The Quaternary Archaeology and Environments of Jersey project (QAEJ)

La Cotte faunal archive revisited

palaeolithicresearch — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:22:50 +0000

Dr Geoff Smith is currently on Jersey to reanalyse the faunal material from the prominent Neanderthal site of La Cotte de St Brelade. His main focus is on layers 3 and 6, the so-called bone heap layers, which are characterised by large amounts of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. This work ties in with new reanalyses of the lithics, and together this archival research is aimed at coming to a better understanding of the site and assessing the validity of the mammoth drive hypothesis.

Geoff’s work is being funded by the Quaternary Research Association through the Quaternary Research Fund.

Geoff got interviewed about his work by the Jersey Evening Post, click on the image to read the full article:

The Naked Scientist Interview: Neanderthals on Jersey

geoffreymsmith — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:56:57 +0000

The QAEJ project is again the spotlight with an interview on the Naked Scientist website. The transcript is from the NERC Planet Earth Podcast that went out earlier and is the QAEJ media archive. The short interview discusses the ongoing work by the QAEJ team and also details some of the findings from last October’s fieldwork funded by the NERC Emergency Grant.

QAEJ seminar Nov 25

palaeolithicresearch — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:37:55 +0000

Dr Matt Pope and Dr James Cole are presenting the results of two years of new investigations into the deepest history of Jersey this Friday November 25th at the University of Southampton. The talk will take place at 5pm in CAHO‘s Wymer Laboratory on Avenue Campus and all are welcome to attend.

Matt Pope, James Coles, Beccy Scott, Andy Shaw, Chantal Conneller, Martin Bates, Geoff Smith, Dave Underhill and Karen Ruebens

Ice Age Island: New Investigations on the Ancient Occupation of Jersey.

Abstract:
Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands situated close to the north west coast of France. It provides an excellent record of human occupation and environmental change during the Quaternary, a record of relevance both to Britain and the continental mainland. The Quaternary Archaeology and Environments of Jersey project (QAEJ) has now undertaken two field seasons of investigation on the island; a number of localities have been investigated through direct excavation and geoarchaeological sampling during this time and these include the Middle Mesolithic site of Canal du Squez, the Late Upper Palaeolithic site of les Varines and the first renewed excavations at la Cotte de St Brelade. Work was taken forward at la Cotte this Autumn under NERC funding and also in 2011 work began on detailed bathymetric survey of the sea floor around the coast of La Cotte de St Brelade.

This presentation provides an over-view of the project, the results of on-going research and potential for the future. The presentation will focus on the excavations at Les Varines and La Cotte with new perspectives on the latter site emerging from reassessment of lithic and faunal material in the McBurney archive. An account is also given of the technical challenges of survey of the complex structure of La Cotte de St Brelade, the three-dimensional modelling of the site and the emerging of terrestrial and marine datasets to create seamless reconstructions of cold stage landscapes surrounding the site.

This talk forms part of the seminar series of the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO, University of Southampton).

Dr Geoff Smith receives funding to return to Jersey

geoffreymsmith — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:13:59 +0000

Dr Geoff Smith has received funding from the Quaternary Research Association Research Fund. The grant will enable him to return to Jersey to continue his study on the La Cotte de St Brelade faunal material as part of the QAEJ project. A small publication will appear later in 2012 based on his research and findings during his trip.

NERC Planet Earth Podcast

geoffreymsmith — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:16:02 +0000

NERC Planet Earth Podcast is now available and gives details about the recent NERC Urgency Fund work at the site.

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/multimedia/audio/eanderthals.mp3

Also photos available on the NERC Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Planet-Earth-online/154360572984