Orkney Riddle Index

 

Orkney Riddle 

Index

This is the southern tip of South Ronaldsay,  close to the Tomb of the Eagles. 

The island offshore is called the Pentland Skerries. It is attached to a shoal of underwater shallow seabed, called the Sandy Riddle.

Hence, the Orkney Riddle. 

Here is the index to the blogs that make up the Orkney Riddle, research that touches the surface to suggest what really happened in the land of the Simmerdim.

 A Bizarre Idea 

Neolithic people walking to Orkney! That's the bizarre idea. 

The Orkney Vole 

It's a bit of a mystery how the vole delivered itself from Belgium to Orkney without passing through England and Scotland. 

 They Must Have Had Boats 

That's what I have been told. Sorry, I don't believe it.

Neolithic Migration to Orkney 

This is a very brief summary of what may have happened in Orkney between 3500BC, and 2500BC.

Pentland Firth 

Crossing the Pentland Firth is exciting on a modern boat. It would be treacherous in any small boat without a motor.

Walkable land in the North Sea 

This is about shallow seas in the Southern North Sea that would have been walkable land in around 3000BC. ( I think!)

The Swifterbant Culture 

This is about the herdsmen and women of Northern Europe that expanded their territories in Southern Europe, arriving in Belgium in the 5th and 4th millennia BC.

Archaeology in the North Sea 

The present Dogger Bank is the remnant of a ridge of land that extended from Doggerland in the south to a point between Shetland and Norway. This ridge divided the North Sea into the two coastal waters, offshore England/Scotland, and offshore Norway. 

Mainland Settlements 

Lots of small settlements dotted around the islands,  not solid, like Skara Brae, but scrapes in the ground with ashes and seeds, and paved areas.

Barnhouse 

An early encampment with bivouacs and a toilet.

Barnhouse Sweat Lodge 

A sheltered timber structure with a pyramid roof.

 Modern Sweat Lodge Practice 

Interesting to see what the Neolithic Orcadians may have believed  as it is understood today.

Stones of Stenness 

An unfinished stone circle?

The Ring of Brodgar 

Another unfinished stone circle?

 Maeshowe Wonder of the Neolithic World 

A fascinating account of the excavation of the Maeshowe cairn.  Those were the days!

Cairns of Orkney 

More fascinating accounts of the excavation of cairns by early archaeologists.

Dem Bones,  Dem Bones 

The bones in the cairns tell the stories of the Neolithic Orcadians.

Skara Brae,  RCAHMS

The proper description of the Skara Brae Neolithic Village.

Skara Brae Neolithic Village 

Patersons description of Childe's excavation,  in all its' gorey detail 

Dating Skara Brae 

Carbon Dating of the occupation of Skara Brae.

 The Ness of Brodgar Excavation 

Director of Ness of Brodgar excavation, Nick Card's description of the Ness of Brodgar 

Bere Barley Neolithic Grain

About Bere Barley, thought to have been cultivated by neolithic Orcadians. 

Aurochs

Cows thought to have been farmed by neolithic Orcadians. 

Dating the Ness of Brodgar 

Carbon Dating from the Ness of Brodgar 

The Westrays 

What happened on Westray and Papa Westray 

In Conclusion 

Gathering together all the bits of evidence that supports the idea that Orkney was once linked to Scotland. 

 Finally 

If what I say is true,  what does it mean for the Neolithic Britain, a place that was a hub of neolithic culture, but that became isolated from Europe at a critical time in human development. 

Ice Sheet Britain 

An account of the glacial geology that formed much of the geography of the British Isles. 

Quaternary Addendum

I make some outrageous claims about the geography of the North Sea in the Quaternary period. Here,  the detailed remarks, data, and evidence are laid out.

Doggerland 

Extensive results from borings in the Southern North Sea,  between Norfolk and Dogger Bank 

Solving the Riddle 

Describes the process of unravelling the story of Quaternary and neolithic Britain.

About

It's me, no great name, talking about neolithic archaeology. 

Glacial Prehistory 

This is the story, in brief, about the glaciation of Britain. 

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono #EarthSciences #LastGlacialMaximum #IceSheets #RelativeSeaLevel #Glaciers

A Bizarre Idea

 

The Orkney Riddle

The Bizarre Idea

This is a view of the Pentland Firth from a settlement called Skarfskerry, on the North Coast of Caithness in Scotland.

