Dolmen De Mont Ube

Friday Morning 21st April

Because of the high tide times, we were unable to visit Geological coastal exposures in the mornings over the Easter weekend. We were therefore encouraged to find out more about the History and Archaeology of Jersey. Deidre Schute , a member of The Sociétié Jersaise, had obviously made a considerable effort and spent a lot of time on our behalf in order to link her enthusiasm and knowledge about local Archaeology with our Geological interests. It meant that a number of us are now more inclined to study pre-history.

Jersey is divided into 12 parishes each with an elected leader, the Constable, with a Chef de Police and Senteniers acting under his direction to police the laws in each community. The British police force works alongside the Constable for the more serious law enforcement. Our first visit was to the Parish of St Clement and the Dolmen De Mont Ube.

Mont Ube is at 166 feet above sea level about half a mile from the south coast of Jersey. The Dolmen is a Neolithic Passage Grave which has been dated at about 2500bc. The stone block construction was buried under a grassy mound at 125 feet above sea level, so not at the highest part of the hill. The grave was found in 1848 by quarrymen who mistook the partly exposed granite blocks to be an easy site for quarrying building stone for the tenant. The capstones had been blasted and the contents of the grave ransacked before a local archaeologist, Mr Lukis, heard about the site and came over from Guernsey to conduct an excavation. Lukis found fragments of pottery from the rubbish heaps and ensured that the landowner preserved the site. Lukis described the chamber which would have been divided into four compartments. The sketch illustrates what we saw.

We desisted from hammering the rocks but used hand lenses to identify the 19 blocks of coarse granite,12 blocks of diorite, 5 blocks of granite porphyry and 2 blocks of fine granite. Mont Ube itself consists of diorite with dykes of granite porphyry covered with a soil layer and no obvious exposures. It is therefore assumed that the Neolithic builders brought the rocks for the grave from the beaches up the steep hill.

Deidre was happy to explain the basics of modern excavation techniques which contrast markedly from those of the Victorians. Later over the weekend we saw some of the Mont Ube pottery in the museum at La Hougue Bie which lies 2 miles to the north.

Sheila Alderman