218 SCULPTURE OK A HUMAN IK; I HE. 



in the nineteenth century thought fit to till up this groove with 

 cement to within 2\ inches of the top, but the weathered 

 appearance of the exposed portion shows that it is of the same 

 date as the rest of the sculptures. A few inches below this 

 groove, about 17 inches above the ground, where the surface of 

 the stone is least weathered, there are traces of a slightly raised 

 band, 1^ inches wide, which probably is intended to represent 

 a girdle. There are also two short curved lines below the 

 shoulders in the front of the statue about on a line with the 

 two projecting breasts. The statue stood in the churchyard to 

 the south of the church until the middle of the last century, 

 when it was removed to its present position. At its foot was a 

 flat stone, which has disappeared, on which were two cup-like 

 hollows. It was still an object of superstitious veneration at 

 the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was thought 

 lucky to make an oblation of a few drops of wine or spirits, or 

 to strew a few flowers secretly at the foot of " la Gran'' mere 

 du chimquiere " as the statue was called in the old Guernsey 

 patois. 



There is an important point to be noted with regard to the 

 figure sculptured on the capstone of the dolmen of Dehus. 

 The inner line of the right arm can be traced continuing right 

 over the top of the stone pillar in the centre of the chamber, 

 through an opening on the eastern side where the stone does 

 not rest on the pillar. It is therefore evident from this fact 

 that the stone was sculptured before it was placed in position, 

 and as the great central chamber must have been the first 

 structure to be erected in the centre of the circle, this has an 

 important bearing on the date of the erection of the dolmen. 

 It therefore cannot have been constructed until the end of the 

 Neolithic period, at the verge of the 1st Bronze Age, when, 

 according to M. Dechelette and other leading archaeologists, the 

 symbols of the cult of this primitive divinity first appear in 

 France (1). We have also evidence from Mr. F. C. Lukis' 

 account (2) of his excavations of the dolmen of Dehus of its long 

 continued use as a place of burial, and of the erection of its 

 four secondary chambers at a later date than the great central 

 chamber. He was fortunate in finding the Neolithic deposit in 

 an undisturbed condition in the great central chamber round 

 the stone pillar and under the fallen fragment of the second 

 capstone. Among the many vases he discovered here were two 

 large caliciform vases (zoned beakers) in a nearly perfect condition, 

 and a portion of a third. In the secondary chamber A., to the 

 north of the gallery, he found a large portion of the base of 

 this latter vase thrown in on the top of the soil and limpet 

 shells covering the skeletal remains. Fragments of the same 

 vase were found strewn about in the soil of the gallery, and 



(1) Dechelette. Manuel, Vol. 1, pi. 583. 



(2) MS. Notes in the Lukis Museum, Guernsey. 



