Impact Valleys

 

Orkney Riddle 

Impact Valleys 

Departing from archaeology to examine the geology of Britain as it has affected the topography of both Britain and the North Sea, the impact valley is a necessary component for an understanding of our prehistoric landscape. 

 

Olchon valley and Black Mountain from Longtown Castle 

 Definition of a valley 

"A valley is a long depression on the Earth's surface that commonly hosts a river and lies in a relatively flat plain or between hills or mountains. Valleys can be formed through various processes, including river erosion, glacial activity, or tectonic action.

Tectonic valleys, also known as rift valleys, are formed by the subsidence of the Earth’s crust between faults. River valleys are created by the incising action of rivers. Glacial valleys, often U-shaped, are created as glaciers erode the landscape.

Valleys come in different forms, such as canyons, gorges, and rift valleys. Canyons are deep, steep-walled valleys cut by rivers through resistant rock. Gorges are narrow, deep valleys. Rift valleys are elongated troughs formed by the sinking of a segment of the Earth's crust between faults."

( Encyclopedia Britannica )

The floor of the North Sea is also composed of an undersea landscape of linear valleys which are commonly called tunnel valleys or palaeovalleys. 

Valleys forming under existing polar glaciers are apparently formed in the way described below:-

"Tunnel valleys formed when subglacial or englacial meltwaters flowing under great hydrostatic pressure, loaded with ice and rock debris, incised channels into the underlying bedrock." From "The Pennines and adjacent areas. British regional geology" by N Aitkenhead et al"

However there is no evidence that the valleys of Britain and the North Sea were created in a subglacial environment. 

There is significant evidence that these valleys, particularly on rising or high ground, were formed by vertical impact  - falling ice.

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The Impact Valley 

The Impact Valley is the basic component of a post-glacial landscape in north-western Europe, and the "Parallel Valley Array " is an organised arrangement of impact valleys. 

These features are not yet recognised or understood by the academic community that studies glaciers and ice sheets.

They are the basic building blocks of a fundamentally novel theory for the creation of the British landscape as a result of the events in the last ice age.

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Impact Valleys and Parallel Valley Arrays were created as a result of the sudden rise in temperatures that took place in periods of deglaciation at the ends of cold periods. ("Ice Ages")

Their prevalence across western Europe is due to the warm Gulf Stream waters that flowed north through the Atlantic Ocean from equatorial America. This climatic system that caused the melting, continues to maintain a "unique " climate in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. 

Such was the speed of melt during those periods that ice sheets crumbled at speed, falling like a cliff-edge collapse, on underlying geology, gouging deep linear grooves through glacial deposits and natural bedrock alike.

The Snowline 

The thickness of ice over Britain during the last ice age is believed to have varied from a maximum of 1500 metres down to nothing.

Ben Nevis, in Scotland, is the highest mountain in Britain, at 1,340 metres. 

Under present day Alpine conditions:- "The snow line appears when there is a cut between the surface and the orography. Temperature sensitivity of snow cover duration, analytically derived from the state function, is extreme at the median snow line (snow probability 0.50). Alpine-wide mean altitude of the median snow line is 793(+ / −36)m in winter and 3.083(+ / −1.121)m in summer. - The snowline climate of the Alps 1961–2010" by M Hantel et al"

An ice sheet of a kilometre thickness would make the elevation of the ice above sea level over much of Scotland and northern England, over 2 kilometres. The temperature at that elevation would be seriously low, even while warm sunny weather was keeping the ground level rivers flowing.

The height of the ice sheets during an ice age would have been maintained, and increasing, until a critical temperature environment was reached forcing the undercut and collapse of leading edges of the ice sheet.

While prehistoric creatures and environments were coexisting with early humans , in the middle of the last ice age, these ice sheets would have been both gaining height, and melting on low ground simultaneously, the high ice looming over the lowland landscapes.

The Impact 

The force of impact that falling ice would have had on the ground upon which it landed, from this height, is calculated as a quantity of joules, or kilojoules.

However, to understand the potential power of impact that this event would have had, it has to be compared to one of the largest measured man-made explosions in history, that of the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima.

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima became the first city in the world to be struck by an atomic bomb. The bomb, called Little Boy, was deployed by a B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay. The bomb was airburst at 580 meters (1,900 feet) above the city, and the explosive yield was estimated to be the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT.

The ton of TNT is a unit of energy defined by convention to be 4.184 gigajoules, (4,184,000,000 joules) which is the approximate amount of energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000, 000 grams) of TNT. In other words, for each gram of TNT exploded, 4.184 kilojoules (or 4184 joules) of energy are released.

Assuming that the ice sheet depth was commonly 1000 metres thick over northern Britain, the impact of the collapsing ice can be calculated as follows :-

The mass of a single cubic metre of ice is 1000kg, which, falling 1000 metres, will land on a surface with an impact of 9810 kilojoules

Therefore 9810 kilojoules is the kinetic energy of impact of 1 tonne falling 1 kilometre, and the equivalent is (9810 divided by 4.184) which is 2.335 kilograms of TNT

The whole 1000 metre column of ice falling on substrate, at a total weight of 1000 tonnes would cause an estimated impact energy of (2.335 x 1000 / 2), = 1,170, kilograms of TNT

That is just over 1 tonne of TNT, which is very little compared to the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, at 15,000 tons TNT, but the column of ice that falls to create that energy is just a single one metre by one metre, thousand ton, vertical spike.

A single square kilometre of collapsing ice would cause an accumulative explosion equivalent to 66 Hiroshima sized atomic bombs.

If my science here is debatable, can we agree that the damage caused by the fall of just one cubic metre of ice , one tonne weight, falling from a height of 500 metres or 1 kilometre, would cause significant damage for the surface it landed on?

The individual palaeovalleys of Parallel Valley Arrays, are likely to be the result of high summer temperatures melting an edge of the ice sheet, and causing that edge to collapse, creating deep eroded gullies where it landed.

Over cooler periods, winter?, the rate of collapse slowed, and the impact of the erosion reduced, leaving raised ridges between deep valleys. 

When the planet warmed after 21,000BP, the low level ice sheets of southern England and the North Sea collapsed, retreating north. 

Where ice sheet thickness was low, the impact of the collapse was minimal, but as the edge retreated, thickness increased and valleys were cut into ground beneath it.

Where the ground consisted of glacial sedimentary dump, from a previous ice age, the cut of the valley was deeper than it would be if it landed on harder, or older, bedrock materials. 

Where the underlying substrate was rock, that rock was pulverised and became mixed with the shards of ice that had fallen on it, at the foot of the ice sheet wall. 

The Ice Stream

This ice and rock mixture, in a soup of meltwater sludge would form a huge heap where it had fallen.

There, lubricated by meltwater, this heap of ice, rocks, and silt, would slide slowly down any sloping surface that was available to it. 

When this mixture arrived at seaside or lakeside water the ice would melt out , leaving a moraine of rocks and soils.

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The Black Mountain Parallel Valley Array 

 

The Impact Valleys (Parallel Valley Array) for the Black Mountains (above) are on the Welsh border of Herefordshire. These are a group of valleys that run more or less parallel to each other. Some, to the west, at the Brecon Beacons, run downhill from a ridge at the North of the area. At the east though , although valleys now have rivers or streams running along them. The floors of the valleys are mainly flat, horizontal. 

