The Orkney Riddle

 Orkney Riddle 

By Jeffery Nicholls 

How did Neolithic Orcadians travel to Orkney in large numbers to build the cairns, henges, and settlements that we visit today.

(Abbreviated version for blog. Omits technical data and some detailed commentary)

The Bizarre Idea 

I could never quite believe that Neolithic people came to Orkney by boat.

As it is thought that they brought cattle and sheep with them, I could not envisage any animal, or any human, surviving a sea crossing of any British tidal waters in any prehistoric vessel. 

Standard sources tie themselves in knots to persuade us that Neolithic people had boats that could carry beasts of both sexes that, once landed, would reproduce and help their tribe to survive on the unknown territory across the dangerous waters. 

However, evidence has recently emerged that added another dimension to the problem. It was discovered that the Orkney Vole, a species that is unique to the archipelago, had been found by DNA analysis, to originate from northern Europe, and that it was not directly related to the common vole in Britain.

"Much debate surrounds the origins of the Orkney vole Microtus arvalis orcadensis (Yalden 1999; Corbet 1961). It is the only vole on Orkney and is found on eight islands, while in mainland Britain the field vole (M. agrestis) is the only Microtus species. M. arvalis and M. agrestis occur widely across continental Europe with overlapping distributions (Mitchell-Jones et al 2003). It is therefore clear that M. arvalis did not colonise Orkney naturally (Haynes et al 2003; Haynes et al 2004), and although modern consensus supports a human introduction during the Neolithic (Hedges et al 1987), their geographic origin and mechanisms of introduction still remain uncertain.,

" (Thomas Cucchi et al) 

This meant that the animal that arrived in Orkney did not pass through England, Wales or Scotland. 

A vole arriving in Orkney, from Europe, without passing through Britain was a clue that all was not as it seems, and that in spite of the insistence of some that voles may have been carried as pets or food items, another possibility was probably more likely. 

I therefore rather assumed that it must be necessary to question what places were passable around the coasts of Neolithic Britain, which areas were land, and which places were water, and when did land areas stop being land. 

It is understood that much of the southern North Sea area was land at some point in the past. A piece of shallow sea called Dogger Bank has been named Doggerland as artefacts of 8000 years of age, and older, are frequently dredged up there. The rise in sea level which has occurred since the last ice age has clearly flooded lands here, but which lands, where, and when? 

The obvious location, or so I thought, for a route to Orkney from Europe , that would be passable for people, cattle, sheep, and small rodents, on foot, and avoiding England and Scotland, would be somewhere in the middle of the North Sea which, of course, is a bizarre idea. 

Indeed, it was such a bizarre idea that I followed it, to see where it took me. 

I read everything I could find to understand who was where, and when, in prehistoric Britain, and the weight of opinion had it that waves of people came in boats and traded, or brought goods from western France to the western coasts of Neolithic Great Britain. These people bought domesticated animals and the skills to make pottery with them, in boats, and every time I suggested in any context that a cow, or a sheep in a boat was not a realistic possibility for Neolithic people I was thoroughly shouted down. 

Nobody has found a Neolithic boat that would have crossed the English Channel or the Pentland Firth, but for some people, the existence of such a vessel is an article of faith.

These are the three specific problems, in our understanding of British Archaeology that might be interesting to resolve. 

Problem 1:- How did people with sheep and dogs migrate to Orkney and Shetland from Scotland, across the Pentland Firth, in the early Neolithic period?

Problem 2:- How did wild pigs, aurochs, wolves, pine martens, and mice migrate to Orkney in prehistoric times? 

Problem 3:- How did a Vole, the European Vole, migrate from Europe to Orkney, becoming the Orkney Vole, without setting foot on mainland Britain. 

 The earliest boat in Great Britain is a dugout vessel resting in the mud of Strangford Loch in Northern Ireland, dated 3499BC. You may agree that an Irish inland loch is a different context to the Pentland Firth. 

 The North Sea 

Initially,  in order to establish the possibility of land being present in the middle of the North Sea in prehistoric times the undersea features there need to be recognised.  These are in simple terms, Dogger Bank,  the Witch Ground and the Norwegian Channel. 

The Norwegian Channel is a deep water trench that follows the Norwegian Coast from the Skaggerak, an even deeper section of the same trench, between Norway and Denmark, out to the North Atlantic Ocean. 

Dogger Bank is an area of shallow water in the southern North Sea known to have been walkable land in prehistoric times, Doggerland. 

The Witch Ground is one of a group of deep water features in the North Sea. It is of the North east coast of Aberdeenshire.

At the north of the North Sea the seabed is over 100 metres deep, but the Witch Ground is even deeper. 

Relative sea level charts for points along the Norwegian Coast, are published in "Post Glacial Relative Sea Level Change in Norway" by Roger C. Creel. 

There is, on the charts, a consistent pulse of 10 metres higher water level onto the Norwegian coast at 12,000BP when the ice sheets on Sweden were melting and draining into the Skaggerak. 

At that time the  sea level in the Norwegian Channel, inferred from  "Global sea-level rise in the early Holocene revealed from North Sea peats" by Marc P. Hijma, et al, was 60 metres below present at 12,000BP, but the peak of the meltwater  surge out of the Skaggerak was then 10 metres above 60, therefore 50 metres below our sea level. 

This surge of 50 metres below sea level was supported at the Skaggerak between  the coasts of Norway and Denmark,  and not diminished in any way until it follows the Norwegian Coast and reaches the Atlantic.

This means that there was land along the west bank of the Norwegian Channel at better than 50 metres below current sea level, where the seabed is now over 100 below .

This suggests that there was land at the west coast of the Norwegian Channel at shallower that 50 metres below sea-level that people and animal may have used to walk from Doggerland north to the Atlantic coast of the North Sea. 

To confirm this possibility, There is evidence of human activity in the middle of the North Sea. In a report entitled "A flint artifact from the northern North Sea" .  Caroline Wickham-Jones discusses a struck flint artefact found in a borehole in the North Sea, half way between Shetland and the North Sea, ("A flint artifact from the northern North Sea" By Long, D., Wickham-Jones, C.R. and Ruckley, N.A. 1986). This may indicate that people were foraging in this area in prehistory. It is certainly difficult to conceive how a knapped flint got to that place otherwise. 

At about 10,000BP Doggerland became isolated from Europe,  and any wild or human life on the whole stretch was either marooned, castaway, or possibly able to retreat to Scotland via Orkney if they were strategically aware of the threat of sea level rise.

There is also evidence that there was water along the east coast of Britain. The Witch Ground , the deep water area in the North Sea,  northeast of Aberdeen,  and merges with the Marr Bank,  which is an area of deposits laid down at 80 to 100 metres below sea level. (British Geological Survey,  North Sea Memoirs.)

The presence of these shallow seas along the east coast of Britain,  and a ridge from Dogger Bank, along the middle of the North Sea would enable the European Vole to travel on foot from Denmark, Germany, Holland, etc without ever setting foot on mainland Britain. (Analyses of the vole remains, by Thomas Cucchi et al)

There is evidence for a date at which the sediments in the North Sea were removed by rising sea levels. and that date corresponds to a change in the behaviours of people and animals that visited and inhabited Neolithic Orkney.  

