Link from Aerial-Cam; Rather beautiful tourist video of the achaeology of Orkney. Enjoy.
Sites in Orkney
Articles
The ruins of a 5,000-year-old tomb in a construction that reflects the pinnacle of neolithic engineering in northern Britain has been unearthed in Orkney.
Fourteen articulated skeletons of men, women and children – two positioned as if they were embracing – have been found inside one of six cells or side rooms.
The tomb measures more than 15m in diameter and contains a stone structure accessed through a long passage of around seven metres. The excavation was headed by Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark, senior curator of prehistory (neolithic) at the National Museums Scotland, and Vicki Cummings, professor of neolithic archaeology at Cardiff University.
Discovered this week in Onziebist tomb during UHI visit archaeologyorkney.com/2023/06/08/onziebist-rock-art/?fbclid=IwAR1ovcs1PTrrFKdwMDu_EUrUgoLcXpr-VU783UjpmCjHLzyF4Mca-q3KDBw
Mass immigration to Orkney during the Bronze Age replaced most of the local population – and was largely led by women, according to new research.
More info : bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-60290483
Archaeologists believe fingerprints on fragments of clay found in Orkney were left by experienced potters and their young apprentice 5,000 years ago.
More info :
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-59036887
Musician Erland Cooper has released a new album each year for the past three years – inspired by the history and landscape of Orkney.
More info : bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57729921
A £60,000 research project is to be undertaken to create a ‘Neolithic Landscapes of the Dead’ chambered tomb trail in Orkney.
More info :
The world heritage status of Orkney’s archaeological treasures is threatened by climate change, a report has warned.
More info :
International scientists are meeting in Orkney to develop a system for assessing the risks to world heritage sites posed by climate change.
More info :
Off the north coast of Scotland, Orkney’s soft green landscapes hold a trove of things from everyday life before history was written.
More than 3,000 archaeological sites — among them standing stone circles, Norse halls and a Neolithic tomb graffitied by Vikings — have endured for millenniums, scattered across the roughly 70 islands that make up the Orkney archipelago.
At Skara Brae, one of Europe’s best-preserved Stone Age villages, kitchens built around 3180 BC are fitted with hearths and cupboards, bedsteads and doors that could be bolted shut.
Today, in forays to remote spits of land, people are working to save some of these places for posterity from the climate changes accelerated by human activity.
About half of Orkney’s 3,000 sites, many built before Stonehenge or the pyramids, are under threat from those changes, according to the county archaeologist. Some are already being washed away.
Since 1970, Orkney beaches have eroded twice as fast as in the previous century. Others that had been stable are now shrinking. Rains, falling heavier and more often, are dissolving the crusts of soil and sand packs that protect remnants of civilizations.
sbs.com.au/news/scotland-s-oldest-heritage-sites-at-risk-from-rising-seas
A large number of stone axes are among more than 30,000 pieces of pottery, bones and tools found so far at a 5,000-year-old site in Orkney.
More info :
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45113734
A new academic paper has suggested it is possible neolithic mass burials in Orkney and Shetland contain the bodies of tsunami victims
More info :
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45035429
Rivalries in Orkney more than 4,500 years ago led to competition between communities including over how people were buried, according to new research.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41319168
Skara Brae made Number Nine in The Daily Record’s top ten of Trip Advizer scathing reviews of Scottish Tourist Attractions.
dailyrecord.co.uk/scotland-now/10-times-tourists-scotland-were-10934794
Lovely.
“Neolithic markings carved into a stone in Orkney that were missed for years by archaeologists have been discovered by chance.
The faintly incised “butterfly-like” motifs were revealed on Tuesday as sunlight lit up the rock at the “right moment, at the right angle”.
Experts believe the marks were deliberately made to be delicate and to catch light at certain times of day.
The find was made during excavations at Ness of Brogdar.
The incisions are so faint they do not show up in photographs taken so far of the stone.
The block formed part of wall of a structure at the dig site. It has since been moved to safe location.”
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-40653877
Dig diary date;
Informative article on the Ness from 2015
archaeology.org/issues/61-1301/features/327-scotland-orkney-neolithic-brodgar
From the Orcadian:
“A prehistoric underground structure has been rediscovered in Harray – rediscovered in that the archaeologists found it to be full of Victorian rubbish!
But although it had obviously been opened, entered and used in the 19th century, the chamber appears to have gone unrecorded.
Martin Carruthers, of the Archaeology Institute UHI, and county archaeologist Julie Gibson made their way out to the site, near the Harray Manse, last weekend.
Martin explained: “It’s either a souterrain or a ‘well’ and, given similar examples elsewhere in the county, probably dates to the Iron Age”
Read More: orcadian.co.uk/2016/05/two-finds-one-harray-chamber/
Research has found that red deer were brought to the Scottish islands by humans, but the question remains: where did the Neolithic colonists come from?
The riddle of the red deer of Orkney and the Outer Hebrides has just become even more baffling. Stags and hinds arrived with humans – but not from Scandinavia, nor from the British mainland.
And they can only have arrived by ship: transported by enterprising Neolithic colonists who had learned to treat deer as livestock, long ago and far away in Europe.
Full The Guardian article: theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/06/riddle-of-the-red-deer-orkney-deer-arrived-by-neolithic-ship-study-reveals
And from BBC News :
‘Mystery voyage’ of Scottish islands’ red deer
bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35970195
Science Magazine:
Red deer came to Scottish islands from unexpected places
sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/red-deer-came-scottish-islands-unexpected-places
The original paper published by The Royal Society:
Colonization of the Scottish islands via long-distance Neolithic transport of red deer
Archaeologists have been excavating the site of a child’s grave on an Orkney island.
The grave – which it is believed could be up to 4,000 years old – was uncovered on Sanday’s shoreline by winter storms and high tides.
It is thought the skeleton could be that of a child aged between 10 and 12.
The find was made by Carrie Brown, of See Orkney tours, who called in local archaeologists.
Historic Scotland was alerted, and experts were sent to Sanday on Saturday.
The skeleton will be analysed by an osteoarchaeology team in more suitable climatic conditions.
The remains were found on 3 February.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-31313519
Protection for the ‘Heart of Neolithic Orkney‘
The impact of renewable energy projects on the world-famous Skara Brae monuments in Orkney is being researched as part of a new management plan aimed at protecting the site.
Five thousand years ago, the then residents of Orkney began constructing some extraordinary monuments out of stone.
They built a series of domestic and ritual monuments which include a beautifully-preserved domestic settlement at Skara Brae, the chambered tomb at Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness circle and henge, and the Ring of Brodgar – a great stone circle, 130 metres across.
These important monuments are now collectively known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney (HONO) and represent one of the richest surviving Neolithic landscapes in western Europe.
Since 1999 they have been an official UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This is a designation for places that are “of outstanding universal value to humanity”, and includes places as diverse and unique as the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Taj Mahal in India, and the Acropolis in Greece.
Representatives from Historic Scotland, Orkney Island Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have now launched the Heart of Neolithic Orkney Management Plan 2014-19, which sets out how they aim to protect, conserve, and enhance the site.
The plan is the result of consultation with the various interested organisations and members of the community, which took place last year.
Part of the plan states: “An emerging issue of concern for the cultural heritage sector is the impact of climate change on the management of the archaeological resource.
“This is a global issue and one that UNESCO is concerned about for its effects on the world heritage site (WHS).
“HONO WHS is at significant risk from a variety of climate-related factors including: increases in storminess and sea level rise and consequent increases in coastal erosion; torrential rain and flooding; changes to wetting and drying cycles; changes to the water table; and changes to flora and fauna.
“The growth of renewable energy also has the potential to impact on the setting of the monument.”
In welcoming the launch of the new plan, Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs said: “Five millennia after they were built, these beautifully-preserved monuments offer us an invaluable insight into the society, skills and spiritual beliefs of the people who constructed them.
“The successful management of the site has depended on the close working relationship between the Partners, who have drawn on the experience, as well as consulting with stakeholders and members of the public, to produce this new, improved Management Plan.”
Gavin Barr, Orkney Islands Council’s Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure said: Orkney’s heritage plays an important role in life on the Islands today, by providing cultural, spiritual, economic and educational benefits.
“I’m delighted that the new Management Plan will ensure an appropriate policy context for ensuring the Sites remain relevant to modern day challenges, recognising their role in the wider sustainability of Orkney’s environment and economy.”
The site is managed and cared for by Historic Scotland who work in partnership with Orkney Islands Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in its wider management.
scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/new-project-aims-to-protect-orkney-monuments-1-3389055
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
Evidence shows that Britain’s megalithic monuments started on these islands about 5,200 years ago, along with new styles of architecture and pottery
The Orkney Islands, off Scotland’s north coast, are famous for their wealth of Stone Age monuments. Until recently, these had been seen as the peripheral flowering – in a cold, wet and remote location – of a culture that had spread north from a more hospitable climate.
