The Westrays

 

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. 

The pottery from the Knap of Howar is illustrated below:-

 

This style has, in my view,  a similarity to the pottery of the Swifterbant peoples of Holland,  who may have been the first migrants into Britain from Europe. 

 

The possibility that these pottery designs and the people who worked them walked from Holland into Britain is discussed in "The Anglo-Dutch Neolithic Corridor "

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. 

Grain 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. 

These, the people of the Links of Noltland, would find a wasteland on which the skeletons of Neolithic animals remained littered across the landscape.  They buried the skulls of the animals to hide the parts that made them feel uncomfortable,  and used the rest as a resource for bone tools and fabrications. 

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This is one of a loosely attached group of blogs called the "Orkney Riddle".

The key blog to the group is called the "Neolithic Immigrants to Britain" 

All views and opinions expressed are my own, but it remains a work-in-progress for which positive criticism and comment is welcomed.

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk