Editing History of Guernsey (section)

==Prehistory==
[[File:St Martin's statue menhir Guernsey.jpg|thumb|''[[La Gran' Mère de Chimquiere|La Gran'mère du Chimquière]]'', the Grandmother of Chimquiere, the [[statue menhir]] at the gate of Saint Martin's church is an important prehistoric monument]]
Around 6000 BC, the rising sea created the [[English Channel]] and separated the [[Normandy|Norman]] [[Promontory|promontories]] that became the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey from [[continental Europe]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.societe-jersiaise.org/whitsco/lacotte1.htm |title=La Cotte Cave, St Brelade |publisher=Société Jersiaise |access-date=10 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323050028/http://www.societe-jersiaise.org/whitsco/lacotte1.htm |archive-date=23 March 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Neolithic]] farmers then settled on its coast and built the [[dolmen]]s and [[menhir]]s found on the islands today. The island of Guernsey contains two [[Statue menhir|sculpted menhirs]] of great archaeological interest, while the dolmen known as ''L'Autel du Dehus'' contains a [[dolmen deity]] known as ''Le Gardien du Tombeau''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=287103092 |title=Le Dehus – Burial Chamber (Dolmen) |work=The Megalithic Portal |last=Evendon |first=J |date=11 February 2001}}</ref>

The Roman occupation of western Europe induced people to flee, including to the Channel Islands where a number of hoards have been found, including the [[Grouville Hoard]]. It later brought trade and Roman settlements. A 3rd-century Gallo-Roman ship wreck was found in [[Saint Peter Port Harbour|St Peter Port harbour]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-30852076 |title=Gallo-Roman wreck Asterix returns to Guernsey |publisher=BBC |date=17 January 2015}}</ref> Trade was by ship down the west coast of Europe, silver from England, Breton pottery, wine amphorae, as discovered in the Kings Road excavation in [[St Peter Port]].<ref name="PotS">{{cite book |first=A.G. |last=Jamieson |title=A people of the sea |publisher=Methuen |year=1986|isbn=0416405401}}</ref>{{rp|9}} The Nunnery in Alderney, was a 5th-century Roman signal station fort.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/news/alderney-a-new-roman-fort.htm |title=Alderney: A New Roman Fort? |publisher=Current archaeology |date=4 November 2011}}</ref>