But the latest archaeological evidence, described in the journal Science this month, shows that Britain’s megalithic monuments really started on Orkney’s Mainland Island about 5,200 years ago, along with new styles of architecture and pottery. From there the innovations swept south across the British Isles, culminating hundreds of years later in Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire.
“We’re looking at a fairly major transformation across Britain – the impact of a whole way of life, religious and social, which comes out of Orkney,” says Michael Parker Pearson of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. “Orkney was a place of synthesis, where the Neolithic worlds came together.”
Although most of Orkney’s Neolithic monuments, such as the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, have been famous for centuries, new discoveries are coming from a vast complex of stone buildings, the Ness of Brodgar, that had been buried for millennia until excavation started less than a decade ago.
The Ness of Brodgar was built about 3200BC on the middle of a narrow isthmus dividing freshwater and saltwater lochs. It included a dozen or more buildings with outer walls up to four metres thick and inner walls incised with mysterious butterfly-like patterns. The central gathering hall, 500 sq m in area, had a cross-shaped inner sanctum.
Carbon dating of organic material found at the Ness suggests that the complex was used for about 1,000 years. Activities included feasting on a huge scale, judging from the number of cattle bones found on the site and pottery with residues of beef and dairy fats. It must have been a gigantic ceremonial centre, not only for the 10,000 or so people believed to have lived on Neolithic Orkney but probably also for outsiders who made a perilous voyage by boat from the mainland.
Archaeologists say the combination of stone circles and earth henges that is so characteristic of British Neolithic monuments – and unknown elsewhere in Europe – is seen on Orkney at least 100 years earlier than the rest of Scotland or England. The Grooved Ware style of incised pottery associated with henge monuments also appeared on Orkney before anywhere else. So did a distinctive style of housing – with a central hearth, stone beds and an area for storing household goods. But why such a remote spot became Britain’s hotbed of cultural innovation 5,000 years ago remains a mystery.
Hopefully the link works as it is the FT...
ft.com/cms/s/2/3449dde2-7800-11e3-afc5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2q4zsn300
The Warebeth area of Stromness parish has its history pushed back into the Neolithic, my suspicions about a knoll in the feld right of the road coming down to the cemetery/broch proved right. In this natural mound archaeologist potter Andrew Appleby has found the remains of a tomb, a situation resembling that of Crantit (thanks to the farmer this will remain undug for future generations).
A map of how Orkney looked 10,000 years ago is beginning to paint a picture of how the islands appeared to the first settlers who came here at the end of the last Ice Age.
More info :
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/2012/05/18/painting-a-picture-of-scapa-flow-10000-years-ago/
Because she’s too modest to post it herself... ;)
“‘Orkney Held Me Close’ is an exhibition of work created following my stay on Orkney in February 2011. I travelled to study the megalithic remains as part of my ongoing work, painting the ancient places of the UK – however Orkney enchanted me and inspired me into a hugely prolific period and I created a large body of work. I am delighted to have the chance to show a selection of paintings, landscapes and abstracts, at For Arts Sake, Kirkwall.”
facebook.com/events/298017696921790/
Also:
“9th March – 10th April 2012
‘Orkney Held Me Close‘
an exhibition of landscape and abstract paintings,
For Arts Sake Gallery, above the VAO, 6 Bridge Street, Kirkwall, Orkney. Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm, Saturday 10am – 2pm.”
Looks fab. I’d be there like a shot if it were at all possible... :)
G x
“A flint axe, recovered on a stretch of shore in St Ola, looks like being the oldest man-made artefact found in Orkney to date.
Dating from the Palaeolithic period of prehistory, the axe could therefore be anything between 100,000 and 450,000 years old.”
Full story: orkneyjar.com/archaeology/2011/05/26/flint-axe-found-on-orkney-shore-predates-the-ice-age/
Laser scanners are being displayed in Orkney to record some of the island’s historical land marks.
More info :
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-10990965
September 18th in Kirkwall Rown Hall
Laser scanners are being deployed in Orkney to record details of some of the island’s key historical landmarks.
A team from Glasgow School of Art and Historic Scotland will scan the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae settlement.
The two-week project is part of a plan to build up three-dimensional images of 10 World Heritage sites.
Among the sites already scanned are New Lanark’s 18th Century mills and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is made up of the tomb of Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness, the Barnhouse Stone, the Watch Stone, the Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae.
The recording process will involve a laser being fired millions of times a second at each of the monuments.
The end result will be a precise record of the sites, accurate down to just millimetres.
The data will be used to assess the physical condition of the structures and provide a foundation for future conservation, site management and aid archaeological understanding.
Project leader Dr Lyn Wilson said: “Though we have already scanned New Lanark, the scale and nature of the monuments will be an entirely different challenge.
“This will be the first site in the Scottish Ten project where we have existing scan data: comparing data acquired at different dates will allow us to measure any changes in condition of the monuments.”
Sites including the Antonine Wall, St Kilda, and the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh will also be scanned.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-10990965
Images from all the sites will be made available at ......
www.historic-scotland.gov. uk/news
So it says elsewhere but also interestingly in another article it says..
“Results gleaned from the scanning process will be shared with the California based CyArc Foundation, who are pledged to create a storehouse of open access data relating to World Heritage Sites.”
Well the new top destination tourist place according to The Telegraph. Skara Brae and The Flintstones for goodness sake!
Scotland’s Orkney Islands provide a rare glimpse of Stone Age life, says Paul Humphreys...
Many archaeological sites are baffling to the layman. How often do you see a few bits of half-buried wall accompanied by a not-very-informative plaque telling you that this might have been the palace of a bishop? Or perhaps it was the outer wall of a stonemason’s workshop…
Neolithic structures such as Stonehenge are awe-inspiring and magical, but they don’t tell us much about everyday life in the Stone Age. To get an idea of how Neolithic people actually lived, you should head for the far north of Scotland, to Orkney, home to some of the most impressive prehistoric settlements in the whole of Europe.
Here you will find remains so well preserved that you don’t need an expert to tell you what’s what. You can see for yourself. The best-known example is Skara Brae, a settlement on Orkney Mainland (the largest island) that was buried for centuries until its cover was blown by a storm in 1850.
What came to light was a 5,000-year-old housing complex that surely inspired the creators of The Flintstones. For here there are beds, hearths, dressers and storage units, all carefully crafted in stone. It’s easy to imagine a Stone Age chap arriving home in the evening after a hard day’s cattle herding, hanging his stone axe up by the front door, sitting around the fireplace and sharing a meal with his family before snuggling up for the night under a pile of warm animal skins.
There are so many extraordinary sites in Orkney that it’s difficult to know where to start – so Visit Scotland has done visitors a great favour by launching an online Archaeological Treasures Trail that covers all the major sites (there are also trails for the Outer Hebrides and Shetland). Here you’ll find suggested itineraries and potted histories of the sites, together with opening dates and times and other useful tips.
Skara Brae, with the Ring of Brodgar stone circle and henge, the Stones of Stenness and Maeshowe, together form a World Heritage Site called The Heart of Neolithic Orkney, and these are the highlights of the Orkney trail.
Places such as these abound in Orkney, with one island alone having 200 known prehistoric sites. Sometimes called the “Egypt of the North”, Rousay is home to Midhowe Broch, probably the finest surviving example of the tower-style fortified homes that were common in Iron Age Scotland. Here again, so much remains of the interior – including dividing walls, a stone tank and the like – that it’s easy to imagine people living there and going about their everyday lives.
Of course, not all the sites of Orkney are so easily understood. Only yards away from Midhowe Broch is the much older Midhowe Cairn, known as the “great ship of the dead”, a vast 30-metre Neolithic chamber. County archaeologist Julie Gibson says that only a few skeletons were found within a monument that seems to have been used for hundreds of years – so it looks as though a few individuals were selected in some way. It’s possible that the bones of ancestors were brought out from time to time and used in rituals – but that is really just an educated guess.
The word “ritual” is a favourite term of tour guide and archaeologist Caz Mamwell, who is candid enough to admit that whenever the experts are baffled by such things as stone circles, “ritual” is a handy explanation. Sometimes, though, the archaeologist’s job is made a good deal easier – as in the case of the Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, back on Orkney Mainland.
This monument was already ancient when the Vikings came across it in the 12th century – and left their mark in the form of runes carved into the stone. The building is mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga – the History of the Earls of Orkney – a fascinating account of the 300 or so years (from AD 900-1200) when Norsemen ruled the waves in these parts.
