People and Landscape at the Heart of Neolithic Orkney (original) (raw)
Heart of Neolithic Orkney WHS - Setting Study (2008)
Review and analysis of the setting of the Neolithic monuments that make up the Orkney World Heritage Site to inform planning and management. Blended landscape archaeology, landscape architecture and GIS analysis to inform long term planning and management. Commissioned by Historic Scotland. Document informed later Management Plan and other local planning documents. Note: co-authors not currently on Academia.edu
Investigating Neolithic Orkney: Archaeological Histories of Inquiry Regarding the Orcadian Neolithic
2020
Situating archaeological research within the context of previous research is a characteristic of all modern science and serves several purposes, some simultaneously. It can be done to support conclusions put forth in earlier research, it can also be used to refute earlier research, but it can also be used as a method of demonstrating authority within a discipline and justifying new conclusions. Conventional approaches to situating research rely on disciplinary histories that they present a showcase view of the past that serves only to differentiate traditional, outdated archaeological practices and interpretations from current ones while simultaneously legitimizing them (Corbey & Roebroeks 2001: 1). Further, conventional disciplinary histories have emphasised the development of archaeological paradigms while simultaneously considering the social context less relevant (Moro-Abadia 2006, 4; Schnapp 2002, 134). The remains of the Orcadian Neolithic, have inspired archaeologists to investigate them over the past several hundred years. However, the social context and historical mechanisms that have contributed to Orkney being one of the most thoroughly examined and influential regions in British Neolithic Archaeology has rarely been explored. This dissertation examines the social and historical context in which knowledge was produced regarding the Orcadian Neolithic since World War II (WWII). It also examines the interplay between aspects of knowledge production and archaeological practice. In this examination, the dissertation argues that the current understanding of the Orcadian Neolithic has been influenced by the wider historical socio-political context and that examining histories of archaeological inquiry can identify aspects of knowledge production influenced by its context. Through this examination the dissertation provides insight into the discipline of archaeology and how it facilitates and regulates the inculcation of members, the production of discourse, and the dissemination of knowledge.
Islands of history: the Late Neolithic timescape of Orkney
Antiquity
Orkney is internationally recognised for its exceptionally well-preserved Neolithic archaeology. The chronology of the Orcadian Neolithic is, however, relatively poorly defined. The authors analysed a large body of radiocarbon and luminescence dates, formally modelled in a Bayesian framework, to address the timescape of Orkney's Late Neolithic. The resultant chronology for the period suggests differences in the trajectory of social change between the 'core' (defined broadly as the World Heritage site) and the 'periphery' beyond. Activity in the core appears to have declined markedly from c. 2800 cal BC, which, the authors suggest, resulted from unsustainable local political tensions and social concerns.
Landscapes for Neolithic People in Mainland, Orkney
Journal of World Prehistory, 2022
Neolithic occupation of the Orkney Islands, in the north of Scotland, probably began in the mid fourth millennium cal BC, culminating in a range of settlements, including stone-built houses, varied stone-built tombs and two noteworthy stone circles. The environmental and landscape context of the spectacular archaeology, however, remains poorly understood. We applied the Multiple Scenario Approach (MSA) to Neolithic pollen records from Mainland, Orkney, in order to understand land cover and landscape openness across the timespan 4200–2200 cal BC. Interpreted within a framework provided by Bayesian chronological modelling, 406 radiocarbon dates from archaeological contexts and a further 103 from palaeoenvironmental samples provide the basis for the first detailed reconstruction of the spatio-temporal patterns of Neolithic people and their environment. Major alterations to the land cover of Mainland took place from 3400 cal BC (reduction in woodland from 20% to 10%) and from 3200 cal B...