The date at which rising sea-levels severed land in the northern North Sea from Dogger Bank may be found in a report of excavations of raised beaches on the Norwegian Coast that was carried out by Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen. (Sea-level studies along the coast of south-western Norway, by Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen)

At 3000BC the global sea level was some 5 metres below present levels, and the ground level of the west bank of the Norwegian Channel may have been around our own sea level. The terrain is likely to have been cut into by ribbon lakes, and deep holes, a very discontinuous territory. 

Sea levels rose, and the west bank of the Norwegian Channel was eroded as the Atlantic tide surged south along beside it. The tidal surge circled round the south coast of Dogger Bank into the Marr Bank and Witch Ground. The differential tidal action against either side of the narrowest area of the Upper Dogger Bank caused a collapse of the west bank of the Norwegian Channel, where a wave of sand and gravel was washed across and into the channel. 

Danielsen demonstrated that there were a couple of transgressive rises in sea level after the end of the last ice age. She also found an anomalous event which she could give no explanation for, in which an alder tree was ripped from its roots at a site in Rogaland, near Stavanger. “The layer consisted of organic and sand (mica schist) lenses sandwiched on top of each other, dipping towards the east.  Between layer 3 and layer 4 there is an erosional angular unconformity. Also roots of black alder (Alnus glutinosa) (identified by Aud Simonsen) penetrating into the upper part of the marine gyttja have been cut of discordantly. A piece of root has been dated to 4320±70 yr BP (ß-171185).”. The  date was calibrated to just after 3000BC, and I interpret that the roots may have been stripped of their tree by a very local tsunami wave, rolling  across the Norwegian Channel. 

The position of this coastal region of Norway which makes it likely to have been affected by such a wave is exactly opposite the narrowest neck of land between the Witch Ground and the Norwegian Channel. 

A dump of sedimentary material is to be found in the floor of the Norwegian Channel at this location, and is likely to have been caught up with the collapse of the Witch Ground side wall. It is recorded in a section along the channel surveyed by Hans Petter Sejrup in "Quaternary of the Norwegian Channel: glaciation History and palaeoceanography”  

When the tidal waters of the Atlantic invaded the Witch Ground they rapidly stripped the northern North Sea of a hundred metre depth of deposits and faced off against the Atlantic Ocean proper between Shetland and Orkney and between Orkney and Caithness. 

It is highly probable that prehistoric people and animals used a route from South Ronaldsay to the north coast of Scotland to migrate from Scotland to Orkney and Shetland before 3000BC, the date of the tree root found on the Norwegian Coast. 

The only possible physical evidence,  and the inspiration for the title for this discussion,  is to be found as a shallow seabed feature trailing away from the Pentland Skerries in the middle of the Pentland Firth,  south of South Ronaldsay. This feature is called the Sandy Riddle and may represent the only surviving remnant of land that joined beaches off the east coast of Caithness to beaches off the east coast of South Ronaldsay. 

An alternative route was also present when the Witch Ground Lake preserved a tract of land around its north coast enabling the European Vole to migrate from Dogger Bank and Europe directly to Orkney and Shetland. 

When the land North of the Witch Ground Lake was isolated from Europe by the collapse of the Witch Ground Lake, the inhabitants of the territory withdrew, if they could, to Shetland and Orkney. 

People and animals that had been nomadic and migratory were then cast away on small windswept islands on the North Atlantic Ocean. 

The isolation of a small population of people led to the creation of some of the most evocative Neolithic structures in Britain. 

 

 

3000BC, Walking to Orkney

It became obvious to me that the isolation of Orkney from Scotland would have had a profound influence on the inhabitants of the island territories. 

It was also known that the construction of the stone circles at Brodgar alone must have involved the labour of many hundreds of people, but the numbers of human habitations for which any evidence had been found were very low in comparison.

The evidence here, in Orkney, of people walking to Orkney in early Neolithic times to build the stone circles is of huge significance to British archaeology. The evidence is also there that people stopped coming and stopped building the henges, and that in some places people built “weatherproof” structures to survive as castaways, cast adrift from mainland Scotland. 

Having established then a date at which something might have happened in the North Sea which might have affected passage between Orkney and Scotland, 3000BC, I began looking for evidence in Orkney archaeology that supports theoretical changes happening either side of the date.

 

Knap of Howar 

Probably the earliest settlement on the Orkney Archipelago is the Knap of Howar. A Pig bone was found there dated to 3630–3360 (OxA-17778) 

The Knap of Howar sits on a small island called Papa Westray which is one of the northernmost islands of the Orkney group. The island is almost 7 km long and 2 km wide, and the Knap of Howar lies on its west coast. 

Papa Westray is one of a group of islands that are separated from the mainland Orkney group by the Westray and Stronsay Firths. The main islands of this group are Westray, Papa Westray, Sanday, North Ronaldsay, and Stronsay. 

The two oblong buildings of the Knap of Howar, are thought to represent a dwelling-house and a multipurpose workshop-cum-barn, built side by side with an interconnecting passage allowing access from one to the other. 

Excavation revealed traces of a central hearth, footings for wooden benches and post-holes for roof-supports. A stone quern remained in situ, where it may have been used. The adjoining structure is divided into three rooms, the innermost furnished with shelves and cupboards and the middle room acting as the main working area, round a central stone-built hearth.

Many domestic artefacts were recovered, including bone and stone tools, and sherds of round based carinated pottery. (Source RCAHMS) 

The site was excavated by Anna Ritchie and reported in “Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney” 

Seren Griffiths’ record of carbon dating for the Knap of Howar in “Beside the Ocean of Time: a chronology of Neolithic burial Monuments and houses in Orkney”  demonstrates that most of the reliable dates from the site more or less pre-date approximately 3000BC. 

Barbara Noddle , in an appendix to Anne Ritchie’s report,  wrote the animal bone report for the Knap of Howar. Her description of the stature of the Knap of Howar pig suggests that it was probably a wild boar, a fearsome creature that was always common in the British Isles, was hunted to extinction in the middle ages, and has been reintroduced in some parts of England. 

The radiocarbon date for the bones of this animal suggest that it must have died at around 3500BC which was some 200 years or so before the earliest sheep bones appear.  It is therefore possible that the first Neolithic visitors to Westray were not accompanied by livestock at all, but that they killed a wild pig that came across their path, and that only later did shepherds bring sheep to Orkney. 

The amount and variety of wildlife remains at the Knap of Howar, the solidity of the structures, and the presence of midden material close to the settlement suggest that these first inhabitants may have attempted to remain on Orkney through winter for several seasons. 

Seren Griffiths’ data suggests that the cattle probably arrived at Orkney, just before 3000BC, but as Barbara Noddle states, they were probably very close to wild aurochs in size and nature. It would probably not be possible to contain these enormous animals simply because they were huge enough that they could walk through any fence, or wall, without even noticing it. 

