136 EVIDENCE OF MAN IX GUERNSEY. 



by Dr. de Closmadeaux, in Mater iaux pour VHistoire Primi- 

 tive de V Homme, 1888 (XXII. Vol., 3eme Serie, Tome V., p. 153). 

 Mr. Lukis states that all these objects were found in the upper 

 stratum of the deposit in the interior of the dolmen of La Roche 

 qui Sonne when he excavated it in 1838. They undoubtedly 

 prove the existence of man in Guernsey at the beginning of the 

 first La Tene period, circa 500 B.C. 



For the last period of the Early Iron Age, from the end of 

 La Tene II. and La Tene III., or say the first century or century 

 and a half B.C., we have an abundance of evidence of man in 

 Guernsey. Mr. Lukis notes the discovery of no less than 

 twenty of the typical stone graves of this period, between the 

 years 1818 and 1838. Since then fourteen more have been 

 found, making a total of thirty-four. Of these fourteen, four 

 were found at the Catioroc by Mr. Lukis, one at Les Adams, 

 St. Peter-in-the-Wood, four at Richmond, St. Saviour's, two at 

 La Hougue de Nermont, Vale, one at La Hougue au Comte, 

 Catel, one at Pulias, St. Sampson's, and one in the churchyard 

 of St. Saviour's Church. The large majority of these graves 

 were empty, having been rifled of their contents at some remote 

 period. The scarcity of metal in the island in early times must 

 have been a sirong temptation to the tomb robber to despoil the 

 graves of the dead of the iron objects deposited in them. 



All these graves were made in a uniform manner, about 

 6ft. to 6ft. 2in. in length and 20in. in breadth, with sides and 

 ends formed of flat stones of 18 to 20 inches in depth set on 

 edge in the soil and covered with similar flat stones. The most 

 important finds were those of : — 



Les Issues, St. Saviour's, discovered in 1818, and described 

 in Jacobs' " Annals of the Norman Isles," p. 486. This grave 

 contained a long iron sword in its scabbard, an iron spear head, 

 fragments of knives and of an iron chain, part of the 

 umbo or boss of a shield and the fragment of a bronze 

 ornament (Plate VI., fig. 5). At a little distance out- 

 side the grave was a vase of dark coloured pottery 8 inches 

 high and 7 inches in diameter at its broadest part (Plate VI., 

 fig. 3). According to Mr. Jacobs, some of the stones were 

 inscribed with letters. This statement is doubted, and probably 

 rightly, by Mr. Lukis, but on the other hand in fairness to Mr. 

 Jacobs, it is necessary to state that a few Gaulish inscriptions in 

 Greek letters of La Tene III., the first Century B.C., have been 

 found in France, but they are extremely rare. The vase is now 

 in the Lukis Museum, but the remainder of the objects were 

 taken to Canada by the Laine family and are now in the posses- 

 sion of Mr. Laine of Toronto. 



The first grave excavated by Mr. Lukis at the Catioroc, in 

 1845, contained a long iron sword in its scabbard 2 feet 10 inches 

 long, an iron fibula and part of another, an iron knife, part of 