The stone-built buildings of Orkney provide us with a rich dataset from which to study the architecture of the Early Neolithic house. However at the same time, dealing with them as if they all represent the same manifestation of ‘domestic life’ throughout the islands is flawed. Evidence is emerging for a securely-dated Early Neolithic phase of occupation in Orkney, of considerable variety, in settlement morphology, house form and, of particular importance, in construction material. The approach developed here is that this architecture needs to be viewed holistically, as part of the range of occupation practices carried out in the 4th millennium BC. The central tenet of this dissertation is that this variability has key methodological and interpretative implications. Methodologically, ephemeral timber remains pose a number of questions with regard to the prospection of all elements of structural evidence from the Early Neolithic. This study demonstrates the difficulties of consistently detecting timber structural evidence from both fieldwalked data and geophysical survey, using a new survey at a possible timber settlement at Deepdale as a starting point. Interpretatively, the challenge is to integrate this diverse dataset, centered on an understanding of the complex material engagements apparent in the social investment of the house. This needs to, ultimately, be considered in a wider context in order to provide a fuller understanding of Orcadian Early Neolithic domestic life. The key conclusion is that in order to provide a fuller account of the Early Neolithic house in Orkney, we need to diversify both our methodological and interpretative approach.
The environmental context of the Neolithic monuments on the Brodgar Isthmus, Mainland, Orkney
Title: A multidisciplinary approach to the archaeological investigation of a bedrock dominated shallow marine landscape: an example from the Bay of Firth, Orkney, UK Article Type: Full Length Article Abstract: In the last decade the investigation of the shallow marine waters, around the margins of the continents, for the submerged remains of prehistoric archaeology has become common. Typically these investigations have focused on those areas in which bodies of sediment exist that contain the archaeological remains within the sediment matrix, often in pristine conditions. However, in the UK large parts of the submerged landscape are devoid of significant stratified sediment bodies and are dominated by near surface bedrock where only pockets of pre-inundation sediment lie interspersed between outcrops of bedrock and patches of highly mobile sediment sequences. In order to investigate the archaeological potential of such areas a more integrated approach that moves from regional to local scales is required to locate those areas in which archaeological remains may exist and to identify them when present. Here we illustrate such an approach using the northern UK seascape and a focus on the Bay of Firth in Orkney as a case study.
Utilising recent observations by Phillips (2003) on the location of chambered cairns in Orkney in relation to the sea this paper attempts to explain why megalithic monuments cluster in particular locations. In the past, the distribution of cairns has been related to the levels of survival in marginal locations. However, monument locations, from across Scotland, demonstrate that clustering was a feature of monumental distribution in the past. From a maritime perspective it becomes easier to understand these groupings in Orkney as the product of interactions between widely dispersed island communities. Utilising a longterm perspective it is possible to use the relative patterning of monuments of different ages to suggest the changing audiences to whom these monuments were addressed. For example, the clustering of Earlier Neolithic monuments in Orkney, in places that form important linking locales, suggests a role for these monuments involving establishing and maintaining links between island groups within the Orkney archipelago. The location of later Neolithic monumental complexes, on the other hand, suggests the importance of inter-regional maritime contact at precisely the time when such contacts are strikingly evident in the archaeological record. It is argued that a closer integration of our approaches to land and sea is needed if we are to understand the nature of long distance contacts in the past.
Neolithic Living: Reconstructing the Lives of Ancient Orcadians
This paper examines the various archaeological evidence found at sites across the Orkney Isles in northern Scotland in attempt to synthesize a conception of the lives of the Neolithic inhabitants that once dwelt there. This includes reconstructing agricultural practices, as well as analyzing architecture and the material culture of the society.