Barbara Noddle also says that most bones found were juvenile beasts, and I suggest that this may be because young animals would be easier to catch and kill than the adults. (this is not an opinion that is  shared by other authors) 

Very close to Papa Westray is the larger island of Westray, where a large prehistoric settlement remains, called the Links of Noltland. It is understood that in early prehistory Westray and Papa Westray would have been accessible between each other. In this understanding it is reasonable that there will have been some settlement from the same era as the Knap of Howar settlement, at the Links of Noltland.  Some carbon dates quoted in “Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney. Radiocarbon Dating And chronological Modelling. By Peter Marshall, et al” suggest Neolithic presence there at about 3000BC. 

Links of Noltland 

The Links of Noltland is located behind Grobust Bay on the North West coast of the island of Westray. It is described in detail in :- “Historic Environment Scotland, Statement of Significance, Links of Noltland” 

“The site occupies some 4 hectares of sand dunes and coastal machair.

To date, five settlements comprising of over 35 prehistoric structures have been identified. They are surrounded by contemporary cemeteries, middens and cultivation remains, together with a number of Specialised and ritual buildings. 

Notable discoveries include the ‘Westray Wife’ – a carved stone figurine and The earliest human representation known from Scotland; the Neolithic Cattle Skull house, whose walls contained 28 cattle skulls, some now genetically Identified as auroch and auroch-hybrids; a near-complete subterranean Neolithic house complex containing two further figurines and numerous Carved stones; a Neolithic carved stone ball, found in situ inside a house and; A near-complete subterranean Bronze Age ritual structure, interpreted as a Sauna.

In “Mammals in Late Neolithic Orkney (With reference to mammal bones recovered from Links of Noltland, Westray)”  Sheena Fraser  describes the group of cattle skulls found in a structure known as the Cattle Skull House. 

“Cattle skulls in LON Structure 9, with mandibles removed, were carefully placed into midden material lying below the inner and outer foundation course, (between the inner and outer walls of the house) with horn cores orientated downwards into the midden material and skull maxilla and occipital bones upwards.”

In addition, in “Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney Radiocarbon Dating & Chronological Modelling” Peter Marshall et al tabulate the dating of carbon samples from the Links of Noltland “. 

Summarising these sources, in the period before 3000BC, there may have been some occupation close to the Links of Noltland, associated with that at the Knap of Howar. 

However, from around 2800BC to 2300BC the bones found in non-specific locations are either cattle or sheep, and they are largely articulated. The date of death of the skulls in the  cattle skull house fall within the range of this period, but also back to 3000BC. The most recent date for the cattle skulls is 2348BC.

The dating of animal bones recorded reflects the date of death of each animal, but this time of death does not automatically imply the involvement of humans in the process. 

From about 2400BC, areas of animal bones, butchering, and domestic refuse with beaker sherds are present, and at the end of the 3rd millennium BC there are "clear signs of ard cultivation". 

The finding of articulated bones, in comparatively large numbers, is clear evidence that animals were dying here of natural causes, and as there were no scavengers to clear away their carcasses, they rotted where they had fallen. 

A cemetery was also found and excavated at Links of Noltland, and in “Migration and community in Bronze Age Orkney: innovation and continuity at the Links of Noltland,”  Hazel Moore and  Graeme Wilson give the dates of inhumations in the cemetery to be mostly within the 2nd millennium BC. 

This dating strongly suggests that when the Bronze Age “Beaker People“  arrived on the island by boat, they found the remains of the animals that had died in various locations, and perhaps as a way of tidying up their newly colonised territory, incorporated the skulls of the animals into the footings of an early house. 

It may be imagined that to come to an island where the intact skeletons of beasts littered the ground may have been perceived to be a little spooky. 

Referring again to Seren Griffiths, the dates at which the remains of humans, cattle sheep red deer, and grains were present in Orkney are quite revealing. 

60 human bone samples are from cairns, of which 50 date to before 3000BC, and 5 after 2500BC.. 

Sheep are continuously present on Orkney from 3500BC to 2000BC, suggesting that they came with Neolithic shepherds and were left to forage unenclosed. 

With the exception of the one cow sample at the Knap of Howar, the cattle are continuously present in Orkney from 3000BC to 2000BC. This may mean that the cattle were a wild population that inhabited land close to Orkney and that they withdrew to the higher ground that Orkney represented as sea levels rose. 

Red deer are also continuously present from. 3000BC to 2000BC. These animals, with huge mobile territories, may have made landfall in the same way as the cattle did, driven by rising seas onto shrinking islands. 

Grains samples largely precede 3000BC. 

This analysis of Seren Griffiths‘ accumulated data can be used to imply a sequence of events in relation to the occupation of Orkney. 

Sheep were introduced to Orkney by people between 3500BC and 3000BC, and remained as wild population through the 3rd millennium BC. 

Cattle, red deer, Voles, mice, wolves, were driven from land adjacent to Orkney. Animals with otherwise large mobile territories were forced onto islands of smaller and smaller area. 

On the Westrays, Westray and Papa Westray, joined together, and while the Knap of Howar was inhabited there may have been a concurrent settlement at the Links of Noltland. 

When occupation at the Knap of Howar ended, at around 3000BC, cattle and sheep, would still be wandering over the undifferentiated islands of Westray and Papa Westray, looking for the best fodder and shelter, and dying of natural causes. 

Settlement of some sort resumes in the second half of 3rd millennium BC, when boat building technology is likely to have enabled exploration of the archipelago by sea. 

 

Mainland settlements 

Sizeable and solid structures in Neolithic Orkney are the cairns, the Knap of Howar, and the complex later structures of Skara Brae and the Ness of Brodgar. In contrast to these are the earlier settlements  which all seem to be shallow and fragile.

The Knowes of Trotty is a settlement on the Bay of Firth, Orkney Mainland. The excavated house is part of a group of eleven mounds, situated at the foot of the steep west slopes of the Ward of Redland. It features a large rectangular hearth, and a small external paved annexe with work areas including an area for pottery manufacture. All 7 carbon samples at this site are likely to pre-date 3000BC  (Nick Card, Jane Downes and Paul Sharman, 2006.) 

Excavation at seven other habitation sites delivered samples that are dated to before 3000BC. They are the Stonehall group, Stonehall Knoll, Stonehall Meadow, and Stonehall Farm, on the Bay of Firth, and not far from them, Wideford Hill and Smerquoy. This group may have been settled in this location because of its position on the lea side of hills around the Bay of Firth. It is relatively sheltered here, and at present trees are more numerous, and growing to greater heights than in other more exposed locations. 

Stonehall Meadow and Wideford Hill are both likely to pre-date 3000BC. Most of the samples from Stonehall farm are likely to pre-date 3000BC, but one is from the 28th century BC settlement

Smerquoy was established and abandoned before 3000BC, but may have been re-occupied at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, a thousand years later. 

The same thing happens at Habreck which is on the island of Wyre, abandonment before 3000BC, and reoccupation a thousand years later. The re-occupation of these sites would not have been as a result of people retuning to structures. It is likely that the abandoned settlements would have developed soils that encouraged the sowing of seeds, and the growth of wild food crops. 

On the island of Eday is Green, which  was occupied and abandoned before 3000BC. 