Current thinking would probably suggest that these features were caused by the movement of glaciers along tnem, but even if the valleys were to be filled with snow there would be no impetus for the mass 8of ice in its frozen state to move along them. 

  

The views above are taken from Longtown Castle in western Herefordshire. They both look along view the Olchon Valley, and across it to the high ridge of the Black Mountain, the Welsh border. Longtown castle , from which the photo is taken stands on a ridge that runs parallel to the Black Mountains. 

The Olchon river is a small stream in the bottom of the valley. The limits of the catchment area for the stream is the horizon, in the distance of the lower view.

Using detailed analysis, and my own interpretation, of Ian Shennans sea-level assessments (Relative sea-level changes and crustal movements in Britain and Ireland since the Last Glacial Maximum, by Ian Shennan) I suggest that the depth of ice over in this area could have been 500 metres, but it may have been more.

For the purpose of this example I suggest that the area of an ice sheet over the olchon valley is 12 kilometres long and 1 kilometre wide, 12 square kilometres. 

Because of the reduced thickness (500 metres) of ice, the impact in the Olchon valley, of the collapsing ice sheet, would be half a tonne of TNT, or 33 atomic bombs per square kilometre. 

As it seems likely that the warm period that melted the ice lasted over a summer season; 12 square kilometres, 33 bombs per square kilometre--- the valley experienced an impact equivalent to an atomic bomb, along its length roughly on every day of that deglaciation year.

This melt caused to be released 16.5 x 10^9 litres of water to find its way to the sea every single day, 16,500 tonnes.

Those 16,500 tonnes of water would have raised the level of the sea around the coast of Britain, locally, by several metres. Evidence for this is in the charts produced for the British coastline by Ian Shennan. 

 

The chart above demonstrates the change in relative sea-level for coastal locations around Britain and Ireland. 

The graphs show that at around, or just after 15,000BP the level of the sea around our coasts rises dramatically by 10 metres or more. 

This rise was caused as meltwater from fast melting and collapsing ice sheets reached coastal locations and was unable to escape due to coastal topography. 

The water that arrived at the coast from the mountains of Britain carried with it ice, rocks, gravels, sands, and silts. These were Ice Streams that traversed the landscape scouring the geology as it passed.

Jeffery Nicholls 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 

Knowe of Yarso

 

Orkney Riddle 

The Knowe of Yarso Cairn 

The Knowe of Yarso is a small stalled cairn on Rousay.

The following account was published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in 1935. It describes the cairn, its location and finds from its excavation.

The account is almost unedited.

A Long, Stalled Cairn, the Knowe of Yarso, in

Rousay, Orkney. By J. Graham Callander and Walter G. Grant.

In many parts of the island of Rousay the land rises from the shore in a series of shelves or flat, narrow plateaux, exposing, in places, a face of much weathered flagstone rock of the Old Red Sandstone formation. On the south-western slopes of Blotchnie Fiold, the highest hill in Rousay, 821 feet high, which lies in the south part of the island overlooking Eynhallow Sound, these shelves are prominent features in the landscape. In the area known as Frotoft, about 500 yards slightly east of north of the standing stone on the roadside at Langstane, and about 480 yards west-north-west of the farm of Mid Crusday, at an elevation of 300 feet above sea-level, was a mound of stones overgrown with heather and grass, known as the Knowe of Yarso, a cairn erected close to the outer margin of a shelf, which is about 50 yards wide at the spot, and is bordered by a rocky escarpment about 30 feet high. 

 

To the south the monument commands a magnificent view of the island of Mainland and of many others, from the mouth of Eynhallow Sound on the west to the island of Stronsay on the east. 

 

Before excavation the tops of three pairs of erect slabs set in alignment across the structure, dividing the chamber into three compartments, projected above the debris with which the interior was encumbered. The superstructure of the monument had been carried away for building purposes, and all the large stones which had fallen into the central cavity had been dragged out, with the result that the relic bed on the floor with its contents was much disturbed.

The mound, which was rectangular with rounded ends, measured 62 feet in length, 32 feet in breadth, 6 feet in height at the north-west end, and 4 feet at the south-east, but the cairn proper within the accumulation of soil and debris is 50 feet long and 25 feet 6 inches in greatest breadth. The main axis lies 45° west of north magnetic, approximately north-west by west and south-east by east.

The burial chamber and its entrance passage (figs. 2 and 6) are placed almost in the centre of the cairn, the passage measuring along its medial line 13 feet 2 inches in length and the chamber 24 feet 1 inch.

The gallery is divided into three compartments or cells by pairs of upright flags built into and projecting from the wall on either side, almost opposite each other (fig. 6). 

 

Save for an occasional animal bone no relics were found until the chamber had been cleared out to within 1 foot 9 inches of the floor, after which numerous fragments of human skeletal remains and a large quantity of animal bones were encountered. An exception, however, has to be made in the case of the inner cell, No. 3, where a few pieces of human bones were found about 3 feet 9 inches above the floor. These may have been late intrusions, but we think it more likely that they had been brought up from a lower level when the stones that had fallen into the chamber were being dragged out. Several shards of pottery, a few implements of bone, and a considerable number of tools and chips of flint were also recovered. It was very difficult to detect the last, as from the position of the cairn, on a flat rocky shelf, the seep of water from the higher ground to the north-east had made the relic bed very wet. Indeed, although all the sodden earth was carefully examined, handful by handful, a number of flints were recovered only after the wet soil had been spread out and washed by rain. So much disturbance had taken place while the stones were being dragged out when the upper part of the cairn was being removed that practically all the long bones and many of the human skulls had been smashed and displaced, human and animal bones being mixed up promiscuously. In one place where there were two broken skulls lying near each other, with animal bones between and around them, a deer tooth actually lay within the brain-pan of one. Nowhere was it possible to detect where a single body had been placed, as no limb bones occupied the relative positions of a skeleton either in a crouched or extended position.

Human and animal bones were found in the entrance passage and in each of the three cells, but more than four-fifths of the former and most of the latter came from the inner cell, No. 3. As we have seen, the latter is subdivided into two parts by low divisional stones, so to simplify description these compartments will be referred to as Nos. 3A and 3B, the last being at the inner end. Unless specifically mentioned, the human and animal remains were distributed over the floors of the different cells.

The scanty and much broken remains of one adult were found in the entrance passage, two in cell No. 1 and one in cell No. 2. When cell No. 3 was reached human bones were much more numerous.

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, vertebrae, 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 southwest 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.

The bones of twenty-nine individuals at least, twenty-eight adults and one under twenty years of age, were identified. Owing to the broken state of the bones the sex was determined in only three cases, two male and one female.

An occasional fragment of highly calcined bone, probably human, but very small and in a very friable condition, was recovered.

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 it may be recalled that about three gallons of them were discovered in a heap at the floor level in Midhowe cairn. 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 animal bones showed distinct marks of scorching and burning.

Pottery was extremely scarce, and what we did find seems to have been deposited at a time later than the original burials. Near the top of the relic bed were found a basal fragment of a food-vessel (fig. 7, No. 1) and three small pieces of the wall.

