220 SCULPTURE OF A HUMAN FIGURE. 



seem to be confirmed by the discovery by Mr. Lukis of a copper 

 knife-dagger and two small copper or bronze rings in the dol- 

 men. The dagger, he tells us, was found lying on the top of a 

 mass of rubble that had been disturbed on the north side of the 

 great central chamber. This fact led him to consider it a 

 comparatively recent intrusion into a Neolithic structure. 

 However, in the light of our present knowledge of the late date 

 of the erection of the dolmen of Dehus, and the fact that this dag- 

 ger is identical in form to a copper knife-dagger found in the 

 dolmen du Terrier du Cabut, Commune d'Anglade, Gironde (1), 

 and to others also found in dolmens in the south of France, I 

 think it is evident that it was deposited with some interment 

 in the dolmen early in the 1st Bronze Age. 



The question suggests itself — how did the cult of this 

 divinity reach such an out of the way locality as Guernsey at 

 the end of the Neolithic period ? There seem to be two possible 

 routes by which it might have come : one from the Seine valley 

 by Normandy, and the other from the south by Brittany. The 

 latter seems the most probable, as there is a close affinity be- 

 tween the Neolithic culture of Guernsey and that of Brittany. 

 We find the same forms of vases, the same patterns of their 

 ornamentation, and also the same forms of stone celts. Further, 

 traces of trade intercourse are evident by the numerous polished 

 stone celts and other objects found in Guernsey "of Jadeite, 

 Fibriolite, Serpentine and many other stones not found in the 

 Channel Islands. These show the existence of intercourse with 

 the mainland in Neolithic times. The continuance of this 

 intercourse in the 1st Bronze Age is proved by the copper 

 knife-dagger and copper rings found in the dolmen of Dehus, 

 also by a small flat copper celt, of very early form, found at La 

 Hougue du Pommier, Castel, Guernsey, and by another large 

 copper celt (hache plate) found in Little Sark, all typical of this 

 period. Dechelette (2) refers to the evidence of a trade route 

 along the western coasts of France, from Spain to the north, in 

 Neolithic times, and particularly in the 1st Bronze Age, as the 

 way along which the influence of the higher culture of the Medi- 

 terranean Basin reached Brittany and Western France, and from 

 thence the Southern Counties of England. He also traces the cult 

 of this primitive divinity back through Spain (figs. 7 & 8) to an 

 Aegean prototype. It is therefore by this route along the western 

 coast of France rather than from the Seine valley that the cult 

 of the goddess, represented by the sculptured figure of the 

 dolmen of Dehus and the two statue-menhirs, in all probability 

 reached Guernsey. 



In conclusion I have to thank my friends, Dr. Fleure and 

 Major Carey Curtis, for their most kind assistance in furnish- 

 ing me with plans, &c. 



(i) Dechelette, Manuel, Vol. II., part 1, fig. 57, No. 4, p. 190. 

 (2) Ibid, Vol. I., p. 626. 