Stonehall Knoll stands out as an anomaly, as it has three samples from a thin layer of burnt material, with dates from three different centuries : the 32nd, 30th, and 26th. All three of these samples from the one layer may have been redeposited and trampled into the ground at any time after the 26th century BC. 

None of the foregoing habitation sites have any of the structural integrity of buildings that would permit their inhabitants to survive an Orkney winter. (The "Orkney Winter" is like a character in a melodramatic play. It has it's own character, and it's own temperament that overcasts ordinary mortal life on the archipelago. Survival through winter can be uncomfortable now, and must have been challenging 5000 years ago.)

 

Barnhouse 

 

Barnhouse is close to the Stones of Stenness, and the Maeshowe Cairn, and it sits on the shore of Harray Loch. 

With the exception of Structures 2 and 8, none of these Barnhouse buildings has the obvious sense of permanence that dwellings at Skara Brae, or the Knap of Howar have. They are short lived structures, often repaired, and rebuilt, and they date from different times throughout the duration of the settlement. 

It seems unlikely that the walls of these structures at Barnhouse were ever much more than a few courses high, and a reasonable possibility is that the buildings they represent may have been Teepee- or dome-like timber-framed structures covered with animal skin, reed/thatch, or turves. 

Anybody who has lived in Orkney through a normal Orkney winter will recognise that such light structures as these clearly represent, would not survive, or enable their inhabitants to survive, in an Orkney winter of lashing rain and ferocious gales. 

 

The two structures at Barnhouse, 2 and 8, draw direct parallels with those found later at the Ness of Brodgar. The smaller of the two is Structure 2, a rectangular building, the design of which is known as a “piered building”, as it has stone-built pier-like projections coming out from the mid-points of both of its longer, opposing walls. This design strategy is repeated often, at the Ness of Brodgar. 

The other building that bears comparison between the two sites is Structure 8, a large square building within a circular enclosure. Structure 10 at the Ness of Brodgar is also more or less square, and may have been built using similar techniques to those employed for Structure 8 at Barnhouse. 

Structure 2, the piered structure at Barnhouse was in use for the longest period there, and it was probably built with the intention that it endure for a while, making it clearly an important building. 

The carbon dated samples tested from Barnhouse all pre-date 3000BC, and suggest that the site was only in use for a relatively short period of time. 12 samples, Charred grains and charcoal are broadly dated to between 3650BC and 2870BC. 

Gullies running through the site are cut into the ground surface. These are likely to have been useful for removal of summer rain from the site, but useless in winter. Colin Richards, who excavated the site, says that the numerous circular structures, here, with hearth like features in them were frequently rebuilt, suggesting that they may have may have been abandoned for winter, and refurbished in spring. The presence of upright stone slabs set into the ground in the piered structure, Structure 2, suggests, that this may have been a dormitory. An ephemeral feature outside the entrance to Structure 2 may have been a latrine with a urinal and toilet seat over a simple drainage ditch.

Good evidence in the large feature, Structure 8 suggests that this was a square pyramid shaped building within a sheltering, encircling wall. The wall surround was to protect people on the apron around the building, but more particularly to protect a fire outside the entrance to the structure which served as a sweat Lodge. A light timber framework covered the interior, resting on and attached to a king post in the centre of the building. An inner wall of stone edging served as seating for the participants of the sweat lodge ceremony. A small horde of stones for heating and wetting to create the steam remained, along with a pot set into the ground to store the water and a small pinch pot to carry water from the storage pot to the Stones.

The buildings at Barnhouse are fragile in nature and it is very likely that many more similar structures were once on this shore  of Harray Loch , but have since been destroyed by modern agriculture. 

 

The Stones of Stenness 

At the Stones of Stenness, Graham Ritchie directed an excavation that found that this circle of stones consisted of twelve in number, of which he explored those stone positions where no standing stone was present. Expressing some reservations about the presence and/or absence of some of the monoliths from the circle of stones, he writes that, “Stone-hole 9 was about 1-6 m by 1-6 m (though the W side was not excavated as it was covered by a balk) and about 0-75 m in depth. The fill was re-deposited till with only a few small slabs and no sign of either stone stump or chocking stones. If there had been an upright, it and Its supporting stones had been very systematically removed. There is likewise no good evidence for stone no. 12, (see Fig 40) for, although a sharp-sided hollow existed in the surface of the till, it is very slight compared with the other stone-holes and, had the pointed base of an upright been crammed Into the natural at this point, the stone must have been carefully supported by surface stones. This sector of the site has been most severely denuded by ploughing, and while this could not explain the greater destruction of stone-hole no. 12 compared to nos 1 or 9, it might help to explain the absence of any surface chocking stones at this point.”

The observation regarding stone-hole 12, which was hardly more than a stake hole, might lead to the interpretation that the stone circle itself may have remained unfinished. This might mean that the builders only managed to erect ten, or eleven, out of the twelve intended standing stones. It might also mean that the reason that the Stones are unfinished is because people could see that high winter tides were beginning to erode the passage between Caithness and Orkney. Seeing this, the people abandoned their annual gatherings at Brodgar, and regrouped on Salisbury Plain. 

Further, discussing the effort required in cutting the ditch of the circle Ritchie observes that, “The visible architectural feat of the raising and positioning of the monoliths is fully matched by the excavation of the rock-cut ditch. The physical effort required for the entire operation of the construction of the Henge has been evaluated as being some 50,000 man-hours. The original depth and width of the Stenness ditch must have given the stones an impression of greater height and aloofness. The ditch of the adjacent Henge monument of the Ring of Brodgar, as revealed by excavation, is an even greater engineering feat; it measures no less than 10 m in width and 3-4 m in depth from the outside surface, and was, like that at Stenness, cut into solid bed-rock. Renfrew, using data on traditional quarrying methods in Orkney, suggests that the effort required (to dig the Brodgar ditch) might indicate a figure of 80,000 man-hours. Clearly such estimates can give no more than a tantalising impression of the complex organisation of Neolithic society in Orkney”.(Ritchie) 

If all that the Neolithic people had done was dig ditches then we might decide that there were just about enough habitations in Orkney to supply the workforce for these projects. In fact though, these were almost the least of the Neolithic Orkney achievements. 

 

The Ring of Brodgar 

Further to the recognition that the Stones of Stenness may not have been completed, neither is it clear that the work of creating the Ring of Brodgar stone circle was actually finished. This is a large ring of stones, differing from the Stones of Stenness, mainly in that it is huge. 

“The ring of stones at Brodgar is consistently stated to have been originally composed of 60 monoliths (Renfrew 1979: 39; J. N. G. Ritchie 1985, 124; A. Ritchie 1995, 78; Burl 1995, 145; etc.).  

The Royal Commission were a little more cautious in its estimation: 

“The original number of stones is uncertain. At the present time the position of at least forty can be identified, and there are spaces for twenty more, if it is assumed that they were erected at approximately equal distances apart. This would bring the total in the original plan to sixty, the number suggested by Thomas many years ago (1946, 299).”

