Wednesday, December 28, 2005
PICKAQUOY MOUND
Coming down the Muddisdale track (the farm a likely looking site for a Viking borg) I thought to essay the Pickaquoy mound now I had a better idea where it lay. Looking across the pitch behind the Pickaquoy Centre I could see the likely candidate in the nearby field, just along from the Centre. So I went through the side gate and struck across to the diametrically opposite corner where I came to a burn I never thought to find, running by the lower boundary. Holding the field wall carefully I swung myself around and slide between two fence lines, so avoiding any pitfalls the grassy bank might hold. Going to the mound I passed over running water and several low humps and ?ditches, making this site feels very much like the remains of a settlement Amongst these I thought I detected an entrance way coming from uphill. I am reminded of the hollow curve across the Knowe of Geoso, also said to be from quarrying, though that is more geometric (also better defined) and far deeper. In one place it is denuded, showing only bare earth. But approaching from Muddisdale in what remains of the actual mound can be seen an excavation trench from last century that resembles burnt mound material, though the red stones amidst the black earth at the top of this section are rather small to my mind (being only a couple of inches or so across it seemed to me - certainly not of an order with those in the middeny material of the cliff-face below Scapa Distillery). At least one slice taken across the main body of the mound is still evident. From the top of the mound you can see the mill buidings where once was only a sand bar, so this place was once near the water's edge just as the IA settlement in front of what is now St.Magnus Cathedral used to be (even in Viking times boats landed before where the cathedral now stands) . The other side of the mound is very marshy, my feet submerging several times before reaching the comparative solidity of the field boundary I can understand why there used to be a ford nearer the Peerie Sea. So was this formerly a stream junction ? Having said which this is still the easier entry point - coming along the Pickaquoy road from the supermarkets take the track turning off for Polrudden Guest House and the field gate is the other side of the modern mound at your left.
RCAHMS NMRS no. HY41SW 13 at HY44071116 on present thinking is a burnt mound, presumably of a similar construction to Hawell (rather than the standard crescentic variety) as the first accounts of this tumulus found what at the time were described as two large cists seperated by 4' of build, the smaller being sub-divided, with decorated stones built into the wall of the mound. So not just a cooking place but also habitation, bringing to mind Liddle (near the Tomb of the Eagles) and Bea, possibly even Brockan in Stromness parish. Though no longer ascribed to a chambered tomb Davidson & Henshall found the decorated stone in the National Museum rather anomalous unless it was of Late Bronze Age date. But when one takes into account that the second large slab had a large cupmark centrally placed with, on another side, no less than thirteeen smaller ones, this dating does seem appropriate. Still a curiosity. However we wonder what would have been the judgement at a time when more stonework remained - putative quarrying at the south and southwest was likely for the lost St.Duthac's chapel in the vicinity, which itself could be indicative of more going on at this site than we can now surmise.
Coming down the Muddisdale track (the farm a likely looking site for a Viking borg) I thought to essay the Pickaquoy mound now I had a better idea where it lay. Looking across the pitch behind the Pickaquoy Centre I could see the likely candidate in the nearby field, just along from the Centre. So I went through the side gate and struck across to the diametrically opposite corner where I came to a burn I never thought to find, running by the lower boundary. Holding the field wall carefully I swung myself around and slide between two fence lines, so avoiding any pitfalls the grassy bank might hold. Going to the mound I passed over running water and several low humps and ?ditches, making this site feels very much like the remains of a settlement Amongst these I thought I detected an entrance way coming from uphill. I am reminded of the hollow curve across the Knowe of Geoso, also said to be from quarrying, though that is more geometric (also better defined) and far deeper. In one place it is denuded, showing only bare earth. But approaching from Muddisdale in what remains of the actual mound can be seen an excavation trench from last century that resembles burnt mound material, though the red stones amidst the black earth at the top of this section are rather small to my mind (being only a couple of inches or so across it seemed to me - certainly not of an order with those in the middeny material of the cliff-face below Scapa Distillery). At least one slice taken across the main body of the mound is still evident. From the top of the mound you can see the mill buidings where once was only a sand bar, so this place was once near the water's edge just as the IA settlement in front of what is now St.Magnus Cathedral used to be (even in Viking times boats landed before where the cathedral now stands) . The other side of the mound is very marshy, my feet submerging several times before reaching the comparative solidity of the field boundary I can understand why there used to be a ford nearer the Peerie Sea. So was this formerly a stream junction ? Having said which this is still the easier entry point - coming along the Pickaquoy road from the supermarkets take the track turning off for Polrudden Guest House and the field gate is the other side of the modern mound at your left.