 

 These were found quite close to the two skulls in cell No. 3B, inside one of which the deer tooth was lying. The food-vessel was of very dark ware, and was ornamented with vertical, deeply incised zigzag lines. There were also two wall fragments of other two vessels. One, of dark pottery, buff-coloured on the outside, and decorated with an incised zigzag, measuring less than 1 square inch, was so thin as to suggest that the vessel may have been a beaker (fig. 7, No. 2). The other, which was also dark in colour but with a reddish outer skin. It bore two horizontal lines with short oblique ones above, all slightly incised (fig. 7, No. 3). It is quite impossible to determine accurately what kind of vessel it formed a part. The food-vessel seems to be the first recorded from Orkney, and the same may be said of the beaker if we are correct in our identification. Implements and small flakes and splinters of flint were quite numerous and there were a few of grey chert; a considerable number were calcined.

 

The implements consisted of two leaf-shaped arrow-heads; a knife of red colour nicely worked along one edge, and another of grey colour, (fig. 9, Nos. 16 and 17); one object which has been identified as a burin d'angle or graver; 

 

forty-six scrapers; and sixteen worked flints, a total of sixty-nine objects. The barbed arrow-head, three scrapers, four knives, and a worked flint came from the relic bed in cell No. 1.

Two scrapers were found 2 feet above the floor of cell No. 2, and two knives and twenty scrapers in the bottom layer. At the latter level in cell No. 3A there were recovered a leaf-shaped arrow-head, a knife, and two scrapers, and in cell No. 3B three scrapers. The remaining implements were found in the sludge which covered the floor of the chamber. A selection of scrapers and other implements is shown in fig. 9.. 

 

The flint is typical of what is found in Orkney, some being cherty and most of poor quality. The predominating colour is from light grey to dark and there are a few yellow. The collection again demonstrates how fully the meagre supply of this much sought after material was utilised in Orkney. It may be recalled that geologists consider that this flint was brought up from the bed of the North Sea, from the south-east, by ice.

One tine of the red deer, with the point sharpened, and five pointed implements made out of splintered ox bones, were found in the lowest level in cells Nos. 2 and 3. Two other splinters with spatulate ends were also recovered, one about halfway up cell No. 2 (fig. 11, No. 5). 

 

With the exception of one of the pointed tools all were more or less decayed, the surface cracked and scaling off in places; it is difficult to say whether the spatulate objects are really artifacts. 

By far the greater number of skulls were arranged along the base of the walls of the two sections of the inner cell, No. 3, and so far as we could see they showed no individual relationship to the other bones. Of course, the layer containing the remains, except in the parts that lay close to the walls, was much disturbed and mixed up, presumably when the cairn was plundered for building stone. Thus it would seem that this monument should be considered an ossuary rather than a burial vault. Of the twentynine individuals buried, twenty-five were found in the two sections of the inner cell, No. 3, seventeen in the inner half and eight in the outer. Presumably, the first burials would take place in the inner section of the inner cell, and when that was fully occupied those following would be deposited in the adjoining one. 

Many of the stones in the walls are reddened and cracked by fire, and bear traces of soot, from a height of 1 foot 6 inches to 3 feet above the floor. At the same time, quite a lot of pieces of charred wood and ashes were observed in the deposits on the floor. No signs of fires were seen outside the entrance. One of the skulls from cell No. 3B, that noted as No. 4 in Professor Low's report, shows evidence of having been in contact with fire. This would seem to show that the fires had been kindled within the chamber after some of the skulls had been deposited.

Report on the Animal Bones. By Margery I. Platt, M.Sc., Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.

Numerous animal remains associated with Neolithic human burials were found at Yarso during excavations there by Dr J. Graham Callander and Mr Walter G. Grant in the summer of 1934. These relics are fragmentary in the extreme, yet nevertheless are of great interest in that they provide evidence of the wild life on the island in early prehistoric times. Abundant as these remains are, there is not one bone complete.

In the case of the limb bones it seems quite clear from the longitudinally split fragments that they have been broken purposely for extraction of the marrow. Under these circumstances, too, it is difficult to deduce the actual size of the animals, but some idea of this may be assumed from the relative size of the articulating processes which have been preserved. In addition, it may be recorded at the outset that the use of fire is clearly evinced throughout every part of the excavation, from the many bones which have been merely charred or further calcined.

The various species are dealt with below under headings representing the level at which they were found.

Entrance Passage—relic bed on floor.

The shells of limpets (Patella vulgata) occurred here having both low and high cones, indicative of their being gathered from both exposed and sheltered parts of the beach. The greater part of the remains were composed of skeletal fragments of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). They represented two adults and one very young fawn. Both the flesh and marrow of these, together with the soft parts of the limpets, no doubt provided food for these early peoples.

No. 1 Chamber—relic bed on floor all over chamber.

In this section were the remains of three red deer, fully adult, as indicated by the lower jaws in which the molar teeth were well worn. There were also a few limb bones of very immature animals. The only antlers represented were two small tines. Lastly, there was the almost complete tibia of a dog, probably of similar height to our collie of the present day. One limpet shell only "was present.

No. 2 or Middle Chamber—relic bed on floor all over chamber.

Bones of the red deer again predominated as in Chamber No. 1.

The relics indicated the presence of two adults, as large as any maximum modern representative of this species, though not so massive as those whose remains have been recovered from prehistoric deposits in Scotland. For instance, a deer's skeleton found in the peat moss in East Lothian, now preserved in this museum, was one and a quarter times as large again as these Orkney deer. Further, a young specimen was present in whose jaw the milk molar had not been shed. One small tine occurred here too. Though of no prehistoric value, it is interesting to note that some bones had been gnawed by a small rodent, possibly the Orkney vole. A few limpet shells also were found.

No. 3 or Inner Chamber.

Top of relic bed 1 foot 6 inches to 2 feet above floor all over the chamber.

—A great collection of red deer bones was present at this level, six animals being represented. Most individual bones of the skeleton were found, but only one small tine. There were the remains of two sheep, one approaching maturity, the other a very small lamb, and limpet shells also occurred.

From 1 foot to 1 foot 6 inches above floor all over the chamber.—In this section there were more bones of red 'deer than in any other part.

Ten adults were represented, though not all. of equal size. Four were as large as to-day's maximum, whilst the others were smaller in differing degrees. The well-preserved teeth indicate a difference of age in the various adults. Some were old, with molars well worn down, whilst others were not so old and have much higher crowns. One decidedly immature beast was present, having the last milk molar still present and lacking the last permanent molar. Limpet shells were in abundance from several localities. Three ribs of sheep occurring here are probably accidental. About 1 foot above the floor were found pharyngeal bdnes of the wrasse, Labrus maculatus.

Lowest level.—Bones of red deer were most numerous. Lower jaws, odd teeth, limb bones, and ribs, etc. were in a fragmentary state, four adults being represented in the west half of 3B, and two in the east half. Only one rib of a sheep was present, as also the humerus of a dog derived from an animal of similar size to that indicated by the tibia found in Chamber No. 1. Limpet shells gathered in both exposed and quiet localities were plentiful. Two wing bones of small birds whose actual species have not been determined were also found. There were marks of gnawing on some of the bones.