Their influence can be felt to this day in the Orkney accent: Scottish, yes, but with a distinctive Scandinavian lilt that sets these islanders apart from their southern countrymen.
But not all historical monuments here date from the distant past, Continues here..
telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/7929936/Orkneys-archaeological-treasures.html
It’s definitely broch-like but is it a broch?
That’s the question still facing the archaeologists at the ongoing excavations at the Cairns in South Ronaldsay.
Overlooking Windwick Bay, the Cairns is a massive archaeological jigsaw puzzle, with a sequence of Iron Age buildings, representing centuries of use.
The first building on site was a massive broch-like roundhouse – with five metre thick walls forming a structure with an exterior diameter of 22 metres.
This structure, in particular its interior, has been the focus of much of this year’s excavation, with the archaeologists painstakingly removing huge quantities of rubble from the interior to reach the floor level.
During the excavations this year, a clear picture has emerged of the inside of the ‘broch’ building. A large area of the interior and its entrance has been excavated of tonnes of rubble to reveal the impressive internal fixtures and fitting across about a third of the building.
More here:
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/cairns2010.htm
(This seems a bit familiar, so apologies if I’ve posted this before!)
Another season of excavations at Cantick, South Walls, concluded last week, following the continued investigation of a prehistoric burial mound.
A team from ORCA (Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology) based at Orkney College were joined by students from Aberdeen and Durham Universities. Local volunteers also received field training in Hoy, funded by the Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme.
Full story:
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/cantick2010.htm
Archaeological Treasures Trail – Orkney
Orkney is one of the richest Neolithic landscapes in Europe – a place of stone circles, villages and burial monuments. Several monuments on Orkney are part of The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site (WHS) including the Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle and Henge, Maeshowe, Skara Brae and the Stones of Stenness. All these monuments are relics of the period when great civilisations started to arise across the world.
Read more:
seasons.visitscotland.com/things_to_see_and_do/cities_and_culture/archaeological_trail/orkney.aspx
[EDIT – I should say I found this news here: orkneyjar.com/]
These pictures and papers have been gathered in honour of Daphne Home Lorimer MBE on the occasion of her retirement as Chairman of Orkney Archaeological Trust, to mark our affection for her as a friend, our respect for her as a colleague and our admiration for all that she has achieved.
“We know Orkney has a rich archaeological heitage, but Daphne Lorimer’s commitment has ensured that interest in its discovery and conservation has the recognition it properly merits. To know Daphne is to be infected by her enthusiasm, and the study and pursuit of archaeology in Orkney has been so much enriched by her enthusiasm and interest.” – Jim Wallace MSP March 2004
Orkneyjar’s report here ow.ly/1eGbP – much clearer pics than “The Orcadian”.
As the only other NMRS for Damsay is a site the excavator thought to be a Norse castle but is now believed to have been a broch it is probable that the orthostats in one photo could relate to this. Though a short talk was given on preliminary Rising Tide findings beside these nowt has appeared in print or in the report, so from memory the Bay of Firth has in it likely chambered mounds and (one or more) stone circles
Experts Predict Boom After Finding Archaeology Swallowed By Rising Tides
by Ryan Crighton Published 26/02/2010.
Ancient structures submerged by the tides thousands of years ago could bring a fresh tourism boom to Orkney, experts predicted last night.
More at:
pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1623445
As with all of this type of thing it will bring some good and probably some not so good if it isn’t looked after properly.
from Sigurd Towrie
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/oicfunding2010.htm
Discovery of man-made structures on the seabed off Orkney – the well preserved structures are near the island of Damsay and some of the structures may date back thousands of years.
One structure found was a stone “table” with 4 legs.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8416600.stm
theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2525441.0.Neolithic_temple_revealed_at_site_on_Orkney.php
The Stone Age equivalent of a cathedral has been unearthed in Orkney, the largest structure of its kind found in Britain.
It dates to the Neolithic period (7000-1700BC) and was found not far beneath the surface of the narrow strip of land that divides Harray Loch from Stenness Loch on the Orkney mainland.
It is an area that is at the heart of Orkney’s World Heritage Site which boasts extraordinary archaeological richness. The building has been found between two of of the most famous standing stones sites in the world, the Ring O’ Brodgar and the Standing Stones O’ Stenness.
By David Leask
ITS beaches are as stunning as any in the Maldives – even if its weather isn’t.
Yet if the Orkney island of Sanday is very far from the Indian Ocean idyll, it looks set to share the same fate, as sea levels rise and storms become fiercer and more frequent.
Sanday, like the Maldives, may be “uninhabitable” by the end of the century, a leading climate scientist warned last night. More dramatically, some experts fear the long, low-lying spit of land could split into two or more islands within the lifetimes of its 500 residents.
Sanday, and neighbouring North Ronaldsay, are now seen as so-called bellwether islands. Their low elevation and exposed positions mean they will be among the first places in the western world to face the brunt of global warming, even if the most optimistic predictions come true.
Kevin Anderson, climate change expert and professor at Manchester University, said: “These islands are barometers of the changes we are all going to see if we don’t get our carbon emissions under control. What threatens them is a mix of quite small rises in sea level and a jump in the frequency and severity of storms. Storms that used to only occur occasionally will make some of these areas uninhabitable. People on these islands are vulnerable, but they will no doubt get help to relocate. Think, however, of more vulnerable people in poorer parts of the world with nowhere else to go”.
Sanday and North Ronaldsay – whose famous seaweed-eating sheep are under threat – have always suffered from the weather. Their sea defences have been breached many times. But storms, locals acknowledge, have been getting tougher and more regular. Sanday has suffered several bouts of flooding that has split one side of the island from another, albeit temporarily. “One day the waters will just stay and there will be more than one Sanday,” said one islander.
Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat who represents Orkney in the Scottish Parliament, was brought up on Sanday. He admits the island’s position is now “precarious”.
“There has always been a bit of gallows humour in Sanday,” he said. “My parents live in the north end of the island and I have joked we’ll need to get two ferries to see them, one to Sanday and another to the new island they will live on. The north end was cut off just two years ago.
“Obviously, we want to be hesitant about apocalyptic forecasts. But there is no doubt that, in a Scottish context, the first impact of climate change is in places like Orkney.”
McArthur, however, believes the north isles face more immediate challenges, including depopulation. The numbers on the islands north of the Orkney mainland have held steady for more than two decades, but only thanks to new migrants, many from mainland Scotland and England. New jobs can be hard to come by, he said.
Some islanders are now talking of giving land to newcomers in exchange for helping with engineering work to stave off the effects of climate change.
In North Ronaldsay – which has around 60 inhabitants, down from 500 a century ago – the stone dyke that surrounds the island could be an early victim of global warming. It was built in the 1830s to keep the island’s unique seaweed-eating sheep on shore; without it, the sheep would be lost. “It has already been replaced in parts by fencing,” said Sam Harcus, who represents the North Isles on Orkney’s council. “I think we are eventually going to have to offer people a croft and land in exchange for them giving up a day or two a week to maintain the dyke.”
Orkney’s internationally important neolithic sites are also at risk, with archaeologists now openly debating how and when they will abandon Skara Brae, the stone age village unearthed, ironically, by huge storms and now precariously nestled behind an eroding sandy beach.
Orkney’s council leader, Stephen Hagan, last night described changes in the islands’s climate so far as subtle. But he added: “There is nothing we can physically do to stop rising sea levels.”
news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Rising-seas-could-spell-doom.5319340.jp
no pic of rock art yet but
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/harrayearthhouse2.htm
Another souterrain has come to light in Harray (see Dale) in ploughing a field for barley . Historic Scotland has given a 3 week grant for its excavation, no visitors allowed. With it a hole in the same field reminiscent of that found by the South Keigar earthhouse in Deerness, Orkney.
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/harrayearthhouse.htm
2nd week on Corrigall earthhouse :-
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/harrayearthhouse2.htm
Peninsula man-made for 2-4 metres down, chambered tomb/s, decorated cist lid etc. etc. with pics
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/brodgar2006.htm
Radio Orkney reports that a socketed bronze axe-head was found a few months ago whilst digging in the Highland Park peats in the Hobbister area of Orphir. This LBA artefact is [believed to be] the first of its kind from Orkney.
Story and pics orkneyjar.com/archaeology/socketedaxe.htm
From Radio Orkney this morning ; a just completed survey (jointly funded by the Flaws family and the O.I.C.) of the island of Wyre [Weir/Veira] found five mace-head fragments and also miniature soft stone axes in a field, made from non-local stone (Hebrides suggested as source).