The low headland across the water is a neighbouring piece of Scottish coast and beyond that, at the horizon left of view, and almost invisible, is Orkney, an archipelago that sits beyond the northernmost coast of the Scotland.

It is part of the Northern Isles group, and consists of more than 70, mostly low-lying, islands and islets of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Orkney is renowned as the home of a Unesco World Heritage site. The islands were occupied over 5000 years ago by Neolithic people who created a group of settlements and monuments of a complexity and quality not surviving anywhere else in Britain at such an early date.

The Pentland Firth here that separates Scotland from Orkney is a strait of water about 8 miles wide, and is famously dangerous.

The average speed of water running through the Firth can reach 4 nautical miles per hour, and also a peak speed, in places, of 12 nautical miles per hour.

Watching the waters of the Firth from the safety of a capable boat is disconcerting as there are treacherous whirlpools and glassy surfaces where it is hard to imagine what turbulence might be happening beneath the vessel.

Even today with modern craft, the unpredictable nature of the seaway can cause real problems for seafarers.

Skarfskerry, the village where the above photograph is taken from, is a straggling group of dwellings dotted along the North coast of Caithness.

Caithness, the northern most county in Mainland Scotland, is otherwise a bare, some would say barren, landscape.

Here there are very few people, towns are small, and “Civilisation” is miles away.

In prehistory there is little evidence of any greater density of Neolithic population in Caithness than elsewhere in Britain, yet people are thought to have looked across to Orkney in the early years of the spread of farming practices, and decided to make boats and cross the Pentland Firth to establish communities there.

When these people arrived in Orkney they built settlements where they are thought to have farmed domestic animals, including pigs, cattle, and sheep.

Some of these animals are thought to have been domesticated locally, but others, like sheep would have been brought in to Britain by migrants from Europe.

Neither is Orkney the only offshore island that has hosted Neolithic populations around the British coast.

Known sites of occupation are found in Shetland, the Outer Hebrides, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Scilly Isles.

These, and Britain itself, are all places that are presently understood to have been accessed, between themselves and from Europe, by waterborne vessels in early prehistoric times.

The date at which this journeying is calculated to have happened is around 4000BC, a period known as the Early Neolithic, in Britain.

In the absence of actual evidence it is difficult to see how the import of domestic animals across a substantial waterway, like the Pentland Firth or the English Channel, was accomplished, and practicalities are often not discussed.

One of the earliest boats found in Britain is a Neolithic log boat which can be seen sitting in the sand of Grey Abbey Bay in Strangford Lough, Ireland. It is made of oak heartwood, measures 9.1m long by at most 0.89m wide, and would probably carry up to 5 people. A sample of the wood was radiocarbon dated to after 3499BC. (Nationaltrust.org.uk)

Such vessels were clearly being developed in Neolithic times, at least for enclosed areas of water, or for riding, and crossing rivers.

The possibility that a boat like this could cross a piece of water as violent as the Pentland Firth seems unlikely, and the shipping of livestock in it is even more doubtful.

Even now, Orkney is on the edge. It takes a degree of raw determination (and heating) to survive here. High winds and horizontal rain are normal weather conditions for an Orkney winter.

In spite of this, people are thought to have come here, with livestock, on boats, and settled.

*

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.

I tried to imagine a boat leaving Ostend with a Vole somehow stowed away on board, with a prehistoric crew paddling, or sailing, to Kent and stopping there overnight at Dover. They would struggle to travel at night, I thought, and would need to rest, and sleep, as well as hunt for food, and find water. If they had a vole on board they would also have to feed it, and restrain it from escape. They would then set off again up the east coast of England stopping off at Lowestoft to sleep the night in a hastily erected tent, and then take off again at first light in the morning.

I was exhausted just thinking about it.

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.

Surely it shouldn’t be too difficult to prove that there was a piece of land, not attached to Britain that joined Dogger Bank to Orkney, in spite of the fact that the area now has seabed at over a 100 metres deep.

It would only take an understanding of the geology of Britain and the North Sea, knowledge of successive glaciations, study of the habits of ice, channel erosion, various dating techniques, and a close inspection of the archaeology of Orkney.

Not so much really, I’m surprised it took so long!

When I started to envisage this idea, that was all it was, an idea. I had nothing but the notion that somehow Doggerland, down in the southern part of the North Sea had once extended northwards to Shetland and Orkney without touching Britain.

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.

To understand how land was passable, at least by rodents, in the middle of the North Sea, a magical mystery tour had to be taken, beginning in the last ice age.

