PRINCE Charles has agreed to become patron of the project to protect and preserve La Cotte de St Brelade, one of Europe’s most important Neanderthal sites, Jersey Heritage has said.
With work on site restarting this week, Jersey Heritage said they were proud to announce that the Prince of Wales had agreed to become associated with the programme to secure the future of La Cotte.
Jon Carter, chief executive of Jersey Heritage, said: ‘We are incredibly grateful to the Prince of Wales for accepting our invitation to become patron of Jersey Heritage’s La Cotte de St Brelade Archaeological Project and are sure the news will be a tremendous boost to gathering interest in, and support for, the next crucial stage of this important project.’
The Prince’s formal involvement with La Cotte dates back to 1968 when, as a Cambridge University student, he took part in excavations of the site under the supervision of Professor Charles McBurney, a presence which helped give added international profile to the work.
Mr Carter said that the programme of work on La Cotte which has just resumed had particular significance for His Royal Highness.
‘Rising sea levels and storms continue to be a threat to this ancient heritage site and we know these are issues close to the Prince’s heart, having been a longtime campaigner to raise awareness of global warming and climate change.
‘Vital stabilisation work that we have carried out at the site means that archaeologists are able to work there again and although it has already revealed so much about its incredible Ice Age past since it was first discovered over 140 years ago, La Cotte has the potential to surprise us with incredible new stories,’ he said.
The site, which is owned by the Société Jersiaise and managed by Jersey Heritage, was discovered in 1881 and is a key one in European prehistory, offering one of the best records of Neanderthal behaviour from over a quarter of a million years ago.
Archaeologists returned this week to La Cotte for a three-week season of excavation work, having been unable to excavate there since 2019 because of the pandemic. The team is led by Dr Matt Pope, of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, who was recently in the Island to carry out a survey at another Ice Age landscape, the Violet Bank, off the south-east coast.
Working with Jersey Heritage, Dr Pope’s team initiated a new era of research at La Cotte in 2010. In additional to fieldwork, this included scientific studies of archaeological material from historic excavations, including fossil remains of Neanderthal people now cared for by Jersey Heritage.
As they recommence their work, Dr Pope’s team are working alongside Geomarine, which carried out the cliff stabilisation and sea-wall work and whose staff are on hand to ensure the archaeologists can safely access the prehistoric site via a 30m rope descent.
Dr Pope said: ‘The Prince’s time with McBurney at La Cotte, working under challenging conditions, saw the future British monarch physically revealing the traces of Ice Age archaeology from the site.
‘Reconnecting with that historic moment, over half a century later, and as the site is once more under excavation, is significant. It reminds us that understanding our shared past is an inter-generational endeavour.’