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/wyresettlement.htm
Radio Orkney’s monthly “Orkology” last night had a report on a small-scale dig at the Ness of Brodgar to ascertain the cause of slip observed recently by the farmer at this feature. They found many pieces of Corded Ware and a pitchblende fragment, bolstering the theory that the known revetments are in connection with a large chambered tomb – the admittedly limited excavation found no IA material to back up the theory that we had a broch here (though one should bear in mind that locally we do have precedent for a broch built over a CT at The Howe).
Work finished today on what was left of a presumed chambered cairn (HY42401383) on Quanter Ness, only a little further coastward than the Crossiecrown settlement. Indications are that it was dismantled early on (Quanterness chambered cairn is across the road and up the lower slopes of Wideford Hill) and may be a crossover between the purely domestic and the religious type of site. Though there is no dating evidence it does share an alignment with the Tomb of The Eagles. After the exploratory dig it has now been covered over.
orkneyjar.com/archaeology/ramberrycairn.htm
On Radio Orkney it was announced that a student who had been doing research around the Bay of Firth with no success found a large amount of flints when turning their attention instead to a field by the Loch of Stenness (following up on a tip given to them as a result of Colin Richard’s fieldwalking). Mesolithic tools have turned up before in Orkney (e.g. Yesnaby) but in amounts small enough to be explained as people passing through. This site having produced enough for a doctoral thesis is a strong indicator of an actual settlement, probably underwater at the loch margins.
The significance of this is that if some Neolithic ideas started in the Orkneys it would help for there to be a previously settled group of people to have developed them, otherwise you require the first Neolithic settlers to have come up with them almost as soon as they reached here i.e. did the ideas evolve from within a society or arise from contact with a specific environment (a dichotomy something like that leastways).
Iron Age Orkney was the centre of a vast province, ruled over by a chieftain who co-ordinated a massive programme of defensive brochs to counter a threat from the south. This is the conclusion of Shetland archivist Brian Smith.
Orkney’s first underwater archaeological investigation concludes two islets are definitely crannogs.
An article by David Hartley from The Scotsman:
They were the first people to live in Scotland, nomads who left little trace of their day-to-day lives. But the first evidence that early man built homes as far north as Orkney up to 10,000 years ago appears to have been uncovered by archaeologists.
Tiny slivers of stone – combined with previously puzzling results from a geophysics survey – point to the presence of a settlement created by Mesolithic hunter gatherers.
The discovery of the islands’ first houses would represent a major step forward in understanding the shadowy lives of our earliest ancestors.
Jane Downes, from Orkney College, one of the archaeologists leading the excavation at Mine Howe, said: “To find evidence of a settlement would be a first for Orkney.
“But it would also be incredibly unusual for Scotland, because the lifestyle of the Mesolithic people meant they left few traces for us to find,” she added.
Orkney is internationally famous as the home of some of the Neolithic period’s greatest architectural masterpieces. Stone monuments like Skara Brae and Maes Howe date from about 5,000 years ago.
A more detailed survey of the area will now be carried out by the new geophysics unit at Orkney College.
The mound of Snusgar in Sandwick is the site of a new excavation focusing on the history of human settlement around the Bay o’ Skaill.
A rare Iron Age burial is causing great excitement among the experts working at Minehowe — and as usual has raised more questions about life around the Iron Age site.
Archaeologists returned to the Tankerness site last week and by Monday had discovered a complete human skeleton buried in the floor of the metalworking structure outside Minehowe’s circular ditch.
From The Scottish Herald, 1 July 2004
Archaeologists have found the remains of a prehistoric village on Orkney, which has already unlocked secrets of the island’s life, beliefs and rituals.
The discovery will provide a mine of information and has already revealed that Orkney was more densely populated than thought and its inhabitants were happy living among their dead.
Experts said the ruins contradict the orthodoxy that prehistoric human activity was confined to the area around the ceremonial structures of Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.
A series of exploratory excavations around the site of the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney revealed that the area may contain a well-preserved neolithic village.
Nick Card, projects manager for the Orkney Archaeological Trust, and his team found evidence of a massive village between the two stone circles – covering an area of just more than six acres – which may date from approximately 3500-1800BC.
Centuries-old conceptions about the Ness of Brodgar – the thin strip of land between the Harray and Stenness lochs – look set to be turned on their heads following a series of exploratory excavations on the south-west of the ness.
Last year’s discovery of a structure half-way between the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness gave the first hint that ideas were going to have to change.
Full article here
By Stephen Stewart, May 10 2004
Archaeologists have re-discovered a lost chapter in Orkney’s history which will develop the understanding of mysterious ancient monuments found across Scotland.
Underwater researchers are examining small, artificial islands in Orkney’s inland waters, which have lain undiscovered for generations.
Crannogs were fortified places of refuge which are found throughout Scotland in lochs and other waters, but are a class of ancient monument not usually associated with Orkney. Bobby Forbes, an underwater archaeologist, is leading the project in a shallow loch which lies between Stromness and the Loch of Harray, in the vicinity of prehistoric remains at the Ring of Brodgar, Maes Howe and the Stones of Stenness.
He said: “We were doing some work in the Stenness Loch area and found two small islands with causeways, which were flooded by the sea. People have just not known about these man-made islands. The sites are not recorded in Orkney’s sites and monuments record.
“We are eager to find out how these sites fit in with the rest of Orkney’s archaeology. When they were created, agricultural land would have been at a premium.
“As people tried to avoid inhabiting agricultural land, they would have moved on to the loch and these very easily defended positions.”
Some crannogs elsewhere in Scotland and Ireland were large enough to house whole communities, and others were important royal or monastic centres.
An Orcadian farmer has unearthed on his land at Howe Farm in Harray (Orkney, Scotland) what is believed to be a Bronze Age burial kist. Despite kists being quite common in Orkney, Historic Scotland called in AOC Archaeology from Edinburgh to carry out the excavation at the end of last week.
AOC project officer Ronan Toolis said: “The machinery went over the kist and broke through the top slab. It was reported to Historic Scotland and they called us in.” Ronan and project supervisor Martin Cook travelled to Orkney on Friday and found a stone kist grave, in effect a stone box. “It is actually very well constructed and inside was a small deposit of cremated bone. We would expect it to be human, although it is still to be analysed,” Ronan said. He continued: “The bone was in a small pile, it may have originally been in a bag that has since rotted away.”
The kist measures about 1.5 metres long, by 60cm wide and was 70cm below the ground surface. Samples have been taken from the kist and surrounding area in a bid to date the burial. The bone material will also be assessed to see how many individuals were buried, their age, sex and health. “We suspect the grave could be Bronze Age as we found a bit of melted metal within the kist,” Ronan said. The grave has been taken apart by the excavators and recorded.
Source: The Orcadian (18 March 2004)
The latest set of geophysics scans on the Ness o’ Brodgar continue to shed light on the Ring o’ Brodgar and the landscape around it – in particular another massive settlement discovered immediately to the north of the stone circle.
Full story at: orkneyjar.com/archaeology/brodgargeophs2.htm
A decision on the application to extend works at the Heddle Quarry in Firth has been deferred.
Members at this morning’s Orkney Islands Council planning committee meeting agreed to defer the decision for more detailed geological and environmental reports.
Where next????
World heritage site faces quarry threat – John Ross, The Scotsman
news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=84342004
Residents living close to an island quarry fear its planned expansion could affect an internationally renowned archaeological site.
Orkney Islands Council will next week consider a planning application to extend the islands’ largest quarry on Heddle Hill in Finstown which is near the Neolithic sites of Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, the Stones of Stenness and Skara Brae, classed as a World Heritage Site.
Opponents of the planned expansion by Orkney Aggregates Ltd say that it would breach council regulations and have significant visual, geological and environmental impacts.
Simon Treasure, who lives near the site, claimed information supplied by the company with the application is out of date and said that a full assessment would have to be made of the impact of the expansion.
He said: “Heddle quarry is highly visible, indeed it is the most visible man-made object in Orkney, seen by ships 50 miles to the east on a clear day. It is the nearest thing in Orkney to industrial pollution. It is at the top of a 400ft hill.
The south-west approach to Heddle Hill is less than 2,000 yards from Maeshowe and the Stones of Stenness.
“The western boundary of the quarry is probably less that two miles from the WHS. At present the quarry is only visible from the north and eastern approach to Finstown, not from the south or west. We recognise the importance of a suitable quarry within the county. Heddle quarry has good stone and has been in operation, satisfying a high demand from customers, for 100 years, the principal current customer being Orkney Islands Council.
