Island Archaeology Field School - Jersey

2025 ISLAND ARCHAEOLOGY SUMMER SCHOOL - THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MAP OF JERSEY

30 June - 19 July

The 2025 JICAS Island Archaeology Field School in Jersey is run in partnership with Jersey Heritage, Societe Jersiaise and the University of Exeter’s International Summer School. This year’s Archaeological Map of Jersey Summer School will continue to focus on Approaches to Prehistoric Landscapes in Jersey, as well as a three-week excavation at the neolithic site La Hougue de Vinde.

Week one will cover mapping, recording and interpretation of the prehistoric record through geoarchaeological approaches.  Outside of the classroom we will make use of Jersey diverse and dramatic landscape to explore different types of preservation context from Ice Age sediments of the foreshore to buried Neolithic landscapes.

Weeks two and three examine various field survey techniques, landscape archaeology and comparative island archaeology, as well as the known distribution of prehistoric sites from the Jersey Historic Environment Record and the new results of the recent LIDAR survey conducted on the island by Jersey Heritage. As part of the of ‘The Archaeological Map of Jersey’ project, weeks two and three will also continue the excavation work at La Hougue de Vinde as the basis of our planned field survey.

Cost: £799 for certificate (Jersey residents only) / £3,500 for credit (includes travel from UK to Jersey, accommodation, transportation, Jersey Neolithic dolmen tour, one-day trip to Guernsey, Channel Islands and all other cultural activities)

Pls email info@jicas.ac.je for an application form and complete prospectus with timetable.

Field School leader: Dr Matthew Pope (MCIfA. FSA.) 

Dr Matthew Pope is Associate Professor in Palaeolithic archaeology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. He leads multiple fieldwork projects spanning the last 600,000 years of the early human occupation record in Northern Europe. Over the last 13 years he has helped to lead the reexamination of the Paleolithic record of Jersey which has included excavations at La Cotte de St Brelade and Les Varines.

Field School leader: Dr Helen Dawson (MCIfA) 

Dr Helen Dawson is adjunct professor at the Department of History and Culture at the University of Bologna, and associate research fellow at the Department of Prehistory at the Freie Universität Berlin. She has extensive fieldwork experience and a special interest in islands, which goes back to her first dig as an undergraduate in Barbados in 1997, followed by more fieldwork in the islands of the Mediterranean (Sicily, Cyprus, the Cyclades), a topic on which she has published widely. 

Field School leader: Dr Hervé Duval (ACIfA)

Dr Hervé Duval is Field Archaeologist at the Société Jersiaise and associate research fellow to the UMR 6566, CReAAH, Rennes 1 University. Based in Jersey since 2022, he is in charge of developing research programs in the Channel Islands and promoting the work of the Archaeology Section. His research is mostly focused on Protohistory and he is both interested in island archaeology and erosion monitoring.