The ‘research project of the year’ award, which is a category in the Current Archaeology Awards, would, if they won, recognise the work of a team of 50 archaeologists and scientists collaborating on the ‘Ice Age Jersey Project’ over a seven-year period.
Research carried out on two sites – Les Varines and La Cotte de St Brelade – have unearthed a wealth of clues about the Island’s inhabitants over 200,000 years ago and the life of prehistoric people in the Ice Age. Excavations have also uncovered the remains of a hunter-gatherer camp, settled long before the Island was surrounded by sea.
Its remains at Les Varines have helped to build a bigger picture of Jersey’s past, and its connections – both physically and culturally – to continental Europe.
Dr Matt Pope, a senior fellow of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, and project lead, said that Jersey’s landscape and history had made it the ‘most suitable site in North Western Europe’ for a stone-age archaeology research project of this kind.
The work carried out by Dr Pope and his team uncovered more about the Island’s prehistoric history, while also exploring how our ancestors adapted and moved in response to climate change.
Jersey has a number of significant prehistoric sites, which have revealed activity by Europe’s last known Neanderthal hunters up to the arrival of the first early modern humans.
To vote for the project, visit archaeology.co.uk/vote where it is listed in the category ‘Research Project of the Year’. Voting closes on 5 February 2018.