“However, given the intense natural sensitivity of the Orcadian landscape and the importance of the WHS, it is felt that, whilst trying to keep Heddle quarry in operation, permission for any extension can only be granted after fully meeting the demands imposed by statutory local planning policy and of a fully independent environmental, visual and geological impact assessment process in the clear light of day and with the total involvement of relevant outside agencies.”
He added: “It is our contention that the views of the hill will be affected from all sides, including most notably those from Stenness and the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site at the Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness and Maeshowe.
“We may be wrong. But there is no supporting evidence to tell either way. Blowing two million tonnes of rock up is not something that can be undone.”
The application will be discussed by the council’s environment, planning and protective services committee on 28 January. A council spokesman said the authority did not wish to comment ahead of the meeting.
Roy Brown, a director of Orkney Aggregates, said: “A topographic survey is being carried out and we expect the consultant to confirm our view that the World Heritage Site will be unaffected by the quarry extension.
“All necessary reports and surveys have already been commissioned, including a visual impact assessment and a botanical and habitat survey.”
Susan Denyer, secretary of ICOMOS-UK, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, said her organisation has not objected to the proposal.
“We would get involved if we believe a development would be damaging to a world heritage site, but we have to be selective in the causes we take up,” she said. We have looked at this case and although the WHS is visible from the site, it is some distance from it.”
It is understood that Historic Scotland, a statutory consultee, has also not objected to the planned extension as it is felt it would not impact on the WHS or scheduled ancient monuments.
However a spokeswoman for the agency would only say: “We have sent our comments to the council but it would not be appropriate to make these comments public before the application is considered.”
Historic Scotland are to start referring to two of Orkney’s best known monuments by their rightful Orcadian names.
The government agency are to stop using the name “Ring of Brogar” when referring to the Ring o’ Brodgar in Orkney’s West Mainland.
In addition, they are to revert to the local one-word spelling of Maeshowe, doing away with the “Maes Howe” spelling that does not reflect the Orcadian pronunciation.
Increasing visitor numbers is not having a detrimental effect on one of Orkney’s top visitor attractions, according to initial findings.
State-of-the-art technology was brought in by Historic Scotland scientists concerned for the future of Maeshowe and Skara Brae.
The Orcadian revealed last year that detailed analysis was being carried out to discover whether the walls were moving and being eroded at both sites. Interim results for Maeshowe have suggested that visitor numbers are not a problem.
Orkney may have been the largest prehistoric settlement or ceremonial site in Britain, new research reveals today.
Archaeologists using the latest techniques to map under the soil discovered the world heritage site covering the Ness of Brodgar in Stenness, was a massive centre of activity in Stone Age times.
Orkney’s landscape has largely managed to avoid the rigours of industrialised farming and may yet yield its secrets about the recently-surveyed site, which in terms of scale, puts the likes of Stonehenge, Avebury and Skara Brae in the shade.
Source: Orkneyjar Archaeology News (24 October 2004)
For centuries scholars and antiquarians have had their own theories over the activities that once took place in Orkney’s World Heritage Site covering the Ness of Brodgar in Stenness. From druid enclosures to ancestral monuments, each era had its own ideas about the Neolithic ceremonial centre. However, despite the advances in archaeological knowledge, technique, and technology, there is still very little known about the area.
But this looks set to change, with the continuation of a project to use magnetometry to scan the entire Brodgar peninsula. Magnetometry is the technique of measuring and mapping patterns of magnetism in the soil. Ancient activity, particularly burning, leaves magnetic traces that show up even today when detected with the right equipment. Buried features such as ditches or pits, when they are filled with burnt or partly burnt materials can show up clearly and give us an image of sub-surface archaeology.
Forwarded for info:
From: Sigurd Towrie
Subject: Neolithic Structures unearthed at Brodgar
A suspected Neolithic house on the Ness of Brodgar in Stenness was uncovered at the weekend but subsequently reburied.
Unearthed by Beverley Ballin-Smith and Gert Peterson of Glasgow University’s archaeological research division, the site at Brodgar Farm lies half-way between the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.
But although the find is another exciting one for Orkney, the visiting archaeologists had no remit to excavate. Because the site is within Orkney’s World Heritage Site, a decision must first be made on how best to deal with it.
The round structure is much like the ones at nearby Barnhouse and last year’s geophysics survey of the area suggests that there are at least three in the area – which is also halfway between the waters of the Stenness and the Harray Lochs, on an area of high ground in line with the entrance to the Brodgar ring.
I visited the site today and will be writing up a complete article for The Orcadian (and Orkneyjar) later this week.
--
Sigurd Towrie
Blackhall – Kirbister – Stromness – Orkney
Heritage of Orkney: orkneyjar.com
Orkney and Shetland, Scotland’s northern outposts, have become famous for their unrestricted vistas of land, sea and sky.
Now centuries of history and natural forces are to be defied. Plans are being laid to transform the scenery of the bleak Northern Isles with the planting of up to quarter of a million trees over the next three years.
Landowners, farmers, crofters and community groups are being offered government grants of up to £3,000 a hectare to reverse the islands’ treeless image and return them to a state that the Vikings would have recognised.
Ministers believe the ambitious tree-planting project will not only improve the look of the islands but also provide a boost for tourism.
“Orkney and Shetland are famed for their open landscapes but there is a strong local demand for more trees,” said Scottish Executive environment minister Allan Wilson. “Creating woodlands there will improve the environment for islanders and boost wildlife tourism which will strengthen the local economies.”
Pollen studies by scientists have revealed that both of the island chains were once covered in dense woodlands of birch, alder, willow, hazel, rowan and aspen. But Neolithic and Bronze age settlers from around 3000BC are believed to have been the first to start the process of cutting down the native woodland to provide wood for fuel and grazing for animals.
From the Stones Mailing List, another interesting revelation – posted to the list by Sigurd Towie, whose excellent site Heritage of Orkney should not be missed.
Another extract from my forthcoming archeological review of 2002 that may be of interest:
“The designation of the area surrounding Maeshowe, Brodgar, the Standing Stones and Skara Brae as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 has resulted in a number of projects to better understand the archaeology – visible and invisible – within the landscape. One of these was an extensive geophysics survey of the Brodgar peninsula – the thin neck of land bordered by the Harray and Stenness lochs.
Among the many features revealed by the five month operation is the existence of a fourth ‘object’ in the ground by the Comet Stone – the megalith that lies about 150 yards from the Ring of Brodgar – as well as a number of features within the Brodgar ring itself.”
The full report will appear on my site shortly.
--
Sigurd Towrie
From the Stones Mailing List, some interesting discoveries – posted to the list by Sigurd Towie, whose excellent site is mentioned elsewhere here.
I was going to hold onto this until my complete article appeared in The Orcadian, but following a number of e-mails received today after a story on Radio Orkney this morning, here’s the relevant extract:
“While attention over recent years has been firmly on Tankerness and the underground chamber of Minehowe, the emphasis in 2002 shifted firmly back to the West Mainland and the “Neolithic Heart of Orkney”.
There, for the first time in almost 30 years, the area around two of Orkney’s best-known ancient monuments – the Ring of Brodgar and Standing Stones of Stenness – came under close scrutiny.
Not only was a large section of the Ness of Brodgar painstakingly scanned, but a chance discovery of two large stones on the shore of the Stenness loch could shed some light on the construction of the stone circles, in particular how the megaliths were transported from the quarry site.
While walking the eastern shore of the Stenness Loch, Nick Card of Orkney Archaeological Trust (OAT) came across the two prone stones lying by the water. The stones, just to the north of the Wasbister disc barrow, could indicate that after being hauled to the loch after quarrying, the megaliths took to the water for their final leg of the journey. Although Nick is only certain that one of the stones was destined to be a standing stone, the discovery has intriguing parallels with a local tradition that other stones lie within the loch itself.
“It could be that these stones may once have been erected but were knocked or fell down in more recent history,” suggested Nick, “but this seems unlikely. If they had been standing, they would surely have been recorded somewhere. It seems more probable that they were actually on the way somewhere. And if you were moving something that size it makes sense to use the water.”
Staying on the subject of standing stones, work at Vestrafiold in Sandwick over the summer seems to have confirmed that megaliths were indeed quarried there – the location long held to be the source of the Stenness stones. The project, led by Dr Colin Richards of Manchester University, hopes to reveal more about the people who hewed the great stones from the quarry and moved them more than seven miles to the Ness of Brodgar. Previous investigative has concentrated on the stone circles themselves, but Dr Richards’ project could provide an intriguing glimpse behind the scenes of the construction of Orkney’s grandest prehistoric relics. The Vestrafiold work is ongoing and Dr Richards hopes to return in 2003.”
Not much else can be said about the Vestrafiold project at present – landowner isn’t keen on publicity.
