Another year has passed and under a clear blue sky Dr Chantal Collier and her team of archeological students diligently scrape away the ancient clay to discover more megalithic finds at Les Varines.
Pebbles and shards of rock cluster around the remains of an ice-age hearth. The dark centre and purple stained ground evidence that a tribe would have sat close to the warmth this fire offered and with their faces reflected in its glow stared out to sea.
Dr Matt Pope and his tribe have spent several years unearthing substantial finds at Les Varines and by the end of next week this precious site will be filled in to be left for another generation to rediscover.
A big thank you must go to Matt, Ed, Chantal, Sarah and all of those dedicated people who, under very difficult conditions at times, have painstakingly excavated this site revealing an Ice -Age tribal existence, bringing it all so very close. Magical. Memorable.
The dig has been hugely rewarding but without new funding, the estimated cost being around £40,000, it sadly cannot continue.
Attention will now shift back to La Cotte and a new dig there is promised.
So this Sunday could be the last chance for you to visit this unique site. Last year they found a Mammoth tooth. A Mammoth tooth. Goodness.
Think of it. Those wild woolly Mammoths once moved across our glacial cold landscape. This landscape. Our landscape.
Get close, visit the site, don't regret it.
