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600
million years ago a second generation of rocks were produced by
ash falls and lava. 100 million years after this, granite was formed
by the molten magma that welled up into cracks in the earth's crust.
About
100 million years later, the conglomerates were formed. As mountains
were eroded, the pebbles and clay were carried down a river, deposited,
and cemented together.
Between
this formation of the conglomerates 400 million years ago, and the
ice ages that began two million years ago, no new rocks were formed.
Major
changes in the earth's crust formed a plateau. As the sea level
rose and fell, Jersey constantly changed.
The
first settlers
250,000
years ago, the first people appeared on Jersey. They were nomadic
hunters, and used the caves at St. Brelade as a base whilst hunting
mammoth.
The
island was used on and off for 200,000 years until the first ice
age ended and Jersey again became an island. The island was unoccupied
for 120,000 years until the end of the second ice age.
Permanent
settlements
At
the end of the second ice age, settlements appeared around Jersey,
on the coastal plains. Permanent settlements were not established
on Jersey itself until 4500 BC.
These
neolithic settlers established trading links with Brittany and with
the south coast of England.
Very
little else is known about the island from here until about 930
AD. There is evidence of the Gauls and the Romans in the island,
but it does not seem that they were permanent settlers.
In
511 Jersey became part of the kingdom of Neustria. It was around
this time that the first Christian missionaries arrived in Jersey
- St Magloire and St Samson.
For the next 200 years, Jersey's history is almost a blank. So let's
fast forward through to 800 AD, when the Vikings arrived...
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