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Sigurd Towrie
Blackhall – Kirbister – Stromness – Orkney
Heritage of Orkney: https://www.orkneyjar.com
A Jar of Honey
by George Mackay Brown
A woman came from every house that morning to the croft of Scar. Slowly, like holy women, they moved through the fields. Seven men stood at the end of the byre of Scar: five young men, an old man, a boy. The oat fields were yellow, gulls dipped and squabbled over the mackerel in the bay. The men stood outside the ceremony, unwanted and useless. One of the young men shared the holy look of the women, but he too was outside their ceremony. The other men did not have a thing to say to him. They kept turning away from him. He stood there in a double isolation. A woman with huge hands and a face like stone crossed the fields, Bella of Windbeck. She walked slowly, by herself. The door of Scar opened and shut on this priestess. Now it was noon. The men at the end of the byre smoked their pipes, all but the lonely one. Once the boy chased a butterfly with a shout but the old man checked him and the boy sat down at a fissure in the wall, watching bees oozing in and out. A girl, an acolyte, crossed over to the burn from Scar for water. With a pure white look on her she passed the men and returned, silent and intent, a heavy brimming pail at each side of her. Another woman came out for peats, her arms red from the flame. The sun dragged through the afternoon like an ox through furrows. Suddenly the water girl stood in the open door of Scar, her arms wild circles. ‘Simon!’ she cried. ‘Come now.’ The young man turned his burnished face to the house. He wouldn’t move. He was afraid of the elemental women inside there, with their water and fire, the terrible priestess and her servers, swaddlers, shrouders, guardians of the gate of birth and the gate of death. He couldn’t move. The other young men were laughing all around him now. They laid earth-coloured hands on him. They buffered him gently. They turned his face towards the open door. Two of them walked with him, one at each side, to the threshold. He went inside alone. The boy sat at the end of the wall, gray wax at his mouth, his fingers threaded with honey. The old man knocked out his pipe, spat, lifted six creels from the wall, and slowly walked down to the boats.
A young man lifted scythe from the end of the barn. He began to whet it on a red stone.
The gate of life had been opened.
Between that and the dark gate where the fish and the fleece and the loaf, the oil jars and the jars of salt and the jars of grain, and the one small jar of honey.
Here in Orkney there are/were quite a few of what Gregor Lamb terms finger stones. These were generally thrown by giants. In Eday there was one above Farahouse. Rousay had one where folk would lay a stone in passing. The Finger Steen or Byasteen is, or was, on a cliff near Wasbister shore. On Mainland, in Evie, is one of Cubbie Roo’s failed shots on Hoy. Cubbie Roo’s Stone in the Dale of Woodwick had several holes caused by his fingers. Also called Cobbie or Cubbie Roo’s Stone, it is shown on the 1882 map at HY36712306, between South Kews and the Styes of Aikerness mound (but to their east). In Stenness a huge broken up stone near Breckan /Millquoy was thrown by Hugboy from Hoy. Another put from Hoy again dropped short, landing at Ruff/Gruf Hill in Orphir – the Giant’s Stone had the mark of his thumbprint. Over in Firth near main road north of Redland Farm, on the north side of Brae of Muckquoy, a pair of stones thrown from Gairsay to Estaben landed. One was triangular ~6’x2’x9” and the other 4’x4’x2’, the with ‘fingermarks’ being on the latter. In Sanday a stone with the devil’s fingermarks is built into Lady parish church.
They didn’t always leave their idents behind. A natural boulder called the Giant’s Stone, 8’ x 6’ x 2½’, was thrown from the standing stone of Stembister (HY50SW 6 at HY54130239, moved to there from the fast-eroding cliff-edge) in St.Andrew’s parish. It landed on the very edge of Copinsay, at the highest point of the cliffs around that island a few yards from brink. Over in Rousay Cubbierow/ Kubbie Row’s Stone/ Cubbie Roo’s Stone was thrown from Fitty Hill on Westray to Lyra in the region of Frotoft, somewhere above Mt. Pleasant but below Keirfea hill. Which is still a large area to search. On Shapinsay Mor Stein/ Mör Steen (HY51NW 1 at HY52401685), thrown from Mull Head in Deerness, was called the Moow Stane after a giant who left his imprint.
On holier ground, down at the end of South Ronaldsay there is the Ladykirk Stone, first ascribed to a monster turned to stone for saving an anonymous Gallus ‘priest’ after a shipwreck. Only sometime before 1690 did it gain the name St.Magnus Boat, from a tale originally told of a standing stone (in the present-day only a pile of rubble) on the Scottish mainland called Sten Hone. The Ladykirk Stone’s two 10” long 1” deep depressions are likelier feet than anything boat related. In 1701 the stone was either six foot by four or four by two, now this oval beach ‘pebble’ is 3’8” long by 2’10” long – so are we missing umnntioned salient detail since lost ? The worthy is said to have built the St.Mary church on an old temple – not the present kirk but a grassy mound on the banks of the now drained Loch of Burwick.
Associated with the Knights of Stove legend is the King’s Stone in Sandwick. 3’ 6” x 2’ 3” it is said to have gained its name from what were described as carvings representing the word king. Originally in the meadows of Stove this was later incorporated into the foundation of a water mill which was then built into the corner of barn in same place. Alas, this is now harled over. In “Orcadiana” Gregor Lamb puts a case for the Faal Stane o’How being another king’s stone. In Orkney the local legends chiefs were called kings e.g. the king of the Brough Borwick warred with the righ of Verran, Voyatown.
In Kirkwall there was formerly a White Stone opposite the pulpit in St.Magnus Cathedral where folk went to repent. If not some prehistoric artefact it must surely have been connected with the saint’s cult in some way.
Orkney’s Hurtiso Hood dates back to at least Iron Age and is the oldest complete garment found in the UK (near Groatster/Grotsetter in St Andrew’s, though first report in 1863 stated “in the Holm district... in the moss off Hurtiso”).
orkneyjar.com/history/orkneyhood.htm
Orkney Herald :
May 23rd 1863 “One day last week... in the Holm district... in the moss off Hurtiso... exposed unexpectedly an ancient article of dress... This article was a short woolen cloak, finely adorned with fringes {?19} inches in length, and having a hood of the same material... This curious relic was found embedded in the moss at a depth of six feet, and under five solid layers of peat.” Hurtiso Farm HY506105 is in East Holm, which presumably makes the moss the extensive Muir of Meil.
December 5th 1877 “in Mr Petrie’s collection was a knitted woolen hood which was found in a moss in the parish of Kirkwall... which resembles in shape the old “trot cosy” of the last century... It had been done in bands, each with a seperate pattern, and round the edge is a fringe about twenty inches in depth.”
May 18th 1881 “Skeleton found... while engaged in peat cutting in the hills between Birsay and Evie... The remains... that of a female of about twenty years of age. Some pieces of cloth, apparently used for wrapping the body, or part of the deceased’s clothing... The strongest of the three pieces of cloth is of a peculiar woolen fabric... a close resemblance in texture and style to the hood found in a moss in the parish of St.Andrews upwards of 20 years ago..”
photo ID required if using Northlink Ferries or coming via Loganair (though a visitor found British Airways did not need this some of their routes use Loganair planes at times), so be warned using Scrabster-Stromness or Kirkwall Airport
Sigurd’s article on the Ahrensburgian flints from Stronsay orkneyjar.com/archaeology/stronsayflints.htm great colour photo of these two primitive arrowheads
TO ORKNEY.
Land of the whirlpool,—torrent,—foam,
Where oceans meet in madd’ning shock;
The beetling cliff,—the shelving holm,—
The dark insidious rock.
Land of the bleak,—the treeless moor,—
The sterile mountain, sered and riven,—
The shapeless cairn, the ruined tower,
Scathed by the bolts of heaven,—
The yawning gulf,—the treacherous sand,—
I love thee still, MY NATIVE LAND.Land of the dark,—the Punic rhyme,—
The mystic ring,—the cavern hoar,—
The Scandinavian seer, sublime
In legendary lore.
Land of a thousand sea-kings’ graves,—
Those tameless spirits of the past,
Fierce as their subject arctic waves,
Or hyperborean blast,—
Though polar billows round thee foam,
I love thee!—thou wert once my home.With glowing heart and island lyre,
Ah! would some native bard arise,
To sing, with all a poet’s fire,
Thy stern sublimities,—
The roaring flood,—the rushing stream,—
The promontory wild and bare,—
The pyramid, where sea-birds scream,
Aloft in middle air,—
The Druid temple on the heath,
Old even beyond tradition’s birth.Though I have roamed through verdant glades,
In cloudless climes, ‘neath azure skies,
Or pluck’d from beauteous orient meads,
Flowers of celestial dies,—
Though I have laved in limpid streams,
That murmur over golden sands,
Or basked amid the fulgid beams
That flame o’er fairer lands,
Or stretched me in the sparry grot,—
My country! THOU wert ne’er forgot.By David Vedder ‘The sailor-poet of Orkney‘
Taken from
The Voyage of the Betsey by Hugh Miller.