RCAHMS NMRS no. HY41SW 13 at HY44071116 on present thinking is a burnt mound, presumably of a similar construction to Hawell (rather than the standard crescentic variety) as the first accounts of this tumulus found what at the time were described as two large cists seperated by 4' of build, the smaller being sub-divided, with decorated stones built into the wall of the mound. So not just a cooking place but also habitation, bringing to mind Liddle (near the Tomb of the Eagles) and Bea, possibly even Brockan in Stromness parish. Though no longer ascribed to a chambered tomb Davidson & Henshall found the decorated stone in the National Museum rather anomalous unless it was of Late Bronze Age date. But when one takes into account that the second large slab had a large cupmark centrally placed with, on another side, no less than thirteeen smaller ones, this dating does seem appropriate. Still a curiosity. However we wonder what would have been the judgement at a time when more stonework remained - putative quarrying at the south and southwest was likely for the lost St.Duthac's chapel in the vicinity, which itself could be indicative of more going on at this site than we can now surmise.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Farewell to brochs ?
Reading early accounts of broch excavation it soon becomes apparent (at least for Orkney) that most of the time the first items found are quantities of bone. Of course this could simply arise from their rough-and-ready methods, but the usual explanation given is that these are from later half-hearted occupation by the Vikings. Then there are the human remains found with the animal bones. This in Orkney is put down to either invaders killing the Pictish inhabitants or internicine Viking strife, depending whether or not an interval is assigned in between the Celtic and full Norse habitation. But the remains often seem in a way token - a cranial fragment, the skeleton of a female or young person. Could it be that what they were actually finding were the remains of leaving feast, a big bash to celebrate leaving the old broch life behind and moving into new Pictish housing. In which case one is still left with the question of whether the human skeleton remains are an actual sacrifice or more in the manner of leaving a token presence behind.
Reading early accounts of broch excavation it soon becomes apparent (at least for Orkney) that most of the time the first items found are quantities of bone. Of course this could simply arise from their rough-and-ready methods, but the usual explanation given is that these are from later half-hearted occupation by the Vikings. Then there are the human remains found with the animal bones. This in Orkney is put down to either invaders killing the Pictish inhabitants or internicine Viking strife, depending whether or not an interval is assigned in between the Celtic and full Norse habitation. But the remains often seem in a way token - a cranial fragment, the skeleton of a female or young person. Could it be that what they were actually finding were the remains of leaving feast, a big bash to celebrate leaving the old broch life behind and moving into new Pictish housing. In which case one is still left with the question of whether the human skeleton remains are an actual sacrifice or more in the manner of leaving a token presence behind.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
THE FIVE HILLOCKS (RASHEYBURN)
According to the Orkney Statistical Account some early antiquarians thought The Five Hillocks (RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40NE 4 at HY45980536 supposedly the five in the NW corner of the site) were the Circle of Loda mentioned in the now largely discredited poems of Ossian. But archaeological survey found a kidney-shaped site of eight mounds, one lobe smaller than the other where there was report of a break in the surrounding bank. All have been excavated at some time unknown. In one the depression extends down to the base and exposes a small edge-set earthfast slab that could represent a cist. Since the first report one barrow has been lost, and at the time of the second report the southernmost was going the same way. The bank is spread low about 10' across, the mounds are up to 7' high and 15-40' across.