Today, the stone circle comprises 21 erect monoliths. The position of a further ten is represented by either stumps or packing stones projecting through the turf. Two more stones lie prone just inside each causeway respectively. Of the standing monoliths, eight were re-erected in 1906-7, and we can have confidence in their accurate position as the H. M. Office of Works were scrupulous in locating the appropriate sockets at both the Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar (J. N. G. Ritchie 1988). Nonetheless, it is clear that out of c. 60 stones only 13 remained standing. (Downes) “

Each stone in the circle has been worked to break along a fissure, creating a unique common profile. Each stone has more or less upright edge on one side, and on the opposite side a sloping edge. 

At Vestra Fiold on the west coast, a partially quarried stone that conforms to this design has been discovered and excavated. It is cut out and ready to move, but has not been taken, suggesting that work on the Ring of Brodgar, for which it was destined, was halted before it was completed. This is yet another fragment of evidence that suggests that a large group of people halted work operations on an Orkney monument, and removed themselves from the territory. 

The dating of Barnhouse, which I suggest was the campsite for the building of the henges, ended at 3000BC while the first stones for the setting of Stonehenge are dated to after 3000BC.. Stonehenge was rebuilt repeatedly, Orkney henges were not. 

 Skara Brae

Historic Environment Scotland, Statement Of Significance, Skara Brae 

“The excavated remains of Skara Brae, as currently presented, consist of a tightly clustered grouping of stone-built structures connected by narrow passageways.  The structures, many of which are interpreted as houses, have internal fittings of stone. There were two main phases of building and occupation in the development of the settlement, with a gap relating to the probable abandonment of the settlement due to inundation by sand. 

Individual buildings were, at first, freestanding, with open passageways between them. Some of the passageways were subsequently roofed over, creating the passages visible today. 

Skara Brae was occupied at various times – not continuously – from the late fourth Millennium to the mid-third millennium BC (with sporadic activity after that). Recent Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates has indicated that while occupation on the site started at some time between 3360 and 3160 cal BC (with the inhabitants using pottery that was probably round-based: Phase 0), the earliest houses that survive today (Phase 1) were constructed in the early third millennium BC (from 2920–2885 Cal BC).

After less than a century of occupation – possibly as short a period as 50 years, that means two generations – the settlement seems to have been abandoned (probably as a result of inundation by sand), around 2870–2760 cal BC. It was then reoccupied, with new houses being built and some old houses being remodelled (early House 7, for example), within the time frame of 2840–2685 cal BC and remained in use until 2545–2440 cal BC. After its abandonment, there are hints of ‘squatting’-like activity at various times including the Iron Age (as demonstrated by, amongst other things, a horse tooth bead radiocarbon dated to 170 cal BC–cal AD 10, SUERC-40339, 2060±30 BP).

Activity after the settlement’s abandonment also included the deposition of human remains at various times, with some of the disarticulated bones found during the nineteenth century having recently been radiocarbon dated (for Whittle and Bayliss’ The Times of Their Lives project and for Rick Schulting) to the late third to early second millennium BC – the time when beaker pottery was in use in Orkney."

Whatever happened through the 3rd millennium BC, the data, as expressed here shows a surprisingly clear separation between the occupation of Skara Brae before 3000BC, and the development after, again suggesting that something happened at that date affecting how the inhabitants of Orkney could live. 

 

The Ness of Brodgar 

 

The Ness of Brodgar sits on the south eastern tip of the Brodgar isthmus separating the Loch of Harray to the east, and the Loch of Stenness to the west, at the centre of the large natural bowl of hills of the West Mainland of Orkney.  The Ness of Brodgar is a big settlement, It consists of a complex sequence of large, mainly stone, buildings contained within a massive walled enclosure.  

Like Barnhouse, the Ness of Brodgar is a predominantly “Grooved Ware Site”

The Grooved Ware pottery which was found in large quantities in these places reappears, more or less after 3000BC, at places in England. One of the earliest site to which these people may have travelled, taking their experience in making Grooved Ware pottery with them, is at Nosterfield in Yorkshire (3020-2870 cal BC).

Grooved Ware is a style of Neolithic pottery that has spread throughout Britain, and is found in large quantities at Barnhouse. It is a bucket shaped form with a flat bottom, in contrast with the “Carinated” pottery which was the rounded based form of pottery that was made by the shepherds that first occupied the Knap of Howar. 

At the Ness of Brodgar though, evidence of the use of Grooved Ware defines a period during which the buildings themselves were being used as structures with rooves. The dating of carbon residues on sherds of the pottery, is limited to a period between 2950BC, and 2750BC. The residues on the pottery are from either fire or food, indicating a likely direct usage of both vessel and building. 

As these structures are likely to have been constructed and roofed with timber, an estimate of their likely duration would suggest that they are unlikely to have survived much more than 50 years, a hundred at most. 

In “To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney.” By Nick Card, dates for the structures at the settlement are roughly as follows :-

Structure 1  has dates between 3000BC and 2700BC

Structure 7, between 2965BC and 2880BC

Structure 8, 3005BC and 2910BC

 Structure 12 has dates between 2880BC and  2710BC, but also earlier samples dating from between 3335BC and 2935BC

Structure 14 has dates between 2985BC to 2900BC

Trench R, dates between 3335BC and 2940BC

Trench T, between 2905BC to 2725BC

The foregoing sample dates have a fairly clear division between those that favour 3000BC, and going backwards into the 4th millennium BC, and those that come forward from that date and into the 3rd millennium BC. 

At the Ness of Brodgar, Structure 10, is more complicated. The earliest dates are between 2935BC and 2705BC, and most of those dated samples are from carbonized residues on grooved ware pottery which is likely to have been furniture in a roofed structure.

The square structure is formed as two concentric/parallel walls around a near-square internal space, (Cavity walling!?) and the two concentric walls are separated by a continuous narrow channel.

The outer wall was tall, and functioned as a windbreak. (Neolithic people on Orkney were fond of windbreaks). This may have been 2 or 3 metres high.

The inner wall supported the eaves of a pyramid shaped roof over the internal space, and the narrow channel between the concentric walls of the structure served as a drain for rainwater falling off the roof of the pyramid

The kingpost for the pyramid roof was in the current location of the central firepit, and the height of the peak may have been four or five metres.

This pyramid structure survived in the first quarter of the 3rd millennium BC, and may have been a sweat Lodge. A similar structure, Structure 8 at Barnhouse was definitely a sweat lodge, and hut 8 at Skara Brae may also have been one.

In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC mariners entered the Stenness Loch, beaching their boats at Brodgar and, finding the windbreak around structure 10 there. The roof of the building had collapsed and any usable material long removed. What was left was a sheltered enclosure in which they dug out the firepit.  

They probably came every year and caught and killed an auroch, part of which they cooked on the firepit here, and ate, before removing the majority of the carcase of the animal back to their winter homeland.

These visitors left a dump of animal bones  outside Structure 10, between 2620BC and 2460BC, and between 2465BC and 2360BC a stray bone drifted into the upper fill of the firepit in the centre of Structure 10. 

Cairns

In “Beside the Ocean of Time: a chronology of Neolithic burial, Monuments and houses in Orkney”, Seren Griffiths lists the carbon dates of human bones from 10 Orkney cairns. The cumulative data for these skeletal remains demonstrates that about 75% of the people lain in the cairns died roughly before 3000BC, the rest of them died later, mostly through the 3rd millennium BC. Similar findings are suggested by dating of skeletons in Scotland and England. 

