In a new programme of scientific analysis, archaeologists are helping to catalogue and carefully store hundreds of pieces of Ice Age animal bone found before 1960 at La Cotte de St Brelade.
The team from UCL Archaeology are in Jersey to help Jersey Heritage catalogue some of the early finds discovered at the ancient site of La Cotte de St Brelade.
These early finds from the ancient site have yet to be studied using modern scientific techniques.
Prince Charles at La Cotte de St Brelade
The team are interested in the remains of animals that may have been hunted by some of the last surviving Neanderthal groups here.
Some fragments of bone might not be from the Neanderthal people themselves.
Dr Matt Pope, from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and is helping to lead on the work and says it is exciting to be involved in such an important process.
"This is the thing: these bones have not been looked at in detail ever before.
"There are a lot of bones that have come from La Cotte that were well excavated in the 1960s, and these have been studied within the last 10 years.
"But those that were excavated before and after the Second World War - no one has ever looked at them.
"During the war, all the records were lost. The work we're doing this week is putting in the detective work to unlock their scientific potential.
"After we have gathered them, we get to ask if we can sample them for data and DNA, for the age of the bones, because there's every possibility amongst one of these hundreds of fragments of bones that there are pieces of a neanderthal, or a very ancient modern human."
Commonwealth Games: Nowacki into 100m breaststroke final
Channel Islands face 'physical' Poland test
Thousands expected at Havre Des Pas Festival this weekend
Price of heating oil and other fuel increase by more than half in a year
Man jailed for importing nearly £600k worth of cannabis in bumpers of his car
Baby born on Guernsey's Marine Ambulance
Drug trafficker who claimed he was the ‘Accredited Dealer' jailed
Jersey men involved in cocaine importation sentenced