Bones of three red deer and a fragment of a large antler came from the west half of 3A. Two of the tibia are judged to be of the same size as those of a maximum-sized stag of the present day, the third being rather smaller. The remains of three more deer came from the east .half of this section, as also a single piece of a rib of an ox, 12 cm. In length, and the fourth metatarsal (left side) of a dog of a large size, corresponding with the other canine remains recorded above. The ox bone was the only authentic fragment of this species, and one may not lay too much significance upon the presence of this animal.

The chief interest in the facts recorded above lies in the ample remains of red deer on the island of Rousay during a Neolithic period.

Although it is generally recognised that red deer existed in the Orkneys in prehistoric times, its occurrence in Rousay (N. of Pomona) is unrecorded for such a date. Definite dating is always difficult, and placed localities of Pleistocene or post-"Pleistocene" period cited in a recent publication—Reynolds, A Monograph on the Pleistocene Mammalia, vol. iii. part iv. pp. 4—9 (The Palceontographical Society)—are both situated on the island of Mainland, otherwise Pomona. The prehistoric range of red deer given in a map in The Influence of Man on the Animal Life in Scotland (Ritchie, 1920) is seen only in a restricted part of Pomona and islands to the east of this, and consequently does not include Rousay. Hence these facts extend the range of the red deer in the Orkneys generally at a time when the presence of man had not materially affected its numbers, directly or indirectly. As stated previously, the red deer no doubt was the chief source of food of these early inhabitants, together with the shellfish represented here by limpets. There is little evidence of domestic stock.

Most of the sheep bones occurred in the upper layers, and jaw bones only at the top level, where bones of red deer were correspondingly sparse.

Also the presence of ox is extremely doubtful, since only one fragmentary rib was found, and it may have accidentally fallen from surface soils.

Altogether three fragmentary bones of a dog occurred in differing situations, although their size indicates they may have all belonged to the same animal. In the absence of jaws or a more complete skeleton, one may regard these remains as accidental or intrusive. Further, the dimensions are not consistent with those of a dog from such an early period.

In conclusion I wish to record my thanks to Mr Grant and Dr Callander, who have kindly put the material at my disposal.

Report on the Human Skeletal Remains.

By Professor Alex. Low, M.A., M.D., F.S.A.Scoi.

Dr Callander and Mr Walter G. Grant have given an account of the position in which the human remains described in this report were found. The remains represent at least twenty-nine individuals, all adult except for one young individual perhaps about eighteen years of age. As is mostly the case in Neolithic interments the bones are poorly preserved. The broken nature and irregular position of the skeletal remains suggest that there probably had been some disturbance of the original interments. In all, only five skulls and four leg bones are approximately complete.

One cranium, except for the mandible, is complete and excellently preserved, and fortunately other four with some reconstruction are in fairly good condition and admit of measurements being recorded.

List of Skulls.

No. 1. (Cell 3B, west side of inner compartment.) Complete cranium; male, between 30 and 40 years.

No. 2. (Cell 3B, west side of inner compartment.) Cranium, face absent; male, about 40 years.

No. 3. (Cell 3A, west side of outer compartment.) Cranium, face absent: female, about 45 years.

No. 4. (Cell 3B, east side of inner compartment.) Cranium, fairly complete; male, about 25 years.

No. 5. (Cell 3A, west side of outer compartment.) Complete cranium but abnormal; male, probably early twenties.

Skull No. 1 (figs. 12 to 15) is complete except for the mandible, and is that of a male. The teeth are in very good condition and have all been present at death, but the two upper central incisors are now missing. . The teeth do not show any trace of disease and the amount of attrition of the crowns is very slight, not more than would be expected in an individual in the late twenties. On the other hand the sutures on the inner aspect of the cranium are all closed; on the outer aspect the whole of the sagittal suture, and the coronal and lambdoid sutures except at their lower parts are obliterated. The condition of the sutures would indicate an individual of at least forty years of age.

 

The cranium is elongated and ovoid with a relative breadth of 70-per cent—dolichocephalic. The profile view shows a long skull of medium height with glabella and superciliary arches moderately developed; upper part of forehead rather full; occipital squama projecting well beyond the inion. The upper face is relatively long, the orbits and nasal aperture from their indices are just to be reckoned narrow; the upper jaw is prognathous, this is largely due to subnasal prognathism but is partly accounted for by the rather short basinasal length. The occipital view (fig. 15) shows well the pentagonal outline, parietal eminences placed high up, and the sides flattened. The cranial capacity of 1390 c.c. of mustard seed is rather under the average.

Skull No. 2 is represented by the calvaria, and is that of a male, the condition of the sutures indicating an individual about forty. While this is a larger and more massive calvaria, it has much the same characters as the previous skull; thus it is elongated and ovoid with projecting occipital squama. The, cubic capacity is approximately 1500 c.c. and the length-breadth index 73-7—dolichocephalic.

Skull No. 3 is a calvaria with the facial skeleton missing, except for the two nasal bones. It is that of an individual probably about fortyfive years of age; the sex is somewhat doubtful, but on the whole the characters are those of a rather muscular female. The upper orbital margins are thin and sharp, the glabella and superciliary arches faintly marked, and the forehead high and "well arched; there is flatness of the vertex, prominence of the parietal eminences and the side walls of the skull approach the vertical. The skull is relatively somewhat wider with a cephalic index of 74-7—just in the dolichocephalic group.

Skull No. 4. This cranium, apart from lower jaw, is sufficiently intact to allow of a fairly complete series of measurements being obtained.

The skull is that of a young individual, and sex characters, though not so marked, are those indicating a male. The basilar suture is closed, but all the other sutures of the cranium are open both ectocranially and endocranially; the teeth in the upper jaw have all been present at death, but now only five remain; these are in very good condition, the amount of attrition being slight, and further, in the same compartment and similarly stained as the skull, there was a male left hip-bone, in which the secondary epiphysis has only partly fused along the crest; there is a probability that the skull and the hip-bone belonged to the same individual, a young man about 25 years. In its cranial features this skull is very similar to the others; the glabella and superciliary arches are of medium development, upper part of forehead prominent, occipital squama projecting; face of medium height with upper jaw projecting—prognathous; orbits and nose narrow.Skull No. 5 is abnormal and of remarkable shape and will be described separately.

Unfortunately, the other bones of the skeletons are very fragmentary.

Several separate vertebra? show marked evidences of rheumatism. Of the many limb bones, only one right femur and three separate tibise are complete. The maximum length of the femur is approximately 430 mm., which gives a calculated stature of about 5 feet 4 inches. The shafts of three other femora are intact and the diameters of the upper third of the shaft in four specimens measure 28 by 36; 26 by 33; 26 by 36; 28 by 40; the proportion of the antero-posterior to the transverse diameter varying from 70 to 78-7 per cent. — a degree of platymeria usually present in femora of the Neolithic period. In the middle of the shaft the antero-posterior diameter was the greater in four male femora, and also in two female femora; the linea aspera in the four male femora was well developed.

The total length of each of the three entire male tibise is 330 mm., 331 mm., and 346 mm. respectively; calculating by Pearson's formula gives a stature of approximately 5 feet 3 inches, practically the same as that obtained from length of femur; the two short male tibia3 are right and left and seem to be a pair. In addition to these three entire tibia? there are the shafts of seven others with the upper and lower ends deficient.