Of the 31 samples of animal bones from Orkney cairns, only one “might” precede 3000BC. 

 

Conclusion

The Theory here, begins with people in Early Neolithic times being able to walk from Caithness to Orkney until 3000BC., it continues by suggesting that a land bridge that joined Caithness to Orkney was washed away at that date. 

The evidence that I hope I have demonstrated to support the theory is as follows:-

The population of Orkney drops after 3000BC. 

Barnhouse and many small settlements are abandoned in 3000BC. 

The Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar are abandoned, unfinished, probably at that date. 

The Westray islands are (mostly) abandoned at 3000BC, and not colonised again until the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. 

Skara Brae, and the Ness of Brodgar, both have dated deposits from before 3000BC indicating some kind of occupation, but not till after 3000BC are the revolutionary solid structures with stone lined drains and other necessary amenities designed and constructed. 

The dates of the human bones found in the cairns are largely assessed to before 3000BC, and the dates of the animal bones, which were arguably being eaten by people, are largely after 3000BC, when a few groups of people isolated from mainland Britain, may have sought desperate refuge. 

It is possible that the people of the early Neolithic in Northwestern Europe were wholly nomadic, leaving only footprints before 3000BC. 

As they are likely to have been shepherds they may have followed herds of sheep, controlled by dogs, and they may have simply wandered north and south along the west coast of Europe, from France to England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and Orkney. They may have stayed in Orkney, for instance, just for the brief summer here and set off again back to coastal areas of France for a warmer winter. 

As sea levels rose it also likely that Atlantic tides broke through land bridges between Ireland and Britain, and between Britain and Europe. 

It was only after 3000BC that the first features of Stonehenge were installed, and not until the second half of the 3rd millennium BC that seagoing vessels were developed. 

 

Appendix

Cairns and the people in them

 

In “Beside the Ocean of Time: a chronology of Neolithic burial, Monuments and houses in Orkney”, Seren Griffiths lists the carbon dates of human bones from 10 Orkney cairns. The cumulative data for these skeletal remains demonstrates that about 75% of the people lain in the cairns died roughly before 3000BC, the rest of them died later, mostly through the 3rd millennium BC. Similar findings are suggested by dating of skeletons in Scotland and England, and it is likely that the fall in numbers of bodies in cairns is, as much as anything, because after a couple of hundred years of existence the cairns were in poor condition, and often collapsing, making them sometimes risky places to enter.

Audrey Henshall, in “Neolithic cairns of Orkney” finds that there are around 80 cairns in Orkney, of which half are stalled cairns, linear structures with an oblong space within a great mound. The name refers to upright stones that divide the side walls into partitioned stalls.

As well as the 40 or so that are recognisable, there are about 25, cairns that are in poor condition, and cannot be categorised, but are probably also stalled cairns. There another 14 that are in some way hybridised. A common hybrid is called the Maeshowe type, but this is a misnomer, Maeshowe compares to no other Neolithic structure on Orkney, (or probably anywhere else) 

Maeshowe is a splendid ancient mound, in the heart of which is a large rectangular space with a corbelled ceiling. The design of the interior is very fine with a tall standing stone built into each corner. The room is entered through a long tunnel to one of the inner walls of the structure, and behind each of the other three walls of the interior room are small galleries which would apparently be blocked off from view, by blocking stones, to any normal user of the main room.

The entrance to Maeshowe has a stone beside it, fitted into a recess, that can be pulled across and used to block entrance into the interior. The design of this arrangement makes it clear that people wishing to make the closure would have to be within Maeshowe to do it.

The other cairns of the Maeshowe type have a central room with galleries arrayed around the walls of the room, the interiors of which, in many cases look suspiciously like bedding places. 

A few cairns defy brief description, but are complex structures, some with bed-like rooms, others on two levels. It is assumed that these structures were all built in Neolithic times, and most of them probably were. It’s worth keeping an open mind though, on some of these structures in Orkney. 

One of the most accessible cairns is Unstan Cairn which is famous because it lent it’s name to the early Neolithic pottery of Orkney, Unstan Ware. 

The cairn was excavated in 1884  by Robert Stewart Clouston, who reported on his work in “Notice of the Excavation of a Chambered Cairn of The Stone Age , at Unstan , in the Loch of Stennis, Orkney” 

He discovered that an area of burned material, ash and charcoal, was spread out in the area directly in front of the entrance to the cairn. This suggests that burning of fuel, and possibly cooking of meat may have taken place in this area. George Petrie, drawing a section across Wideford Cairn indicates the presence of venting through the ceiling of that cairn, and it is likely that the same is true of Unstan Cairn. 

Clouston clearly had the privilege of examining a cairn, the roof of which was still more or less intact. He writes:-

“At the side of the..... flagstone in this com
partment there was a small space, not covered with white clay, and in this we found several fragments of different urns. A more striking instance of how the relics must have been scattered is the fact of a piece of pottery, found in the fourth compartment, fitting into an urn, the rest of which was dug up in this second compartment of the chamber. By far the greater portion of the relics found in the chamber were in this compartment. Overlying its clay floor was a stratum of black ashy or earthy matter, largely composed of charcoal, in which great quantities of pottery, and several flint chips and flakes were found.

Upon the black stratum there were laid several burials in the contracted posture (and) the black stratum which covered the floor of the second compartment extended a couple of feet or so into the third compartment, and also into the first compartment and the passage.

Referring to the fragments of pottery found in the chamber of the cairn of Unstan, Dr Anderson stated that having carefully examined the whole of them, it appears that the total number of different vessels they represented must be somewhere about thirty. Of these, however, only six or eight have been found capable of reconstruction, so as to show their complete form and the character of their ornamentation.”

In the Long Stalled Chambered Cairn at Midhowe,  Graham Callander and Walter G. Grant found a skeleton that they thought must have been lain in the cairn in a sitting position :-

From. “Long Stalled Chambered Cairn or Mausoleum (Rousay TYPE) near Midhowe, Rousay, Orkney . By J. Graham Callander, , and Walter G. Grant”

“About the middle of the cell was a broken skull, part of a lower jaw, and other bones of a second adult. The skeleton of an adult male lay against the north-east corner. The skull was placed upright facing the passage, the knees were well drawn up, and the left humerus stood high, up near the skull. From the position of the pelvis and other bones it appeared that this body had been placed in a sitting position.”

In the Knowe of Yarso cairn, In Rousay. Graham Callander and Walter G. Grant found evidence playful rearrangement of skulls. 

In “A long, stalled cairn , the Knowe of Yarso, In Rousay, Orkney “. BY J. Graham Callander,, and Walter G. Grant, they write:-

“From the outer half, No. 3A, skeletal remains of seven adults and one adolescent were recovered. Skulls of five adults, three fragmentary and two rather better preserved, were found lying at the foot of the wall on the western side, and the remains of the other three individuals in the middle of the cell. But it was cell No. 3B that yielded most of the osseous remains. No less than seventeen adults were represented by skulls usually very much broken, vertebra, fragments of eight femurs, other leg bones, and two humeri. Nine of the skulls were placed in juxtaposition along the foot of the western wall, six along the opposite side, and two about 15 inches from it. In no case was the lower jaw present. A very fine skull was found in the south-west corner of the cell, touching the divisional slab, which doubtless accounts for its good state of preservation. Although some of the skulls arranged along the foot of the wall had suffered from disturbance, it seemed that they had been placed cranium upwards facing the centre of the chamber.”