 Since writing this further research has found that, in fact, the European Vole has actually landed on English soil, as noted in "The Orkney Vole".

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 

The Orkney Riddle (index here)  is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

Pentland Firth

 

The Orkney Riddle

The Pentland Firth 

The Pentland Firth is the channel of water that separates the Orkney archipelago from Caithness,  the northern most county of Scotland. It is deep, wide, and famously dangerous to cross,  even with modern boats and navigation systems. From the ferry crossing from Caithness to South Ronaldsay interesting surface phenomena indicate what is happening beneath the hull of the boat. Flat shiny areas of water commonly suggest an upwelling mix of currents , while whirlpools imply water being drawn down into the murky deeps.

 

"The Pentland Firth’s eastern approach hosts intricate sediment transport pathways. Time-averaging the modelled flow field revealed the recirculatory nature of the residual flow also reflected by the inferred sediment transport field identified via timeseries bathymetric analysis. 

The Pentland Firth (PF), located between mainland Scotland and Orkney, is an area of the UK continental shelf (UKCS) that experiences extreme tidal flows. These are demonstrated partly by the occurrence of mobile sedimentary bedforms (e.g dunes). 

......... 

Tidal flows of the PF result from a tidal phase difference between the east and west approaches to the channel. A resulting barotropic pressure gradient leads to flow accelerations that locally exceed 5m/s. The extreme tidal setting of the PF’s eastern approach was found to promote distinct bedforms that are spatially varied in geomorphology with distance from the PF. 

......

 The energetic tidal flows of the PF’s eastern approach interact with the highly irregular coastline, generating residual tidal counter currents leeward of flow obstructions. These counter currents (i.e. RTC vortices) are reflected in bedform migrations and thence the sediment transport pathways. As the PF is considered as a bedload parting site (BLP), the RTC vortices are expected to influence the rate of erosion at the BLP, by recirculating sediment back upstream as a counter current inshore of the main flow." (Armstrong)

.....also.....

"Penthland Firth is the name of the treacherous strait between Caithness and the Orkney Islands. It was- and is - a very dangerous area for shipping because it has one of the most powerful tidal currents in the world. This can create tidal swell waves several metres in height. In trhe eastern part of the strait, currents up to 16 knots have been measured.

Areas where the current and the tidal swell are particularly pronounced have been given names such as The Merry Men of May and The Swilkie. The latter also sometimes creates a maelstrom or whirlpool. The name Swilkie has Nordic origins meaning something like “the swallower”. According to a legend, said to date back to Viking times and also known from the Younger Edda, the maelstrom is created by a sea witch rotating the quern that grinds salt for the sea – hence the word maelstrom (mael = grind; strom = current). The Swilkie originates from a point on the small island of Stroma, whose name also has Nordic origins: “Strøm Ø” (Current Island). The place names clearly speak of the dangers of the strait!

Right up to the demise of sailing ships, sailing through the Pentland Firth was avoided if possible. The great ocean-going voyages, for example from Denmark and the Netherlands to the Colonies in the West and East Indies, went far out beyond the Orkney Islands. Since 1822 it has been possible to sail through Scotland via the Caledonian Canal, at least with ships of up to 45 m in length." (Thomsen)

A long feature stretching into the North Sea,  from the Pentland Firth, is the Sandy Riddle. This may be a remnant of a coastal beach that may have joined Caithness to Orkney in the years after the end of the last ice age.

The SandyRiddle is discussed in:- "The geology of the Moray Firth. United Kingdom Offshore Regional Report" By I J Andrews

The largest sand wave in the area, called Sandy Riddle. occurs at the eastern entrance to the Pentland Firth; it may be considered as either a sandbank or a shoal. it is 10 km in length, 1 to 2 km wide, up to 60 m high, and is composed predominantly of sandy gravel (Figure 63). Very strong tidal currents of up to 5.25 m/s occur within the Pentland Firth, but decrease rapidly south-eastwards in the open water to the east of the Pentland Skerries. Over Sandy Riddle, there is a complex pattern of eddies during periods of south-going tidal stream. The sandbank is generally asymmetric in cross-section (Figure 63), with its steep side faring south-west. Sand waves with heights of 10 m and wavelengths of 80 to 200 m are superimposed on the north-eastern flank of the sandbank; these are orientated north-south with their steeper slopes facing west. Megaripples on their backs run parallel or slightly oblique (up to 20°) to their strike, and the steep south-western face of the bank has large megaripples about 0.5 m high. The bank's profile becomes less distinct south-eastwards, and the northern end is piled against the rocky ridge of the Pentland Skerries. Seismic profiles suggest that the bulk of the shoal comprises Holocene sediments. although it is possible that there is a core of glacial material (Allen. 1983)

