Archæological Investigation in Guernsey

Abstract

TO anthropologist and historian alike the Channel Islands are rich in interest. The last vestige of the Duchy of Normandy—there the King is still officially the Duke—they possess a constitution of their own, and they have their own language, not a patois, but a lineal descendant of old Norman Trench, of which it retains the pronunciation and vocabulary, to the confusion of French–speaking visitors. The racial affinities of the inhabitants are by no means clear, though this is perhaps due to the fact that their physical characters have not been adequately studied. A series of measurements taken in Jersey more than thirty years ago would not now be regarded as entirely satisfactory in technique, and the conclusions then drawn require reconsideration in the light of later theory. It is, however, patent that at least two racial strains are present, a fair and a dark breed. Cultural affinities with Brittany are present; and attempts have been made to show that the place-names embody a Celtic element. This latter contention is more than doubtful, and there is little convincing evidence for anything which cannot be derived from Norse or early Norman French. For the affinities of the fair strain it is probable that we should look to the Norse type, and especially, in view of historical relations, through the Contentin, while connexion with Brittany may reasonably be correlated with the short, dark, long-headed man who forms the substratum of the population on the north-western fringe of Europe. The fair type, to the eye at least, appears quite distinct from the fairer Breton, who possibly may derive from a constituent in the later immigration of Celtic-speaking peoples from Britain.

The Archæology of the Channel Islands.

By T. D. Kendrick. Vol. 1: The Bailiwick of Guernsey. Pp. xxiv + 273 + 20 plates. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1928.) 25s. net.