Talking about the bones they also suggest that some of the long animal bones may have been split to access the marrow within. 

“The quantity of animal bones found was considerable, and consisted almost entirely of red-deer, many being of the size of the best animals existing in Scotland to-day. Bones from thirty-six of these animals were identified. Ox and sheep were just represented, and there were a few bones of a good-sized dog. Many limpets were found and fish was represented by wrasse. 

The bones were distributed throughout the relic bed of the chamber, but, as already mentioned, were more numerous in the inner half. They were much broken, and included teeth, ribs, and many articular ends and splinters of leg bones. The latter presumably had been deliberately split to get at the marrow. Many of the Yarso animal bones showed distinct marks of scorching and burning.”

At the Knowe of Ramsay a wide variety of animal bones were found. 

From “A Stalled Chambered Cairn , the Knowe of Ramsay, at Hullion, Rousay, Orkney “. By J. Graham Callander, and Walter G. Grant 

“Bones of animals were numerous, and there were a few of birds and one of a fish. They included red-deer, sheep and ox, great auk, bittern, cormorant, curlew, duck, sea or white-tailed eagle, pink-footed goose, and conger-eel. Many of the animal bones were broken or splintered, and some, as we have seen, were scorched.”

...and in the bone report Margery Platt recognises that the creatures who owned the bones may have been eaten. 

Report on the Animal Bones found in the Chambered Cairn, Knowe of Ramsay, Rousay, Orkney. By Margery Platt, M.Sc., Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.

“In this cell there was little evidence of calcination. Two bird bones occurred—the humerus of a Cormorant (Phalacrocorax c. Carbo, L.) and the ulna of a Gannet (Sula bassana, L.), together with the shell of a common periwinkle (Littorina littorea, L.) from the shore.

The species occurring most often is the Gannet, which was used for food extensively in the past and up to recent days still contributed a staple diet for islanders, such as St Kildans. The flesh of the Garefowl or Great Auk was, in addition, greatly prized by fishermen and coast-dwelling tribes in the past. “

In Seren Griffiths' listing of human bone carbon dating there a total of 88 samples of which 4 are excluded as not making sense (to me), leaving 84, of which 13 are likely to be after 3000BC. Many of these 13 are said to be from cists, or in rubble infill, and likely therefore to have been laid or accumulated when the cairn was at least partially ruined. 

A study of the bones and consequently, of the people who owned the bones has been carried out by David Lawrence, in his thesis, ”Orkneys First Farmers, Reconstructing biographies from osteological analysis to gain Insights into life and society in a Neolithic community on the Edge of Atlantic Europe”.

At Isbister, he studied a group of skeletons who represented a group of 85 people, half of whom were younger than 25 years old, and half older.

In those that he could establish a gender, 15 were probably female, and 28 probably male. 

The most striking feature of David’s and other studies of Orkney skeletons is the high prevalence of evidence of violence, as 20% of those skulls that survived at Isbister Cairn carried evidence of injuries that might have been caused by direct blows to the head using various types of weapon. Both sexes and all ages were affected. 

Another fracture wound which was present in 10% of little finger bones that were found was thought to be caused by a poorly delivered fist punch.   

In his “Summary of Trauma” David says:-

“The large number of crania with fractures reflects (often deadly) interpersonal violence. Fracture form included circular blunt force trauma consistent with a direct mace blow or slingshot strike, linear and ovoid blunt force trauma consistent with clubs, weapon hafts or rocks, narrow penetrating trauma consistent with a pointed weapon such as a spear or arrow with a sharpened tip or an antler pick; and sharp force trauma consistent with a glancing axe. The Multiple lesions of IS(7284) and IS(1973) particularly indicate close contact rather than missile attack, with IS(1972) probably being ‘finished off’ with a cluster of blows after being stunned: the shape of the anterior lesion implicating a blunt weapon with circular cross-section, whilst the lateral lesions suggest use of considerable force producing fractures of similar size and therefore all consistent with a single weapon. The stone fragment embedded in IS(7114) might be taphonomic but, associated with a closely fitting endocranial hinged spall seems more likely to be part of a broken weapon, perhaps carved intentionally but possibly a weapon of convenience. The close Similarity of the circular penetrating lesions in IS(1957) and ABDUA90046, with peripheral crushing also seems more likely to derive from hand weapons, as do the examples of sharp force trauma (IS7280) and IS(2640). Other blunt force trauma has punched out Bone discs and sometimes split crania (e.g. IS(7207)). Fractured or dislocated mandibles (IS(1973), IS(6703) and ABDUA90037) however could equally result from empty-handed assault (consistent with observed metacarpal fractures) as armed attack.

The majority of longbone fractures observed seem, in contrast, consistent with an accidental origin. All those recorded were well-healed, which supports a distinction in aetiology from at least some cranial fractures. Radius fracture seems rather common (about 4% of right adult radii) and there is a greater Prevalence of radius trauma to the right side than the left, as there is of distal Degenerative Joint Disease. This may imply that trauma relates to handedness , which might suggest that it does not occur only as a result of symmetrical activity but the sample of fractures alone is small and the difference In numbers is statistically insignificant. Perhaps more importantly, Colles Fracture tends to occur in adults after the age of 40 years and is not common in youth (Adams 1962:139-140). This would be consistent with an age-related Element to some of the vertebral crush fractures recorded, whilst other cases of vertebral trauma  are more likely violence related.

It may be significant that the right metacarpals also seem to have been more prone to injury than the left, including both trauma and enthesopathy but not Degenerative Joint Disease. The prevalence of fifth metacarpal fracture is highly suggestive of interpersonal violence, which supports observations on the crania but has no obvious direct relationship to trauma of the radius.”

Also, of some significance, is the frequency of severe wounds, including head injuries, that had been survived, and had healed, allowing the individual to return to some sort of active life. 

In some cases, these healed wounds, in spite of healing well,  led to secondary osteoarthritis, and secondary degenerative joint disease in the adjoining bones, affecting bodily posture.

“One individual had two healed lesions to the left posterior parietal and one had a healed left Superior parietal lesion as well as apparent damage (crushing or subluxation?) at the left Squamosal suture.”

“One individual had healed wounds that may have been delivered following a stunning blow anteriorly, face-to-face; this might also suggest an initial swinging blow delivered laterally to the point of the jaw or possibly a kick after the individual had fallen.”

Lawrence commented that, “Although some recorded lesions may have been caused by accidents, face-to-Face violence seems to have been endemic.” 

In Summarising Trauma in the Radius bone of the arm Lawrence describes an injury that may have been caused by a fall broken by the outstretched hand, leading to tenderness, osteoporosis and Restricted use of the fingers, hand and wrist (McRae 1994:178). The well-healed appearance of the break suggested that the ulnae may not have been similarly affected or that a repair was effected by the use of a splint.