 

This long, narrow bank extends south-eastwards from the Pentland Skerries between Orkney and the Scottish mainland (Figure 63). Sandy Riddle has a high carbonate content (94%) rich in barnacle fragments (37%) and bivalves (32%), with lesser amounts of serpulids (12%) and bryozoa (10%). The proportion of bryozoan debris increases southwards, inversely to the serpulid distribution. The coarsest material in the north includes a significant proportion of well-rounded pebbles of the local Devonian flagstones. The accumulation rate is 581 g/m2/year.

Sources

"Sediment pathways and bedform mobility: considerations for offshore construction from the Pentland Firth, northeast UK" by Christian Armstrong et al

Mikkel H. Thomsen (www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk)

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

The Orkney Riddle (index here) is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

The Orkney Vole

Orkney Riddle

The Orkney Vole

"Orkney vole 

Microtus arvalis orcadensis

The Orkney vole is a sub-species of the common vole and unique to the Orkney Islands. It is larger and heavier than the common vole. It is bigger than a mouse, with a rounded head and a relatively short tail.

Behaviour

Orkney voles do not hibernate. The vole is the islands’ only rodent to be active during the day and is an important food source for hen harriers and short-eared owls. The diet of the Orkney vole consists largely of plant materials, seeds and cereal crops. Females can have several litters a year, each with 3-6 young. The young are fed by the mother for about 20 days, when they then switch from milk to normal feeding.

Size

Length: 9 – 12cm (tail length approximately one third of body length)

Average weight: 30g; up to 90g

Lifespan: 18 months

Status

Although once common, it is thought that the Orkney vole population has declined substantially over the past 50 years. This is linked to changes in agriculture, with the drainage of rough grassland and conversion to improved grasslands for livestock. More recently, their lives are threatened by stoats, which were first sighted in Orkney in 2010.

Distribution

Orkney voles are present on eight of the Orkney Islands. Formerly widespread, even in agricultural crops, Orkney voles are today confined to semi-natural habitats with maximum densities occurring in old peat cuttings and rough grassland.

When to see

January to December. It is active throughout the year, but is not so apparent in winter when it spends more time underground.

Facts

The Orkney vole has an enigmatic history. Its closest relative is the common vole which is found throughout Europe, but intriguingly not on the UK mainland or Ireland. Following numerous studies and theories, it required cutting edge DNA techniques to throw a definitive light on its origin. The most recent analysis of nuclear DNA suggests the closest match is with an archaeological specimen in Belgium.

The vole’s mode of arrival to Orkney is hotly debated. Genetic research has revealed that there is a large genetic diversity in both modern and ancient Orkney voles. This suggests that they arrived with humans, (deliberately or as unintended stowaways) around the Neolithic period when the first farmers settled on Orkney. Copious vole remains have been found in excavations of tombs and houses from that time.

The oldest known radiocarbon-dated fossil of the species in Orkney is 4,600 years old.

Locally, Orkney voles are also known as volo, cutticks, or cutoo." (Scottish Wildlife Trust)


"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) 
 

THE CHANGING PACE OF INSULAR LIFE: 5000 YEARS OF MICROEVOLUTION IN THE ORKNEY VOLE (MICROTUS ARVALIS ORCADENSIS) by Thomas Cucchi et al

"In this article, our objective is to examine morphological change through time in populations of the Orkney vole, Microtus arvalis orcadensis (Major 1905)—an endemic subspecies of the common vole Microtus arvalis (Pallas 1778)—introduced to the Orkney archipelago (Fig. 1) by Neolithic farmers around 5000 years ago, from a source outside the British Isles (Martínková et al. 2013). (See below)

Large samples of archaeological Orkney voles, as well as good palaeo-environmental records revealing anthropization of the Orkney archipelago (Bunting 1994, 1996), provided an important opportunity to investigate the pace of evolutionary change in this insular rodent over the last 5000 years, within the context of an island environment impacted by humans. Orkney voles have evolved their own particular dental phenotype, likely the result of human agency influencing its evolutionary trajectory in different ways over the last 5000 years. This human influence began with its Neolithic introduction to the Orkney Mainland at a time when there were no terrestrial predators and only one competing species (the wood mouse). The Orkney vole population rapidly diverged from continental European M. arvalis to reach a new ecological optimum, that included evolutionary changes in morphology of the molar teeth. Neolithic farmers then dispersed the species to other islands of the archipelago—from Mainland to Westray and during the Bronze Age to Sanday—generating several founding events contributing to idiosyncratic differences in dental characteristics. This initial divergence and diversification in Orkney voles was not followed by morphological stasis because the Orkney environment was subjected to continued human disturbance.