The site can be approached by the track to the right of Fernbank on the road to Holm. On my second visit I saw that the barred wooden gate merely lay across the fence, ingress lies by a middling height 'Orkney gate'. They're making these things taller and tighter but I got by just moving the top a little. Didn't lay the thing down in case it became tangled - if you do the same take into account the barbwire around the fencepost. The closest I could approach from this field was the mounds' field boundary, there will be a way in but it looks as if that would involve a lot of 'going around the houses' as I can see no convenient trackway (from the main road leastways). I was intrigued by the amount of stone protruding from the ground in various alignments as I traversed the wide trackway. Fortunately the site is very close to the fieldfence. This runs at 35 degrees west of north. From here the view runs from mound 5 in the RCAHM's 1946 inventory at the extreme left to the barely perceptible mound 3 at the right. The individual item that first strikes one is where a large area of stones is exposed. Nearer to there is a layer of what appears to be dark earth above the stones. But though the site in general bears a resemblance to the Grimsquoy mound/s near the airport by the Sands of Wideford, which has been call a burnt mound, it is too great a distance from the Rashieburn itself to be one. However of more obvious importance is something that the last archaeological report did not mention so must have been exposed since then. In a mound to the left of the one just mentioned is a very short length of drystane-walling two stones long and four or so courses high. A few metres to the righ, apparently in another mound from my limited perspective, there is another stone at the level of the upper course. Perhaps a continuation. As with Grimsquoy one has to wonder what the number of mounds was originally, have there been additions to a lesser number or a sub-division of such ?
According to the Orkney Statistical Account some early antiquarians thought The Five Hillocks (RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY40NE 4 at HY45980536 supposedly the five in the NW corner of the site) were the Circle of Loda mentioned in the now largely discredited poems of Ossian. But archaeological survey found a kidney-shaped site of eight mounds, one lobe smaller than the other where there was report of a break in the surrounding bank. All have been excavated at some time unknown. In one the depression extends down to the base and exposes a small edge-set earthfast slab that could represent a cist. Since the first report one barrow has been lost, and at the time of the second report the southernmost was going the same way. The bank is spread low about 10' across, the mounds are up to 7' high and 15-40' across.
The site can be approached by the track to the right of Fernbank on the road to Holm. On my second visit I saw that the barred wooden gate merely lay across the fence, ingress lies by a middling height 'Orkney gate'. They're making these things taller and tighter but I got by just moving the top a little. Didn't lay the thing down in case it became tangled - if you do the same take into account the barbwire around the fencepost. The closest I could approach from this field was the mounds' field boundary, there will be a way in but it looks as if that would involve a lot of 'going around the houses' as I can see no convenient trackway (from the main road leastways). I was intrigued by the amount of stone protruding from the ground in various alignments as I traversed the wide trackway. Fortunately the site is very close to the fieldfence. This runs at 35 degrees west of north. From here the view runs from mound 5 in the RCAHM's 1946 inventory at the extreme left to the barely perceptible mound 3 at the right. The individual item that first strikes one is where a large area of stones is exposed. Nearer to there is a layer of what appears to be dark earth above the stones. But though the site in general bears a resemblance to the Grimsquoy mound/s near the airport by the Sands of Wideford, which has been call a burnt mound, it is too great a distance from the Rashieburn itself to be one. However of more obvious importance is something that the last archaeological report did not mention so must have been exposed since then. In a mound to the left of the one just mentioned is a very short length of drystane-walling two stones long and four or so courses high. A few metres to the righ, apparently in another mound from my limited perspective, there is another stone at the level of the upper course. Perhaps a continuation. As with Grimsquoy one has to wonder what the number of mounds was originally, have there been additions to a lesser number or a sub-division of such ?
