated to between 50 and 100 BCE. This was found after the dig on the very last day that we were checking the backfill had settled nicely after some heavy rain!Interestingly, it is smaller than other comparable age coins but is the same weight. It appears to be a "lighter blow" coin when it was struck, hence being thicker but smaller in diameter.
Both coins seem to provide evidence of exactly the period that we would expect for a late Iron Age site.
Some really satisfying finds!
Société Jersiaise

03/09/2025

Me and the Société
I’m Theresa, a lead Teaching Assistant in one of the Island’s primary schools, and I have been a member of the Société Jersiaise and the Archaeology Section for just over a year now. I joined at a Section event at the annual archaeology festival, after having attended several similar events before that on the back of a general desire to learn more about the Island and its history.
Like many people, I watched inspiring television programmes like Time Team and Digging for Britain, which in some ways romanticise what is still there to be found, but I never supposed that I could get involved and do the same thing until I joined the Société.
I have spent the last year learning about the various projects that the Archaeology Section has, including how to clean finds and catalogue them, as well as undertaking field surveys. I couldn’t wait to do my first dig this summer. I was given guidance and instruction as to what to do and by the end of the excavation I was feeling confident with the helpful advice of more experienced team members.
It's exciting when you find something and realise that you are the first person to touch it for a couple of thousand years! My best find were some animal teeth – I wonder whether they are the only remains of an Iron Age stew! I also found the broken fragments of a large cooking pot. Perhaps they were connected? We will be analysing all of this over the next few months!
For me, joining in with Société activities is immensely interesting and I am invariably learning something all the time. It is also great fun to be doing something with a team of like-minded people in the knowledge that we are all playing our small part in extending knowledge of our history and the people who lived here at that time.
For further information about joining the Société and any of its Sections, please visit our website www.societe.je or contact us at 7 Pier Road, St Helier or call 01534 758314

31/08/2025

This is an intriguing feature! During our summer excavation in one of the perimeter ditches, believed to be Iron Age (BCE or BC) we found these structures which are a combination of stone, what looks like bricks and some mortar. They almost like like some walls? May be they are later Gallo Roman (CE or AD). Unfortunately we ran out of time to excavate further. The job is now to research and see if something like this has been found elsewhere.

Société Jersiaise

Polycam Capture by ParadigmaticCanyon8987. Created with Polycam LiDAR 3D scanner app for iPhone and Android. Free 3D models, photogrammetry and LiDAR scans.

27/08/2025

Our team made the news again!

After finding the stone walls of an Iron Age farmstead and coins of the first Roman emperor, an archeological dig is changing our understanding of Jersey's past. https://www.itv.com/watch/news/excavators-unearth-iron-age-farmstead-in-jersey/16xynrj

23/08/2025

Having just finished week 3 of our Iron Age excavation in St Lawrence, and away briefly in London, an unexpected exhibit at Heathrow T5 which I haven't seen before. Although very similar to some of our finds, only connection is they happen to be displayed at today's Jersey departure gate!

20/08/2025

We are apparently going to be on the ITV news this evening. Tom , Société Jersiaise member who has swapped his office job for a week to be on his first dig, and Felix (also his first dig!) with a ditch they have been excavating over the last few days.
An example of pure enthusiasm to get involved in archaeology with the Société - you don't need to have had previous experience!

20/08/2025

Our finds board as of yesterday prior to the Open Day afternoon! We still have a couple of days to find a few of the other things on our wish list!!
Hervé Duval-Gatignol will be presenting his conclusions at the conclusion of the dig on Friday afternoon at the Members Room of the Société Jersiaise at 3.30pm.

Société Jersiaise

20/08/2025

Another piece of photogrammetry from our Iron Age site. This is one of the test pits where we were establishing the depth of the inner ditch by the entrance, as well as trying to work out how the ditch had been filled by looking at the sections either side. Were they naturally filled over time or deliberately filled in one or more actions? This particular one seems to have been mainly filled over time judging from the softer and relatively stone free fill but the upper levels were very stoney containing bedrock fragments which may have come from the ditch when originally dug to make to corresponding bank adjacent to the ditch. Maybe this suggests that the remnants of the ditch were filled in by one act to flatten the whole area?
Société Jersiaise

Polycam Capture by ParadigmaticCanyon8987. Created with Polycam LiDAR 3D scanner app for iPhone and Android. Free 3D models, photogrammetry and LiDAR scans.