NOTES ON THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF A HUMAN 



FIGURE SCULPTURED ON THE CAPSTONE OF THE 



DOLMEN OF DP]HUS, GUERNSEY. 



BY COLONEL T. W. M. DE GUERIN. 

 Paper read at the meeting of the British Association at Bournemouth, Sept., 1919. 



Until quite recently no sculptures had been observed on the 

 stones of any of the dolmens of Guernsey, and it had been 

 supposed that they were of an earlier date than the sculptured 

 dolmens of Brittany. In the autumn of 1918, however, a 

 careful examination of the dolmen of Dehus (fig. 1) situated at 

 Paradis, in the parish of the Vale, Guernsey, led to the disco- 

 very of a sculptured human figure of considerable interest on 

 the under surface of the second capstone of the great central 

 chamber (fig. 2). 



The figure consists of a face and two hands with the 

 outline of a portion of both arms. At a little distance beneath 

 the hands is a crescent-shaped symbol, and a few inches below 

 the latter is a small circle touching a narrow grooved line, 

 which extends nearly right across the stone, and possibly 

 represents the girdle so often found on French statue-menhirs. 

 The face is represented by the mouth, a depression \.\ inches 

 long \>y \\ inches broad, hollowed out either by grinding with 

 sand and water, or by scraping with a flint burin. The eyes are 

 two circular holes, \\ inches in diameter, placed on either side 

 of a small natural ridge in the stone which has been used to 

 form the nose. On the south side of the stone pillar which 

 supports the capstone in the centre of the chamber are sculp- 

 tured the two hands with the thumbs pointing inwards, and the 

 outline of a portion of both arms. The right hand is repre- 

 sented by a straight grooved line from which spring the four 

 fingers, four straight lines, with the thumb at an angle to 

 them. From the base of the thumb a narrow grooved line 

 extends to the edge of the capstone near the face, marking the 

 inner line of the right arm, and two lines extend from the base 

 of the little finger for a short distance, to represent the outline 

 of the forearm. The left hand is represented with the fingers 

 and thumb more out-spread, with no straight line at their base, 

 and two short lines form the outline of the hand or forearm. 

 At a little distance below the hands is the crescent-shaped 

 design, 2ft. lOin. in length, formed of four slightly curved 