DINGIESHOWE BROCH
RCAHMS NMRS no. HY50SW 7 (aka Dingy's-how and Duncan's-height)at HY54760330 was considered part of a bigger settlement at the end of the 18th century as they considered the stony hillocks beneath the present sand dunes between here and Deerness to have been buildings also. The broch mound still stands over seven metres high but Petrie and Farrer in 1860 only found a building six feet high on the sandy knoll, finding clay and partially vitrified sand ('cramp') beneath the floor that would seem to rule any continuance of this round house below. Only late pottery was found, so this looks like re-use of an earlier structure - evidence of widespread burning beneath the foundations seen as evidence of sacrifice being perhaps reason for prior abandonment instead (the collection included fragments of Corded Ware). Unofficial digging in the 1920s exposed a short length of drystone wall/ing and a kitchen midden south side. In 1964 deposits of shell were seen on both S and W slopes. What looks to be a bank at the north to northwest may only be from sand quarrying.
Coming to the broch by the farmroad is easiest as there is a kind of platform there. I think the short wall-sections are gardenification like that which 'lost' us Peerie Howe further along the track. From this side you see a large excavation on the side of the broch (unfortunately all the areas of digging are now covered by turf or. on the east a sea of grassy tussocks) and a kind of grassy track up the side. On top the interior is all hollowed out. Looking over to the left is a distinct rectangular hollow. If not simply a later excavation pit this looks a likely intramural feature, either a chamber or the beginning of a stair. At the seaward side are further excavation traces. Apart from the flat 'platform' trackside the rest of the mound drops away in front of you (perhaps the mound was once at the end of a distinct tongue of land). At the other side is another track going down, narrower and sharper and steeper. From the bottom there is the sense of ditches or banks between broch and the first sandy hillocks.
Presuming that the tracks from the farmroad to the dunes are 'modern' there is a likelihood that anything proceeding the late broch structure will be be connected with Peerie Howe. Though because of burnt stones in the latter it has been seen as a burnt mound it strikes me as possible that it was subject to the same environmental catastrophe seen at the broch site viz. signs of a major conflagration. Could the stony hillocks reported in the Orkney Statistical Account include the area that became a gravel quarry ? And what of the shell-midden at the cliff base just past this, below Sandaiken ??
RCAHMS NMRS no. HY50SW 7 (aka Dingy's-how and Duncan's-height)at HY54760330 was considered part of a bigger settlement at the end of the 18th century as they considered the stony hillocks beneath the present sand dunes between here and Deerness to have been buildings also. The broch mound still stands over seven metres high but Petrie and Farrer in 1860 only found a building six feet high on the sandy knoll, finding clay and partially vitrified sand ('cramp') beneath the floor that would seem to rule any continuance of this round house below. Only late pottery was found, so this looks like re-use of an earlier structure - evidence of widespread burning beneath the foundations seen as evidence of sacrifice being perhaps reason for prior abandonment instead (the collection included fragments of Corded Ware). Unofficial digging in the 1920s exposed a short length of drystone wall/ing and a kitchen midden south side. In 1964 deposits of shell were seen on both S and W slopes. What looks to be a bank at the north to northwest may only be from sand quarrying.
Coming to the broch by the farmroad is easiest as there is a kind of platform there. I think the short wall-sections are gardenification like that which 'lost' us Peerie Howe further along the track. From this side you see a large excavation on the side of the broch (unfortunately all the areas of digging are now covered by turf or. on the east a sea of grassy tussocks) and a kind of grassy track up the side. On top the interior is all hollowed out. Looking over to the left is a distinct rectangular hollow. If not simply a later excavation pit this looks a likely intramural feature, either a chamber or the beginning of a stair. At the seaward side are further excavation traces. Apart from the flat 'platform' trackside the rest of the mound drops away in front of you (perhaps the mound was once at the end of a distinct tongue of land). At the other side is another track going down, narrower and sharper and steeper. From the bottom there is the sense of ditches or banks between broch and the first sandy hillocks.
Presuming that the tracks from the farmroad to the dunes are 'modern' there is a likelihood that anything proceeding the late broch structure will be be connected with Peerie Howe. Though because of burnt stones in the latter it has been seen as a burnt mound it strikes me as possible that it was subject to the same environmental catastrophe seen at the broch site viz. signs of a major conflagration. Could the stony hillocks reported in the Orkney Statistical Account include the area that became a gravel quarry ? And what of the shell-midden at the cliff base just past this, below Sandaiken ??