Finding a fractured finger bone, he describes ”a healed Case of a spiral (or possibly oblique) fracture, typically caused by shearing Forces whilst delivering an unskilled blow with a clenched fist, or by twisting of The little finger (Dandy 1993:224). “

In a Lower Limb injury :- “ The near normal alignment and the well-healed nature of the lesion suggest that this is the result of a green-stick fracture in youth . “

And In a foot injury:- “This appears to be a well-Healed oblique fracture that may have been associated with soft tissue damage. Apposition remained close but rotation and displacement of the distal element may have deformed the foot and caused ambulatory difficulties.”

Serious Injury of the individual did not automatically foretell an early death.

Finally, what really happened in prehistoric Britain?

This is a question that will have to be answered by archaeologists. What is clear though is, in the specific culture of Neolithic Orkney, the people who inhabited the area and built the monuments were nomadic, and travelled to Orkney from Scotland, England, and perhaps France on an annual basis, moving from a winter base to a summer base .

The people who built the henges were not farmers or agriculturalists. They were opportunists and would eat almost anything that didn't try to eat them. In modern terms they were shepherds, but it is very unlikely that they fenced any livestock. They had dogs to take care of the sheep they adopted.

Considering that the people were temporary occupants of Orkney it is unlikely that cairns were intended for housing dead people, and we would probably be better advised to dream up a purpose for these monuments that might have been of use to visitors who were only here for perhaps four months in any year.

Although the evidence suggests that the people were effectively survivalists their culture was clearly of huge significance. The existence of sweat lodges in their communities speaks of strong social structures the evidence of which is elsewhere largely lost.

Moreover the inginuity that the people developed at Ness of Brodgar, stranded as they were, to build complex structures, huge structures, is something to help us to see them in a very different light.

Limited list of Sources :-

I have used the evidence published in the sources I have quoted. The interpretation that I draw from their evidence is entirely my own, and I apologise to any authors whose work has been reinterpreted in this way. 

(Bayliss) Alex Bayliss, Peter Marshall, Colin Richards & Alasdair Whittle. Settlement duration and materiality: formal chronological models for the development of Barnhouse, a Grooved Ware settlement in Orkney

(BGS) British Geological Survey, North Sea Memoirs

(Callander) A Stalled Chambered Cairn , the Knowe of Ramsay, at Hullion, Rousay, Orkney “. By J. Graham Callander, and Walter G. Grant

(Callander)  “A long, stalled cairn , the Knowe of Yarso, In Rousay, Orkney “ by J. Graham Callander,, and Walter G. Grant,

(Callander) Long Stalled Chambered Cairn or Mausoleum (Rousay TYPE) near Midhowe, Rousay, Orkney . By J. Graham Callander, , and Walter G. Grant”

(Callander) Long Stalled Chambered Cairn at Midhowe, Graham Callander and Walter G. Grant

Canmore.co.uk 

(Card) To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. Nick Card, Ingrid Mainland, C.M. Batt, Christopher Bronk Ramsey

(Clarke, D) , Sheridan, A, Shepherd, A, Sharples, N, Armour-Chelu, M, Hamlet, L, Bronk Ramsey, C, Dunbar, E, Reimer, P, Marshall, P and Whittle, A 2017 ‘The end of the world, or just “goodbye to all that”? Contextualising the red deer heap from Links of Noltland, Westray, within late 3rd-millennium cal bc Orkney’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 146: 57-89. 

(Clouston) “Notice of the Excavation of a Chambered Cairn of The Stone Age , at Unstan , in the Loch of Stennis, Orkney” Robert Stewart Clouston

(Cucchi) Analyses of the vole remains, by Thomas Cucchi et al

(Creel) Postglacial Relative Sea Level Change in Norway by Roger C. Creel et al

(Downes et al) “Investigating the great Ring of Brodgar” by Downes, Jane; Richards, Colin ; Brown, John ; Cresswell, A. J. ; Ellen, R.; Davis, A. D. ; Hall, Allan; McCulloch, Robert ; Sanderson, David C. W. ; Simpson, Ian A. Published in: Building the Great Stone Circles of the North (2013) 

(Fraser) Mammals in Late Neolithic Orkney (With reference to mammal bones recovered from Links of Noltland, Westray)” Sheena Fraser

(Gatliff) The geology of the central North Sea. United Kingdom offshore regional report by R W Gatliff

(Griffiths) , Beside the Ocean of Time: a chronology of Neolithic burial Monuments and houses in Orkney. Seren Griffiths, The Times of Their Lives Project,  

(Henshall) Neolithic cairns of Orkney

Historic Environment Scotland, Statement Of Significance, Skara Brae

Historic Environment Scotland, Statement Of Significance, Links of Noltland 

(Hijma) Audrey Henshall, in “Neolithic cairns of Orkney sea-level rise in the early Holocene revealed from North Sea peats" by Marc P. Hijma, et al,

(Lawrence.) Orkneys First Farmers, Reconstructing biographies from osteological analysis to gain insights into life and society in a Neolithic community on the edge of Atlantic Europe. David Michael Lawrence 

(Long, D) ., Smith, D. E. And Dawson, A. C. 1989 A Holocene tsunami deposit in eastern Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science, Vd. 4, pp. 61-66. ISSN 0267-81 79  1988 

(Long) A flint artifact from the northern North Sea" By Long, D., Wickham-Jones, C.R. and Ruckley, N.A. 1986

(Marshall) Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney. Radiocarbon Dating And chronological Modelling. By Peter Marshall

(Moore) Migration and community in Bronze Age Orkney: innovation and continuity at the Links of Noltland,” Hazel Moore and Graeme Wilson

(Ottesen) “Morphology, sedimentary infill and depositional environments of the Early Quaternary North Sea Basin by Dag Ottesen 

(Prøsch-Danielsen) Sea-level studies along the coast of southwestern Norway with emphasise on three short-lived Holocene marine events Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen

(Romaniuk) , Rodents: food or pests in Neolithic Orkney, Andrzej A. Romaniuk, Alexandra N. Shepherd, David V. Clarke, Alison J. Sheridan, Sheena Fraser, László Bartosiewicz and Jeremy S. Herman

(Richards) Islands of history: the Late Neolithic Timescape of Orkney Colin Richards, Andrew Meirion Jones, Ann MacSween, Alison Sheridan, Elaine Dunbar, Paula Reimer, Alex Bayliss, Seren Griffiths and Alasdair Whittle

(Ritchie) Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney, Anne Ritchie 

(Ritchie) Stones of Stenness, Graham Ritchie

(Sejrup) Quaternary of the Norwegian Channel: glaciation History and palaeoceanography” Hans Petter Sejrup

(Shennan) . “Relative sea-level changes and crustal movements in Britain and Ireland since the Last Glacial Maximum by Ian Shennan , Sarah L Bradley, and Robin Edwards”

 

All views and opinions expressed in Orkney Riddle are my own.

A longer version of this documents is available by email at jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk . It includes lists of relevant radiocarbon dates for the sites mentioned.