Year 7 La Hougue Bie Tour
I had such a mesmerising experience on our visit to La Hougue Bie. We started our tour at the Long House, it was the first ever house that that was built in the Neolithic times as the first forms of settlers who made permanent homes in Jersey. It was insulated because the walls were made from clay. At the end of the Long House, it was darker than the rest of the house and so they put their animals in this area as they were valuable to their survival. They also had a campfire inside where they cooked their food. They used a special type of flint rock with a dent which was called a quern. People used it to grind their food like wheat and other grains. They grounded and added water to make a dough then they raked it using a stick and cooked it under the fire.
Another amazing feature of our visit was a huge mound made from small rocks which was a passage grave. The Neolithic people where very smart and advanced in their architectural abilities and not primitive as often regarded in our society. They lined their structure perfectly so that on every equinox in March, on this very day as the sun rises it lights up the whole cave, this process is still happening to this day and is celebrated on the Island.
This monument was also a place of worship where they placed people when they died which showed elements of reverence. The Neolithic people believed in the afterlife so they would put food with the deceased to go with them in the afterlife. There are parts of this cave where the regular people were put and on the left where the Royals were placed. Scientists had also found bones from animals and humans in the passage grave.
Gabriela
La Hogue Bie is an amazing place where you can learn about how Neolithic people made a Long House, passage grave and their crops!
They use querns to make them breakfast which they used wheat and used their crops to make bread.
The passage grave is made from orthostats (base stones) and capstones where they buried deceased people. When someone died, they would have a box of their possessions that no one could touch as they thought this was bad luck. They believed that they needed it for their second life to be prepared.
They did not have any electricity, so they used the sun and moon to wake up and indicators for time. The passage grave had lots of stones and two wings (the sides opening) and that is where they would go to stay when it was windy.
We enjoyed going into the passage grave. We had to stoop down and bow as this was intended by the Neolithic people in order to show respect to the Gods. At the end of the chamber, you could stand. There were lots of spiders hiding away in the corner!
Skyla: Seymore