Of the seven tibise two are rather slightly built and probably female, the other five are stouter bones and probably male. The tibise are flattened from side to side, being platycnemic; the diameters at the level of the nutrient foramen of the eight bones apparently males, give a mean index of 66-5 and of the two female 72-2.

The limb bones on the whole are such as would have belonged to individuals of average muscular development; further, they are relatively short, and so far as can be calculated from the measurements obtainable the men were about 5 feet 4 inches in stature.

The skulls are very similar to those recovered from the Midhowe stalled cairn, and indicate a people with elongated heads, with forehead rather prominent, brow-ridges moderately developed, nose narrow and orbits not wide, and face prognathous.

Skull No. 5 consists of the calvaria with the facial portion fairly complete, but the lower jaw is missing. The skull presents unusual features in that it shows very marked asymmetry associated with premature closure of the sutures. The skull is probably that of a young male, butno trace of suture is to be seen on the calvaria, the synostosis being so complete that there is no indication of the separate bones. The teeth are irregular; there is no trace of the presence of the lateral incisors;

  

the left canine is present and erupted, but the right while present in the jaw is unerupted; the two right bicuspids are also unerupted, while the two left are erupted; the first and second molars are well developed and present on both sides; the third molars are unerupted; the crowns

 

of the erupted teeth show little attrition. The irregularity in suture closure and in eruption of teeth make it difficult to assign an age for the skull, but it might be that of a young man in the early twenties.

The dimensions and features of the skull can be learned from the illustrations (figs. 16 to 19). The asymmetry is noticeable in the vertex view, the long axis passing through the right frontal eminence which projects in front of its fellow. There is asymmetry of the base of the skull, the transverse level of the left external ear being in advance of the right. There is also asymmetry of the face and palate. The cranium is very narrow from side to side, and viewed from above is boat-shaped, cranial index 63-3—ultradolichocephalic; further, there is marked heightening especially of the upper part of the frontal region in the facial view, producing the appearance of steeple-skull. A factor in the production of this abnormal skull form, has been an arrest of growth with premature closure of the cranial sutures.

In fig. 20 are shown face views of skulls Nos. 1, 4'and 5, and vertical views of skulls Nos. 2 and 3.

We are greatly indebted to Walter G. Grant, Esq., F.S.A.Scot., of Trumland, Rousay, who has presented these Neolithic skeletal remains for preservation in the Anatomy Museum, University of Aberdeen.

TABLE I. (Omitted)

Measurements in mm. of Skulls from a Long, Stalled Cairn, the Knowe of Yarso, Rousay, Orkney.

More about the Neolithic migration of people into Orkney in the Orkney Riddle 

#neolithic #prehistory #archaeology #Orkney #Scotland #Brodgar #skarabrae 

Jeffery Nicholls 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 

Breckness Cairn

 Breckness Cairn, Stromness,  Orkney 

Abbreviated from:-

Notice of the Excavation of a Chambered Mound Near Breckness, Stromness, Orkney. By M. M. Charleson, F.S.A Scot

In the summer of 1900, by the kind permission of W. G. T. Watt, Esq. of Skaill, I commenced the excavation of a large mound on the farm of Westerleafea, near Ereckness in Outertown, Stromness.

There was no room for doubt as to the artificiality of the mound, which, apart from its symmetry and surroundings, had previously supplied a neighbouring farmer with a quantity of material for building purposes, these operations, more properly depredations, leaving a gap on the south side of the mound in which several upright slabs of some size were noticeable. At this point we began the excavation,........

It will, I think, be seen from the foregoing description that although the chambers excavated bear some resemblance to those structures occasionally met with in Orkney, which have been regarded as sepulchral, and are distinguished by a dry built chamber on the beehive principle, a passage leading to it, and one or more lateral cells, the present group must, I think, be regarded as dwellings. There is an entire absence of. human remains, the bones found being those of animals, including the skull of a dog. The relics, although meagre, are interesting, and point clearly to human occupation, but apart from this the features of the chambers themselves are such as to lead one to the same conclusion.

In the case of the chamber first excavated, the recess off the east side might have been a well; and in this connection I may say, that on the occasion of a recent visit I observed it to be full of water, while that on the north side of this chamber, to judge by the condition of the walls, had evidently been used as a fireplace.

The cavity in the floor also seems significant, but the use to which it might have been put is not apparent. The other chamber also, to judge by the traces of fire in its northerly recess, had a fireplace.'

The entrance passages are low and narrow, and one would think unsuitable for giving free access to the chambers. No doubt they are so, if we consider them in relation to the requirements of the present day.

One is at a loss what to make of the enclosure fronting the chambers.

Had the outworks been complete, a theory might have been suggested, but unfortunately they suffered considerably from the operations referred to in the beginning of the paper. As to the age of the structures we cannot even hazard a guess,- although from the presence of the stone implement they must be assigned to a remote period, not, it should be remembered, because the implement is made of stone, but because the type is an ancient one. The implement, however, cannot be taken as giving an adequate idea of the culture of these mound dwellers, nor can the pottery aid us in this matter. We must rather take the chambers themselves as the criterion, and in doing so we come to the conclusion that, although built on a definite plan, with great uniformity and some ingenuity, the civilisation of the builders was not of a high order; but however this may be, they were keenly alive to their personal safety, the dwellings being constructed in such a way as to be easily defended from the inside, while, in selecting a site, they took care that they had a good view of the surrounding country and of the not far distant sea.

This is a cairn that is acknowledged to be likely to be a habitation rather than a burial monument which might suggest at least some doubt about other cairns in Orkney and elsewhere. 

The neoliithic migration of people from Scotland to Orkney is discussed in the Orkney Riddle. 

Jeffery Nicholls 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 

Unstan Cairn

Orkney Riddle 

 Unstan Cairn 

 

Unstan Cairn must be the Orcadian Cairn with the easiest access of them all. It is close to the main road between Kirkwall and Stromness near the Brig'o'waith. 

It's also not far from the visitor centre for the Maeshowe Chambered Cairn which is in Stenness Village.

It must also be as famous as Maeshowe, having a type of carinated pottery named after it, the pottery that Robert Stewart Clouston found in it when he excavated it in 1884.

I am fond of reading the accounts of these pioneer archaeologists. Their words say as much about the excavators as it does about the excavation. It is like being in the cairn with them, sharing their adventure.

  

Roberts report to the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries follows:-

Notice of The Excavation of a Chambered Cairn of the Stone Age, at Unstan, in the Loch of Stennis, Orkney.  by Robert Stewart Clouston.

The " knowe of Unstan " is situated in a piece of land jutting into the Loch of Stennis, a few hundred yards to the north-east of the Bridge of Waithe. It is in the property of Mr William Leith, who courteously gave me permission to open it in July 1884.

To the north of the knowe, and within about 20 yards of it, the cape in which it stands is traversed by a moat from shore to shore. This moat, at a point nearly opposite the knowe, is crossed by a narrow passage of filled-in earth.

The knowe, prior to excavation, presented the same appearance as the usual Orkney tumulus, having an unbroken slope to the ground. This, however, is due to the slipping down of the stones of which the cairn is composed, as there is an external wall surrounding the whole structure, which, in the parts where we found it tolerably entire, was some feet in height, and built of larger stones than those used in the interior.

