The palaeogeography and Neolithic archaeology of Herm in the Channel Islands

Abstract

The small Channel Island of Herm combines several distinct habitats ranging from steep rocky coasts and a rolling upland plateau in the south to a dune-fringed sandy lowland in the north. Where upland and lowland meet, a line of megalithic tombs constitutes the island’s most striking archaeological feature. Four seasons of fieldwork (2008–2011) have sought to determine the environmental history of northern Herm since the last glacial period and to place the tombs within the broader context of Neolithic activity. A series of trenches and boreholes has revealed the changing morphology of the prehistoric land surface that lies buried beneath the extensive deposits of aeolian sand that cover this part of the island. Results indicate that much of the lowland plain was initially occupied by a shallow marine inlet that was cut off from the sea and progressively infilled starting in the 4th millennium b.c. Pollen and soil sequences reveal how the wooded early Holocene landscape around the edges of this inlet was steadily degraded by human impact and climate. Traces of settlement and cultivation (plowmarks) suggest the megalithic tombs were situated within an agricultural landscape. This finding has relevance for theories that have proposed that islands were favored places for burial by communities visiting from the neighboring mainland. Herm was a locus for settlement and farming as well as for burial during the Neolithic period.

Keywords:

• Channel Islands
• Herm
• Neolithic
• palaeogeography
• excavation
• burial
• cultivation

The fieldwork on Herm was supported by research award AH/F010575/1 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (U.K.). Special thanks are owed to the archaeology staff past and present of Guernsey Museum (Philip de Jersey, Heather Sebire, Tanya Walls, and Jenny Cataroche) and to the Société Guernesiaise for their assistance. Mr. Adrian Heyworth (2008), Mr. John Singer (2009–2011), and the States of Guernsey Environment Department kindly gave permission for us to work on Herm. Thanks are also offered to all the members of the Herm project team including students, volunteers, and specialists (Duncan Hale: geophysics; Professor Ian Bailiff: OSL dating; Dr. Rob Scaife: palynology; Phil Howard: DTM; John Renouf: geology). The illustrations were prepared by Dr. Kate Sharpe.

Chris Scarre (Ph.D. 1982, University of Cambridge) is a specialist in the prehistory of Western Europe with a particular interest in materiality, landscape, and the origins of prehistoric monuments. He has directed excavation projects at Neolithic sites in France, Portugal, and the Channel Islands. He has a broad interest in human cultural and cognitive evolution.

Charles French (Ph.D. 1983, Institute of Archaeology, University of London) is Professor of Geoarchaeology and Director of the McBurney Geoarchaeology Laboratory in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge. He specializes in the analysis and interpretation of buried landscapes using geomorphological and micromorphological techniques, and acts as an environmental archaeology consultant and micromorphologist for many archaeological units in eastern England and beyond.