The discovery of archaeological structures in North Uist in 1974 after storm damage led to the identification by Iain Crawford of a kerb cairn complex, with a cist and human remains. Six years later he went back, and over the next three years excavated another cist with human remains in its kerbed cairn, many bowl pits dug into the blown sand, and down to two late Neolithic structures and a ritual complex. He intensively studied the environmental conditions affecting the site and was among the first archaeologists in Scotland to understand the climate changes taking place at the transition between late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The deposition of blown sand and the start of the machair in the Western Isles, including the rise in sea-level and inundations into inhabited and farmed landscapes, are all part of the complex story of natural events and human activities. Radiocarbon dating and modern scientific analyses provide the detail of the story of periods of starvation suffered by the people that were buried on the site, of the movement away of the community, of their attempts of bringing the 'new' land back into cultivation, of a temporary tent-like structure, and of marking their territory by the construction of enduring monuments to the dead. Beverley Ballin Smith took up the mantle left by Iain Crawford and has brought this first monograph on his Udal project area to publication. She has extensive experience of working on, and publishing, other large multi-period sites. She is an archaeologist who lived and worked on Orkney for many years and has first-hand experience of the archaeology of Shetland, the UK, Faroes, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and is now based in Scotland. Beverley is the Publications Manager at GUARD Archaeology Ltd and editor of ARO (Archaeology Reports Online), with the aim of disseminating information to relevant audiences. She undertakes specialist analysis of prehistoric pottery and coarse stone tools.
CHAT special edition
This article proposes a new theoretical approach to understanding postmedieval landscapes in Orkney, Scotland. Although this period has received considerable attention from economic and political historians and from ethnologists, these approaches have not adequately represented the worldviews and cosmologies of local historical communities. A more holistic approach must be employed, emphasizing the unique northern-ness of Orkney in terms of its Norse legacy, folklore and multiperiod remains. Folk beliefs, specifically those associated with prehistoric mounds, provide an example of how complex dialectical relationships between people and the world around them, past and present, are manifested. Taskscapes of the seasonal round and the expansion of the hill dikes are examples used to examine the interconnection between communities and significant places in the landscape. In addition, Norse phenomena, such as Udal law (Norse law) and the Scandinavian concept of utmark, provide new analogies for landscape interactions within this context. A case study at Quandale, on the island of Rousay, is used to discuss these themes, allowing the reconceptualization of a more richly textured historical world in a northern context.
(2021) Making a Mark: Process, Pattern and Change in the British and Irish Neolithic
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2021
This paper presents key results of the Making a Mark project (2014-2016), which aimed to provide a contextual framework for the analysis of mark making on portable artefacts in the British and Irish Neolithic by comparing them with other mark-making practices, including rock art and passage tomb art. The project used digital imaging techniques, including Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), and improved radiocarbon chronologies, to develop a new understanding of the character of mark making in the British and Irish Neolithic. Rather than considering this tradition in representational terms, as expression of human ideas, we focus on two kinds of relational material practices, the processes of marking and the production of skeuomorphs, and their emergent properties. We draw on Karen Barad's concept of 'intra-action' and Gilles Deleuze's notion of differentiation to understand the evolution and development of mark-making traditions and how they relate to other kinds of social practices over the course of the Neolithic.
The discovery of archaeological structures in North Uist in 1974 after storm damage led to the identification by Iain Crawford of a kerb cairn complex, with a cist and human remains. Six years later he went back, and over the next three years excavated another cist with human remains in its kerbed cairn, many bowl pits dug into the blown sand, and down to two late Neolithic structures and a ritual complex. He intensively studied the environmental conditions affecting the site and was among the first archaeologists in Scotland to understand the climate changes taking place at the transition between late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The deposition of blown sand and the start of the machair in the Western Isles, including the rise in sea-level and inundations into inhabited and farmed landscapes, are all part of the complex story of natural events and human activities. Radiocarbon dating and modern scientific analyses provide the detail of the story of periods of starvation suffered by the people that were buried on the site, of the movement away of the community, of their attempts of bringing the 'new' land back into cultivation, of a temporary tent-like structure, and of marking their territory by the construction of enduring monuments to the dead. Beverley Ballin Smith took up the mantle left by Iain Crawford and has brought this first monograph on his Udal project area to publication. She has extensive experience of working on, and publishing, other large multi-period sites. She is an archaeologist who lived and worked on Orkney for many years and has first-hand experience of the archaeology of Shetland, the UK, Faroes, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and is now based in Scotland. Beverley is the Publications Manager at GUARD Archaeology Ltd and editor of ARO (Archaeology Reports Online), with the aim of disseminating information to relevant audiences. She undertakes specialist analysis of prehistoric pottery and coarse stone tools.