On the top of the knowe there was a considerable depression, giving it very much the appearance of a previously opened tumulus ; but I have no doubt this was occasioned by the falling in of the roof, more especially as I was assured that the depression had become sensibly deeper of recent years.

Digging was begun in the east side of the knowe, as there appeared to be a slight sink in the formation of the cairn at this part. A few feet brought us to several large stones, some placed edgewise, others laid flat. These we found to be the roofing of the passage by which the interior is entered.

Its direction by compass is a little to the north of east, this being as nearly as possible in the opposite direction from Maeshowe.

At the inner end of the passage, and built partly over the last of the roofing stones, were two walls composed of small stones, converging to a space of 14 inches apart, and resembling very much, as my workman remarked, the bow of a ship. 

Before the excavation of the passage could be completed, I was reluctantly compelled to remove the whole of one of these walls and part of the other.

The passage has no door stone, as in Maeshowe, and the roofing only extended 11 feet from the interior. Below the last roofing stone is a downward step of about a foot to the level of the interior. The step is formed by one large stone laid across, the outside being rudely built up to its level. In the passage were found a flint scraper and a barbed arrowhead, also some fragments of pottery. The passage leads, into a large chamber 21 feet long, and averaging about 5 feet broad. This is subdivided by large flagstones into five compartments, off the middle one of which is a small side chamber. These compartments of the chamber will be referred to in their numerical order, counting from the southern to the northern end of the chamber, or from left to right in the plan.

The passage does not enter into the central or third compartment, but into the second from the south, the distance from the south-east corner to the middle of the passage being exactly one-third of the entire length of the wall.

The first compartment of the chamber, which lies to the south side of the entrance, varies from 4 feet 9 inches in length in its east wall, to 4- feet 1 inch in its west. The width of the end wall is 4 feet 9 inches, gradually widening to 5 feet 6 inches, where the flagstones divide it from the second compartment into which the entrance-passage opens.

The end wall is formed below of one large flagstone, with building above it. This is also the case in the fifth compartment at the opposite end of the chamber, as well as in the small side chamber.

The opening into the first compartment from the second (which lies to the north of it) between the wall-fast slabs projecting across the floor is slightly over 2 feet in width at the base of the flagstones. Across this opening, and in the inside of the compartment, is a stone 1 foot high and 2 foot 9 inches long, laid edgewise. Level with this a line of stones, also set edgewise, runs from it to the south wall, subdividing the compartment into two nearly equal parts, the space to the east being rudely paved at a level of about 6 inches above the other, which, like the rest of the chamber, was floored with white clay. About 3 feet 4 inches above the clay floor are five small stones, about the size of a man's hand, jutting out from the wall. In this first compartment were found a considerable quantity of bones, partly human, a curious black substance which appears to me to be a mixture of peat and charcoal, the bottom of a small flat-bottomed urn, and some other fragments of pottery. This compartment was much freer of soil than any of the others, most of it being more easily cleared by the hand than the pick.

 

The side walls of the second compartment are 4 feet 8 inches in length, but the dividing flagstones, not having been set square, give it a minimum length of 4 feet 3 inches. The distance from side wall to side wall varies from 6 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 6 inches. the wall at one side of the dividing flagstone rarely coinciding with that on the other. At the side of the S.W. flagstone in this compartment there was a small space, not covered with white clay, and in this we found several fragments of different urns. A moie 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.

In the Caithness chambered cairns excavated by Dr Anderson, the burials were of two classes, viz., in the floor, burnt; and on the floor, unburnt.

Several fragments of bones were found in the floor of this compartment, but none which showed any trace of burning. Curiously enough, however, the flints present indubitable indications of the action of fire.

Upon the black stratum there were laid several burials in the contracted posture, as in the Caithness cairns.

The third compartment of the chamber, lying to the north of that which is entered by the passage, varies from 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet 1 inches in measurement from east to west, and averages a trifle over 4 feet in length from north to south. The black stratum which covered the floor of the second compartment extended a couple of feet or so into this compartment, and also into the first compartment and the passage.

A large quantity of bones were found in this third compartment, among which, close to the door of the side chamber, opening off it, there were several large vertebrae. A flint implement, 3 inches long, of the class styled by Mr Evans as "fabricators or flaking tools," was the only relic discovered here, with the exception of a few fragments of pottery.

The side chamber opens off the third compartment on its west side.

The door is formed of two large upright stones, thus making a short passage. Unlike the rest of the building, with the exception of the passage, the roof here is entire, its height being 3 feet 6 inches. A rude floor is made by a flagstone, small enough to have been introduced after the chamber was completed, and supported on blocks of stone.

There were two distinct burials here, in the contracted posture, one of the skulls being the most complete of any of those found, though scarcely half remained. A tooth, which has been pronounced by Dr Garson to be that of a small dog, was found near the door. A stone pounder lay under the bones of one of the skeletons, and this, with two flakes, comprised the whole of the relics found.

The fourth compartment measures 5 feet 7 inches from east to west and about 4 feet from door to door. Only a few fragments of pottery and a quantity of bones were found here. On the east side there seems to have been a rude pavement of the same kind as in the first compartment.

The fifth compartment, at the northern extremity of the chamber, is the smallest of the chambers. It measures only 3 feet from the door to the end wall, and the sides taper northwards to 3 feet 9 inches.

This compartment, as has already been stated, resembles that at the other end of the chamber, in having a stone placed across the door, and an end wall composed partly of one flagstone. It has also stones jutting out from the wall at a height of about 4 feet above the clay floor.

Large stones were laid on the floor, which may have been covered, as in the side chamber, with a flagstone; but, if so, it was too much broken to be recognised. A small and rudely formed arrow-head was found here. Some burials, and several small fragments of pottery, were also found; also, at a higher level than any other relic, a small piece of ornamented pottery of different pattern from all the others.

[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.

The largest urn (fig. 2) is of reddish clay, softer and more porous than the rest, and thicker in the body. It ia a large shallow round-bottomed vessel, measuring 15 inches in diameter and 5 inches in depth in the centre. Under the broad flat lip, which measures 

 

1 inch across, there is a slightly curved rim ornamented with scorings of oblique lines. In the form of the vessel there are thus three distinct parts—the round bottom, the upright rim, and the flat but slightly bevelled and everted lip. The ornamentation is confined to the upright brim of the vessel.

The next largest urn (fig. 3) is 14 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep in the centre. It is well-modelled and neatly made—almost as evenly turned as if it had been thrown on the wheel. The paste of

 

which it is composed is dark-coloured, hard-baked, and free, from admixture of stones. The rounded under part of the vessel is thin, the upright rim slightly thicker, and the lip, which is bevelled from the inside outwards, expands to 1 inch in thickness. There is no ornament on any portion of the vessel except the vertical rim, which is 2 inches high, and scored obliquely to right or to left in alternate triangular spaces. Another urn, almost exactly similar in form and character (fig. 4) is 13  inches diameter and 4 inches deep in the centre. It is not circular, but slightly oval; and the vertical rim, which

 

is only 2 inches high, has its lip almost flat, and 1 inch in thickness.