A word from your hard-working 19th century Orkney correspondent (whom you may feel some kindredship with and sympathy for):
In the winter of 1848 I undertook a survey of these antiquities, wishing to leave a permanent record of their present state and position, while they were yet in tolerable preservation: but, although a labour of love, it was not accomplished without much difficulty, principally owing to the uncertain state of the weather and the distance of the locality from my residence.
After a long ride, there was first to lay out the surveying poles, then shoulder my theodolite, and march from station to station through the most insinuatingly melting snow that I ever remember to have felt, often being obliged to leave my instrument and run for a quarter of a mile to gain a little warmth by the exertion.
It was, however, sometimes exceedingly romantic to hear the wild swans trumpeting to each other while standing under the lee of a gigantic stone, till a snow-squall from the north east had passed over; but, could I have attuned my soul to song in such a dreary situation, instead of raving with Macpherson, my strain would certainly have been something in praise “of the bonnie blythe blink o’ my ain fireside.”
Occasionally there is some fine weather even in this inhospitable climate; but I can only remember the many nights, dark, bleak, and cold, in which I have been urging my easy-going quadruped over that weary road while the snow fell into my eyes upon any attempt being made to look a-head.
At last, however, the survey was finished; with Mr. Robert Heddle, the dimensions and an outline figure of every stone in the Ring of Brogar was taken; and Mr. G. Petrie assisted me in measuring the diameters of the circles, trenches, &c. The General Plan was made by triangulating with staves, and a base measured by a land-chain on the level point of Stenness.
p97 in ‘Account of some of the Celtic Antiquities of Orkney, including the Stones of Stenness, Tumuli, Picts-houses, &c., with Plans’ by F W L Thomas.
Chapter 13 in: Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity By the Society of Antiquaries of London (1851).
This can be read online courtesy of Google Books.
In the Orkney Room there is a black box on a shelf in the far corner that contains the record cards for our NMRS up till the early 70’s. This contains more information than online CANMORE as that in places only gives a bibliographical reference instead of actual quote. Some of the cards also include maps,sketches, plans, photos. Though these are all in reduced form only the photos can occasionally be unclear. The 1946 RCAMS Inventory is also here along with the standard work on Orkney’s chambered cairns (not the most recent version) and Hedge’s volume on our brochs (only detailed for those he accepts but very detailed for these).
A mention with details for three stones that aren’t on Canmore.
“The Book of Orphir” mentions a Giant’s Stone on Ruff Hill in Orphir, that had the mark of the thumbprint of the giant’s failed put from Hoy. No stone is shown on the 1882 map for what is called Gruf Hill but it could be themodernantiquarian.com/site/6406 by the Scorradale road below this.
Another failed stone is another of Cubbie Roo’s misses, this one on the mainland in Evie being a failed shot on Hoy. It has/had several holes caused by his fingers, according the Orkney Name books. Cobbie/Cubbie Roo’s Stone is shown on the 1882 map at HY36712306, between (but to the east of) South Kews and the Styes of Aikerness mound. No stone shown on CANMAP.
Also not on CANMAP is the Stone of Whilcoe, marking the boundary of Birsay and Harray and Sandwick. The 1882 map shows it at HY29612803, the south side of the B9057 at the NE end of Dounby on the 1:25,000 of today. Must look for it – surely rather than a boundary stone where three parishes meet it is/was where they issued from ?
Other stones not on Canmore I know of are the Mark/March Stone of Gaitnip themodernantiquarian.com/site/5422, the Mark Stone of Dalespot HY45690594 on the same St.Ola-Holm boundary, and a different Gray Stone along the Holm-Tankerness parish boundary at HY50150484 near Hamly Hill. Perhaps I missed a few more in the Orkney Name Books.
Current Archaeology 199 has an Orkney special.
Even knowing the area it took a couple of minutes to get my bearings on the photo on the first page of the Mine Howe article. At it is almost the reverse of the map on the next page here goes :-
Two adjacent squares centre left are the present graveyard. Mine Howe is the first mound over the road in the field opposite the RH square. The large mound to the right of Mine Howe is Long Howe, with the Time Team reconstruction on the lesser end nearest Mine Howe. Right of that again Round Howe extends either side of the road at the bottom of the picture. The mounds of Brymer are opposite the road junction that is off the right of the photo. In the modern graveyard the gravedigger has found evidence of St.Ninian’s Chapel. This used to be said to be on the hillside faintly visible in the field behind but this is now believed to be a settlement area (mediaeval farmstead mooted). The more obvious hillocks to thats left is Stem Howe. Near the back of the field from that glimsed next left, and therefore well off the photo, is Hawell burnt mound (there were originally two). The big farm near top centre is Breck. A beehive chamber (possibly more than one) came out of the stockyard and several thick-walled urns from nearby fields. From the left of Breck there are the remains of another burnt mound halfway along the curving boundary. The track from the road to the farm cuts through a hillock from where a line of erect stones proceeds to the left along the ridge. At the top left of the picture is Meickle/Little Crofty from whose area a cist came.
The last page of the same article refers to howe and knowe and too all being names for mounds. Of course opinions on which are natural and which man-made or altered change, ‘Little Barnhouse’ just roadside opposite the Standing Stones Hotel being a case in point. This applies to too/tuo names, often names later changed to tower. Some of these are obviously structures but the name is also applied to a natural knoll on the side of a hill. Erne Tuo on Mainland is one such – what you see today is a beacon on natural, and this is how it is officially recorded, but a little like ‘Little Barnhouse’ there is an early report of older ruins beneath this. Geophysics or excavation are often the only way to know for certain with lesser, and Orkney is much to rich in unexplored known archaeology for this to happen.
Camden’s report of an alternative derivation for the name Orkney:
“said by a certain old manuscript to be so called as if one should say Argat, that is (for so it is there explained) above the Getes, but I had rather expound it Above Cat, for it lies over against Cath, a country[sic] of Scotland”
The handwritten drafts of George Petrie are amongst the papers of Alfred W.Johnstone, specifically Orkney Archive GB241/21/2/8
sites a nautical mile apart as determined in the 1920’s by John Fraser, from the “Proceedings of the Society of Orkney Antiquaries” :
HARRAY
Upperbrough HY31361790 Marykirk (Russland) HY29511774
Nettletar HY32321741 Knowe of Bosquoy HY30931864
Marykirk (Russland) HY29511774 Knowe of Gullow HY30691629
Knowe of Bosquoy HY30931864 Burrian (Netherbrough) HY30821680
SANDWICK
Holy Kirk HY24952163 Loch of Isbister Broch HY25722334
Sandwick Kirk HY23451987 centre of enclosure HY237217
Burrian (Wasbister) Lyking Chapel site HY27071505
Kirkness Chapel site HY28001878 Marykirk (Russland) HY29511774
BIRSAY
Stanerandy Stones HY26742761 Curcum Chapel HY28412845
Makerhouse Knowe HY29352114 North Bigging Broch HY30802000
Brenda Knowe HY26612381&76 Forsakelda Knowe HY28302314
Knowe of Smirrus HY29142156 Wassam (Sandwick) HY28881538
STENNESS
Ke(i)thesgeo/Kethisquoy Stone site HY30351136 Maes Howe HY31821277
FIRTH
The Hillock HY361142 Loch of Wasdale HY34321473
Burness Broch HY38821557 Redland Broch HY37801715 site
Burrien Hill poss. Redland Broch HY37801715 site
Redland Chapel HY37151713 Settiscarth Chapel HY3719
EVIE
Howana Gruna HY3366 2631 W of Broch of Burgar HY34802782 is Burgar Chambered Cairn aka Brough
Broch of Gurness HY382268 Redland Standing Stone/s HY38012502
-------------------
Upperbrough is NMRS Harray Churchyard
Burrian (Netherbrough) is NMRS Knowe of Burrian/ Garth
Sandwick Kirk is NMRS St. Peter’s Kirk
centre of enclosure is NMRS Vestrafiold Enclosure
Curcum Chapel is NMRS Abune-the-Hill Chapel
Wassam is Burrian Broch (Sandwick)
W of Broch of Burgar is NMRS Burgar Chambered Cairn aka Brough
Redland Standing Stones is now NMRS Redland North Chambered Tomb
Redland Broch a.k.a. Steeringlo/Stirlinglo
Settiscarth Chapel is a.k.a. Kirk o’Cott
Makerhouse is a burnt mound as are also the Brenda Knowe(s).
