Unusual, 2,000 year old pot found at Alderney dig site

Friday 13 September 2024

"Significant" evidence of Iron Age life has been uncovered in Alderney - with experts linking small pots found in the island with others across France.

One of the pots was found within a 2,000 year old grave site, opened up in 2019, on Longis Common.

The grave was cramped, confined, and lined with stone blocks. It was the final resting place of a woman and the pot lying next to her is now believed to have been of some value. 

Adorned with an iron band around the neck of the pot, it’s one of three found in Alderney.

They have recently been linked with another 32 very similar vessels found in recent years across North-Western France.

Pictured: One of the pots found in Alderney.

What has made these pots particularly interesting is the multiple holes pierced through the base of each.

Experts think it could have been used to drain liquid, such as wine.

The holes were only discovered in the pot found in the Alderney grave recently when it was inspected more closely.

Dr Phillip De Jersey is the States Archeologist. He says so far, there's no concrete explanation for these holes, but experts do have their theories on its design.

"It is the only Iron Age pot we have found with the holes in the base, and so far I have been unable to find any good parallels for this," he said.

"For the iron band around the neck of the pot, the most likely interpretation is that it was done to keep some kind of cloth covering in place over the top of the pot. "

Pictured: On closer inspection recently, the pot was found to have many holes in the bottom of it. 

Following the recent discovery of these holes in the base of the pot, Guernsey Museum said it has helped raise more questions about it.

“Although pots with holes like this are known from later periods, this seems to be a very unusual feature for the late Iron Age. It must have been a valued item – perhaps belonging to the woman in the grave – and so it was buried with her."

The dig resumed this summer with a focus on the Iron Age burial site, although Dr De Jersey said he has a niggling feeling there is another secret that's still left to be uncovered.

"This was one of three graves we excavated on Longis, a small part of what is likely to be quite a substantial Iron Age cemetery buried deep, in most cases two metres or more, beneath the Common," he said.

"As yet we haven’t found the settlement that went with the burials, although we think we know where it might have been and plan to return there in 2025 to try and excavate part of it."

Work on the site will pause over the winter months said Dr De Jersey.

"We can’t dig on most of the Longis site in the autumn/winter, for various reasons but principally because the water table is too high and it just becomes impossible to dig, so the work has to be done in the spring or summer months.

"I would hope we do get more interesting finds – not necessarily more graves, because they are in a different part of the Common, but I would really like to find more evidence of where these people were actually living."

Pictured top and above: Courtesy of Guernsey Museums.