A Pleistocene hunting trap
On the southwestern coast of Jersey, the granite headland of La Cotte de St Brelade contains a deep, T-shaped ravine system. For over 200,000 years, this natural feature was a hunting ground for Neanderthals. The site is most known for two dense heaps of animal bones discovered at the base of the ravine. These piles contain the remains of Woolly Mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) and Woolly Rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). The original interpretation, first proposed by archaeologist Katharine Scott, was that Neanderthal groups worked together to drive herds of these megafauna over the cliff edge, using the ravine as a natural trap.
During multiple Ice Ages, sea levels were significantly lower than today, and Jersey was not an island. It was a high, rocky plateau connected to the plains of what is now northern France, with a view of the surrounding cold, tundra-like landscape. This vantage point would have been used for spotting and tracking the movements of large herds. The ravine, filled with over 40 meters of sediment deposits, has preserved a long record of this repeated activity. Excavations have revealed at least 13 distinct episodes of Neanderthal occupation, with the earliest dating back around 250,000 years and the most recent to approximately 48,000 years ago. While the "mammoth drive" theory is debated by some modern researchers, the bone piles show Neanderthal skill in hunting and butchering Ice Age megafauna.