Knowe of Smirrus/Smirrans/Smirrens is a barrow.
Alignments noted in the 1920’s by John Fraser in the “Proceedings of the Society of Orkney Antiquaries” :
30 DEGREES E OF N
Knowe of Bosquoy HY30931864 Quoys of the Hill HY31832031 is Nether Corston (a Johnsmas bonfire used to be held below this)
Marykirk (Grimeston) HY31091426 Staney Hill Stone HY31951567
42 DEGREES E OF N = MIDSUMMER SUNRISE
Marykirk (Russland) HY29511774 Quoys of the Hill HY31832031 is Nether Corston
Barnhouse Stone HY31271217 Maes Howe HY31821277
50 DEGREES E OF N
Burrian (Russland) HY29641835 Quoys of the Hill HY31832031 is Nether Corston
Staney Hill Stone HY31951567 Appiehouse Stone HY32621620
NORTH , SOUTH
Cummina Howe HY28241039 Knowe of Onston HY28291172 Ring of Bookan HY28341450
Ke(i)thesgeo Stone HY30351136 HY30551263 Watch Stone
Stones of Stenness HY30671252 HY31091426 Marykirk (Grimeston)
Barnhouse Stone HY31271217 HY31361790 Harray Churchyard
Howen Brough HY31801914 HY31832031 Quoys of the Hill is Nether Corston
Nettletar HY32321741 HY31832031 Quoys of the Hill is Nether Corston
Burrian (Corrigall) HY32351937 HY31832031 Quoys of the Hill is Nether Corston
(The Kethesgeo Stone was found, still in its socket, five feet below ground level)
77 DEGREES W OF N
Ring of Brodgar centre HY29451335 Maes Howe HY31821277
Burrian (Russland) HY29641835 Harray Churchyard HY31361790
60 DEGREES W OF N
Ring of Brodgar centre HY29451335 Watch Stone HY30551263 Barnhouse Stone HY31271217
Interesting alignments taken from “Lines on The Landscape, Circles from The Sky” by Trevor Garnham :-
Ring of Brodgar (HY294134) to the Staney Hill Stone (HY31951567) to a broken stone reported in an old antiquarian’s report at Applehouse Farm (presumably the same as the Applehouse Stone HY32621620 that I failed to find). Centre of Ring of Brodgar to Watch Stone (HY30551264) to Barnhouse Stone (HY31271217), centre of Ring of Brodgar to Comet Stone (HY29031331) ending at Maes Howe (HY318127).
Maes Howe (HY318127) to Stones of Stenness (HY307125) then Deepdale Stones (HY27171171 and 27181116, presumably the former as he declares the broad side to face Unstan). ‘The’ Deepdale Stone (HY27171171) faces off to Unstan Cairn (HY282117) like the Stone of Setter (HY56453718) does to the Braeside Cairn (HY563375) entrance passage.
He says that perhaps Unstan Cairn (HY282117) started out as a tripartite cairn and later became the present stalled one. The modified entrance passage points to the Watch Stone (HY30551264) and on to House 2 at Barnhouse (HY306124 or 6). The porch of Barnhouse 8 (HY306124 or 6) then Stones of Stenness (HY307125) to the Staney Hill Stone (HY31951567).
Wideford Hill Cairn (HY409121) to Cuween Hill Cairn (HY363127) to what he refers to as a pair of hills but from the map this is an illusory pairing, either two hills at different distances or perhaps a notch in the Hill of Heddle.
Taversoe Tuick Cairn (HY425276) lower passage to Gairsay Cairn (HY441223, a turf-covered cairn about 12mD and 1.8m high). Eday Church Cairn (HY560334) to Holm of Huip Cairn (HY268312, possibly chambered : NMRS reports there are 5 short stretches of wall with no apparent shape and 2 earth-fast stones 1.05m apart that aren’t an entrance !).
Crannog, causewayed island dun, broch – are these three items one basically and the same? In Orkney CANMORE lists 112 brochs (actuals and some possibles and a few nots) and 2 crannogs (Stoney Holm HY311273 and Bretta Ness HY397322 at the Loch of Wasbister on Rousay). But two of the brochs do have causeways (Loch of Isbister HY257233 and Loch of Clumley HY252165) and the notes for Loch of Wasdale liken it to a causewayed island dun (perhaps more would show up if CANMORE did keyword searches as well as by site-type). Perhaps we think ourselves so much an island of brochs we can’t see the wood for the trees. A websearch shows some archaeologists lumping all round stone prehistoric buildings together but I am only arguing for these specific three types being in a real continuum.
Having decided at some time to go to the Brough of Bigging at HY219157 ( S of Yesnaby , the Broch of Borwick being to the N – confusingly they share the alternative name of Yescanaby ! ) I did a websearch for the other Orcadian promontory fort . Finally had to fall back on CANMORE , which came up with five sites which have at one time or another been described as such . Off Mainland there is Br(a)e Brough a.k.a. Sui Fea at St.John’s Head on Hoy (HY185031) and the less certain Scuthi Head on Sanday (HY633041) . Then there are the Brough of Windwick (ND459872) , the Point of Onston and my new target ( comprising simply of two widely spaced walls they say ) .
The three headlands next to Kirkwall are basically off-limits. At very low tide you could reach Car Ness along the seashore maybe (even I’ve never risked it) but the road to Carness Farm is private – fortunately there is no archaeology noted here. The Head of Work you can only go as far as stopping short of Work Farm itself. But this is because hereon in is the private property of the water board. Which is a shame as from this junction you can make out an ayre [shingle bank] and a mound stands out over on the peninsula ( Long Cairn HY483138, a horned chambered tomb). Finally there is the Head of Holland (the red mound visible for miles is now used for quarrying stone for the cathedral and its earlier structures are much too fragmentary to attempt identification even before the present time). Orcadians have walked this at the weekends like forever , but now there is a sign at Seatter Farm preventing further progress – I am unconvinced of its legality, but there you (don’t) go. North Taing in this area might be a broch or proto-broch.
I found this quote on the Orkneyjar website (see links).
The Orcadian writer, George Mackay Brown wrote, “We cannot live fully without the treasury our ancestors have left to us”
What it says...there is already a link for Orkneyjar, tucked right down at the bottom of the page, dated from 2001. That covers a different part of the website, the ‘history’ bit. Sixteen years on the archaeology section has grown into an invaluable resource, and deserves to be at the top of the links and the first port of call for those visiting TMA interested in Orcadian archaeology. I therefore hope that this ‘sort of relink’ will be allowed to stand.
exactly as it says in the link orkney...archaeology
“Today started with a trip into Kirkwall as I wanted to visit some of Orkney’s amazing islands and the main booking office was there. It is not difficult to find, sited close to the ferry port in Kirkwall harbour and is signposted Orkney ferries.”
Chris Brooks.
“Unstan is a neatly kept chambered tomb not too far from Brogdar on the other side of Stenness Loch along the A965. There is adequate visitor parking in a set-aside area and the tomb is a short walk along a marked path. The chamber is beautifully sited, near and surrounded on three sides by Stenness Loch. It is covered with a well kept grassy mound and surrounded by the normal wire fencing but looks quite small compared to the other chambers such as Wideford.”
“Well, return I did. After a good night sleep I got up and drove straight back to Brodgar but again it was occupied by the maintenance team cutting the grass. Just checking my map, there were a couple of other places in the area I could visit and so drove down to the Barnhouse Stone.”
“The route back was quite hard going against the wind and now the rain had started again. In fact at times it was hitting my face so hard it felt like riding a motorbike in a hailstorm with the helmet visor open (trust me, not recommended).”
Chris Brooks
“The weather had turned wet and windy, and while checking my programme of events I decided I would visit some of the more local sites that day. Now I was staying in Finstown, which is very close to some of the local sites that would be on most people’s ‘Top 5 Orkney places to visit’ list.”
Maes Howe and Dwarfie Stane, starting about 19mins through episode 5.
Skara Brae, Links of Noltland dig, some of Ring of Brodgar, teeny bit of Stones of Stenness
[IE no good for this video on my PC, Firefox worked]
Discover the Orkney Dream.
A surprisingly good article from Countryfile on the Orkneys...
The official Orkney Islands Council department
Orkney Islands Council will be gradually putting online guides and walks for all areas of Orkney. So far walks in West Mainland, Stronsay and Sanday can be viewed/downloaded.
Article by Colin Richards about how archaeologists’ ideas have changed regarding Orkney in the Neolithic.