The ornamentation on the vertical rim of this vessel has the scorings of each alternate triangular space parallel to the lip of the vessel, while the others are placed obliquely to the left. Another urn of the same character (fig. 5) is 11 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep in the centre,

 

the lip flat, and 1 inch in thickness, the vertical rim 2 inches high, ornamented like the first, except that it has two horizontal lines carried round under the brim. A fourth urn of the same character, but smaller (fig. 6), measures 9 inches diameter and 3 inches deep in the centre, the lip flat and 1 inch in thickness, the vertical rim 1 inch high, and ornamented as the first, hut with triangular spaces of longer base.

The rims of two other urns (figs. 7 and 8) of l0 and 10 inches

  

diameter, are extremely thin, and both ornamented with triangular spaces similar to the second urn. A distinct variety of this form, with the rim

  

 

slanting outwards, is indicated by several fragments (figs. 9 and 10), with somewhat similar ornamentation. A perfectly plain vessel of oval shape (fig. 11) measures 9 inches in its greatest diameter across the mouth, and 4 inches deep, the sides bulging considerably, and then contracting to the rounded bottom. 

  

Another form of plain unornamented urn, indicated by several fragments, seems to have had deep and almost straight sides, and a rounded bottom. These appear to have been tall, can-shaped vessels, but as none show more than a small portion of one side, with an indication of curvature at the bottom, their precise' form and proportion has not been ascertained. One flat bottom only was found, about 3 inches diameter, but the upper part of the vessel has not been recovered. The prevailing type is therefore that of a round-bottomed vessel of a hard dark-coloured paste, with vertical brim, and thick flat or bevelled lip. In the Chambered Cairns of Caithness, the round-bottomed form of urn, made of a thin, hard, dark-coloured paste, was also the prevailing form. The Chambered Cairns of Argyle had likewise yielded to the researches of Canon Greenwell a round-bottomed form of urn, of which the example (fig. 12), from the cairn at Largie, will show the resemblance to the

Orkney vessels. In the cairn at Achnacree, Argyleshire, Dr E.. Angus Smith also found several round-bottomed urns, which are now in the Museum.

The stone implements found in the Unstan cairn, with the single exception of a " pounder," or oblong pebble of sandstone, were all of flint, and their calcined condition indicates that they must have passed through the fire. They form a very interesting and suggestive group.

There are four leaf-shaped arrow-heads (two of which are shown in fig. 13), and one with barbs and stem. The leaf-shaped arrow-heads are of large size and well made, the shape inclining to the elongated lozenge with curvilinear butt. The fifth arrow-head, which is barbed, is of smaller size, and has suffered damage, but not to such an extent as to

obliterate its distinctive form. There was also found a finely-finished scraper (fig. 14) of a form which is not at all common in Scotland,

   

with both sides as well as the front bevelled to a cutting or scraping edge; and one of those rare implements of flint (fig. 15), an elongated knife, with the edge ground smooth instead of being merely chipped.

Such ground-edged knives have also been found in the chambered cairns of Caithness. Another flint tool, found in the chamber of the Unstan cairn, however, is of exceptional interest, inasmuch as it is the first recorded instance of its occurrence in connection with sepulture in Scotland. It is formed of a long ridged flake, nearly triangular in the cross section, and greatly worn by use at both extremities. It belongs to the class of implements styled by Mr Evans " fabricators," or flaking tools, and its tise is presumed to have been that of a tool employed in the fabrication of arrow-heads and other implements of flint.

The bones found in the chamber have been submitted to Dr J. G-. Garson, Eoyal College of Surgeons of England. In anticipation of a more detailed report from Dr Garson, it may be sufficient to state at present, that along with the fragmentary remains of several human skeletons, he recognises the presence of a large quantity of animal bones, among which he has identified those of the horse, ox, sheep, swine and dog. There are also numerous remains of birds, some of which have been of considerable size.]

I am not aware of any other flint implements of such quality as these depicted here, from neolithic Orkney. 

The discovery of Skaill knives and polished axes are quite common occurrences,  but flint finds are few, and not of this quality. 

This finding tends to confirm for me that the people who built Unstan Cairn were in touch with raw flint sources in Scotland in a way that the people who built the Ness of Brodgar and Skara Brae were not.

If the people of the Ness of Brodgar were not in contact with raw flint sources in Scotland,  why not? And if the people of Unstan Cairn were in touch with raw fint sources in Scotland, how and why?

(I say raw flint sources because the quality of this level of workmanship on the knapping of the flint required a particularly high quality of fresh source material)

 

Above is a recent find of a flint arrowhead from the Ness of Brodgar. Sigurd Towrie's website , nessofbrodgar.co.uk, discussed the find, its age ,and its rarity.

"Sigurd found a tiny leaf arrowhead – only the third example of this type found at the Ness over 20 years of excavation.

Measuring only 25mm long, and 13mm at its widest, the artefact was fashioned from the same toffee-coloured flint we’ve seen before. Leaf arrowheads are typical of the Early Neolithic, circa 3700-3300BC in Orkney, but their use continued into the Late Neolithic.

Arrowheads were a relatively rare find at the Ness, the majority being Late Neolithic chisel arrowheads (30 in total)."

Perhaps the best known is the Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead found in 2017, above the final animal bone deposit surrounding Structure Ten."

The Bronze Age arrow-head is from a period when visitors are likely to have been visiting Orkney from Scotland by boat.

Read more about the migration of neolithic people to Orkney in the Orkney Riddle. 

Jeffery Nicholls 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn

 

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn 

Tomb of the dogs

  

(Photo:- orkneyology.com)

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn is a relatively accessible Cairn on mainland Orkney.  It is accessible from the back  road that runs from Finstown to Kirkwall. The climbing walk takes you through an area where several small occupation structures have been excavated, Stonehall Knoll, Meadow and Farm, and just short of the top of the hill is the mound of the Cairn. The view from here is of Wideford Hill and the Stronsay/Westray Firths with Shapinsay and other northern islands off in the distance.

It is quite sheltered from the persistent southwestern winds, and even now more trees seem to survive here than there are in more exposed parts of the archipelago. 

The Cairn was excavated by M. M. Charleson in 1902, and the report that he wrote was published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries as:-

Notice of a Chambered Cairn in the Parish of Firth, Orkney. By M. M. Charleson, F.S.A. SCOT.

 

"The cairn which I examined in the course of last summer, and which is situated on. the brow of Kewing Hill in the Parish of Firth, is locally known as the "Fairy Knowe," a nomenclature frequently applied to mounds of any size, and evidently adopted as the most convenient way to explain the existence of erections of unknown origin.

Operations were begun at the cairn early in July by digging a trench in an easterly direction, and the work had not proceeded very far when layers of masonry were exposed, but these failed for some time to give any indication of the nature of the structure of which they formed part.

 

Gradually, however, traces of a rectangular chamber running north and south came to light, the walls widening as the excavation proceeded downwards, and after reaching a depth of three or four feet the work was continued longitudinally, which revealed the entire length of the chamber.

Up to this point the debris consisted of slabs of various sizes, earth, and animal remains, among which the teeth of the dog were most conspicuous, and while larger bones were sometimes met with, they were in a very fragmentary state and beyond preservation. The length of the chamber being exposed, the excavation was then carried on in a downward direction, ..........   At a depth of about six feet lateral recesses, five in number, were discovered, one of which subsequently proved to be the end of the entrance passage.

About a foot from the floor the deposit had a somewhat fatty, unctuous appearance, and contained two dozen skulls of the dog, several human long bones and five human skulls, three of which crumbled away when touched. The floor of the main chamber being exposed, the cells were then cleared of their debris, the only relics from them consisting of two other human skulls, one of which was found on a slab in a small recess near the entrance to the cell brandling off the west side, a circumstance which raises a question as to how the body could have been disposed of with the head in that position.

  

 ........

The entrance passage was then cleared for about half its length from the inside, another human skull being found embedded in the clay near its roof. 

........

The length of the main chamber along the base of the east wall, which is slightly curved .longitudinally, is 11 feet 10 inches, while the corresponding length of the west wall is 10 feet 2 inches, the east wall being thus 1 foot 8 inches longer than the west. The breadth of the chamber is 5 feet 3 inches at the north end, and 5 feet 8 inches at the south end. The walls are dry built and on the bee-hive principle, beginning to converge at a height of about four feet from the floor, which slopes slightly towards the entrance. The height of the chamber at the north end, which is best preserved, is 7 feet 2 inches, but the altitude must have been greater when the building was complete and'when the walls would converge so closely as to allow of the roof being completed probably by a series of transverse slabs. The four cells, which are oblong and on the bee-hive principle, branch off the west and east sides and the north and south ends respectively—their entrances, which range from 1 foot 3 inches to 2 feet in breadth, and from 1 foot 10 inches to a little over 2 feet.in height, being, with one exception (that in the south end), a few inches from the level of the floor. They average 6 feet in height arid 5 feet in length, the only exception as regards length being the one off the west side, which is 11 feet long, with a central partition extending half way down its height, while beneath this partition is a thin slab rising from the floor to a height of 10 inches and extending across the cell, the opening between the partition and the slab being thus restricted to a height of 2 feet 4 inches. 

.......

As has been said, the relics from the cairn consisted of human and animal remains, the latter in great abundance, the large number of dog skulls, amounting to two dozen, being exceptional; but apart from canine remains, bones of other animals have been also identified, including a portion of the jaw of an ox."

Historic Environment Scotland briefly discusses the authorised version 

"Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn illustrates the sophistication of life among Scotland’s earliest agricultural communities. It’s a fine example of Neolithic architectural design, with evidence of complex burial rites.

The cairn attests to a belief in an afterlife 5,000 years ago, and in its evocative gloom it’s easy to conjure up images of burial rites and rituals taking place."

And....

"An ancient site for burials

Built between 3000 and 2400 BC, this is an excellent example of a Neolithic chambered tomb. It has four cells opening off a central chamber, which is accessed down a passage. Entrance into the tomb today is through the original passage.

Secondary burials at the Cuween Hill could reflect a continued reverence for the site. A recently discovered settlement nearby is probably contemporary with the cairn, and would likely have been connected."

And....

Exploration at the tomb in 1901 found remains of at least eight humans – five skulls on the floor of the chamber, one at the entrance and two in side cells.

Also, the skulls of 24 dogs on the chamber floor. The dog remains suggest the local tribe or family perhaps had a dog as their symbol or totem, or there may have been a belief in an afterlife for animals.

There is now a cultural lore that says that these monuments are funerary interment places, and everybody takes it for granted that the presence of human bones in them constitutes proof that this is so.

Historic environment Scotland is telling us that the monument is a burial tomb but the only evidence they have to go on is the presence of human bones.

In the report that they are working from, quoted above, the commentary records the following:-

"The entrance passage was then cleared for about half its length from the inside, another human skull being found embedded in the clay near its roof. "

And....

"from them consisting of two other human skulls, one of which was found on a slab in a small recess near the entrance to the cell brandling off the west side"

However these bones arrived into the interior of this structure something or somebody has moved them around at a later date in the life of the place.

There is no hint in this case that the bones are carefully placed, not in the case of dogs nor for humans.

Alongside the official narrative of ritual deposition of people and dogs there may be a more prosaic explanation for the interments here, though perhaps less palatable. 

To understand differences of approach it is a good idea to compare current thought processes with ancient lives. We are in no position to do more than guess what prehistoric values were, but we have a reasonable view on what the world views of our first archaeologists were. They lived in the time of Queen Victoria when the death of her consort Prince Albert cast a pall of gloom over the country, and funerals, cemeteries, and mourning, were objects of spectacle, ritual and obsession. 

No doubt neolithic people had their rituals and obsessions too, but those were, at root, much more basic. Food, shelter, health, came first, followed by community to support those three, and defence to protect community. 

If they had rituals they were about being alive. Life itself was too fragile to to be over-conscious of death.

Every cairn told its own story about the people that built it, sometimes sheltered in it, and sometimes stored things in it.

Cuween Hill cairn is a structure with a basic layout that might have supported a family in seriously inclement weather, for which Orkney is famous. 

It has at least one gallery that has the appearance of a bedding space, and another cairn has been recorded with a roof vent, so the possibility of the central room being communal makes sense.

Analysis of the dates of bones found in Cairns suggest that the bones of people laid into the rooms generally date to 3000BC, or before. Inhumations, bones buried in holes in or around the cairn generally date after 3000BC, as do almost all animal bones. 

There are likely reasons for the deposition of human bones in these structures. In my opinion, the currently stated reasons count as mostly unlikely. 

Looking at the evidence from dozens of excavated cairns the reason for depositing bones in them will be as variable as people themselves.

Som people appear to have crawled into cairns and died, while there is some evidence that people survived life limiting injuries, and may have recovered in this relatively safe space.

As two females were secreted within the structure of Hut 1 at Skara Brae it is by no means certain that people had any particular ritual activity around death. Life was just too short.

The presence of dog bones within the cairn might, to some, indicate a deity or a ritualised devotion.

To me though, the bones that are found within the cairns are the remains of animals taken into cairns to be slaughtered for food.

Cattle bones elsewhere have been found to have scratches consistent with removal of marrow for nutrition. 

The dogs may have been killed and eaten in a desperate attempt to survive in a hostile environment, by people who were ill-equipped to hunt and kill the few wild animals roaming the islands, and who were swept off their feet by the winter gales.

It sounds a bit ghastly but the bones of individuals suffering from scurvy and malnutrition have been found.

From:- The Orkneys in Early Celtic Times, Two Lectures, by James M. Macbeath, published by William Peace and Son, in 1892.

Page 9

"When our celtic ancestors came first to these islands, and for centuries thereafter , there is reason to believe that the lower lying grounds were thickly covered with wood , in which mountain ash, birch, pine , and Hazel largely predominated and other species have been found embedded in peat mosses with the bark still fresh and entire.

These would form a covert for the wild boar, red deer, reindeer, and other animals then native to the group, as well as fuel and shelter to the early settlers, who were little if at all removed from the condition of homeless roaming savages, living chiefly by their success in the chase and fishing; making rude and primitive garments and tools of the spoils of these, and having the roughest and rudest weapons made from wood, bone, and stone, with apparently very little, if any kind of knowledge of the working in metals,on which the simplest of all arts depends."

Jeffery Nicholls 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 

More about the migration of neolithic people to Orkney, in the Orkney Riddle 

#neolithic #prehistory #archaeology #Orkney #Scotland #Brodgar #skarabrae