The case of the Orkney vole presented here demonstrates how, from Neolithic times, humans have played a major role in species evolution and suggests that anthropogenic modifications of the environment may have repeatedly disturbed the phenotypic evolutionary stasis of insular species. Given the continental-scale and increasing intensity of human-induced impact on ecosystems in the last centuries, such changes in the evolutionary trajectories of vertebrates are likely not restricted to insular systems."

Divergent evolutionary processes associated with colonization of offshore islands, Natalia Martinkova, et al

"Colonization history of Orkney voles.

It is striking that there is substantial cytb variation in M. arvalis in Mainland Orkney and over the whole archipelago (Fig. 3, Table 3). Island populations often show low genetic diversity (Frankham 1997). This can relate to small population sizes and/or population bottlenecks associated with colonization of islands, particularly by sweepstake dispersal or human introduction. The high cytb diversity could indicate that the Orkney population of M. arvalis represents an island relict of a previously continuous mainland population, perhaps dating back to before the LGM (Beirne 1952). This would fit with the long tMRCA for the molecular variation on Orkney, potentially dating back to 25 400 BP (within the 95% CI). However, there are strong arguments against glacial survival of the Orkney vole population. First, the IMa analysis based on microsatellites and cytb and the ABC analysis based on microsatellites provide a date of arrival around 5000 BP, considerably more recent than the LGM. Second, all the other species of small mammals on Orkney are most reasonably viewed as human introductions (Yalden 1982), necessitating a special case for M. arvalis as a glacial survivor. Third, it is very difficult to make this special case given that M. arvalis is not a species currently associated with arctic or even moderately high latitude conditions. Its range extends eastward beyond Lake Baikal and yet barely traverses north of the 60th parallel (Fig. 2; Shenbrot & Krasnov2005). Orkney was under or near a glacial ice sheet at the LGM (Bowen et al. 2002) and M. arvalis is not part of the fossil fauna known from Britain from the last glacial period (Yalden 1999; Currant & Jacobi 2001). Fourth, M. arvalis is not currently found in Britain(Fig. 2). It is therefore contrary to think that M. arvalis should be a glacial relict on Orkney rather than M. agrestis, when the latter occurs further north in Eurasia (beyond the 70th parallel) and is distributed throughout Britain, including on many offshore islands, while M. arvalis only occurs on Orkney. There have been no land connections between mainland Britain and Orkney after conditions ameliorated following the LGM (Yalden 1982), and hence why M. agrestis (and other wide-ranging small mammals in Britain, such as common shrews Sorex araneus and bank voles Myodes glareolus) failed to colonize Orkney. If M. arvalis did not survive on Orkney itself during the last glacial period, the absence of the species in Britain means there are no grounds to suggest sweepstake colonization from there. It is conceivable that there could have been sweepstake colonization of Orkney from Doggerland, the landmass connecting Britain, the Low Countries and Denmarkuntil about 8000 BP (Weninger et al. 2008) – but this would require the survival of small mammals on floating mats of vegetation over a substantial marine gap between Doggerland and Orkney. Thus, human introduction is by far the most likely explanation for the occurrence of M. arvalis on Orkney.

From the IMa and ABC dates, this introduction at about 5000 BP fits well with the earliest radiocarbon dates for archaeological M. arvalis from Neolithic contexts (5100 years old: Table 2) and the beginnings of the Neolithic culture on Orkney (5600 BP: Ritchie 2001; Schulting et al. 2010). Voles could have been brought to Orkney by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, as early as c. 9000 BP, but no vole remains have been found in the one excavated Mesolithic site on Orkney (Lee & Woodward2009), in contrast to their abundance at Neolithic and later sites (Yalden 1999; Thaw et al. 2004). If, as appears most likely, the voles were introducedby Neolithic settlers about 5000 BP, various other implications flow from our molecular data, which are of considerable archaeological interest. First, the introduction implies long-distance maritime travel by Neolithic people between continental Europe and Orkney, extending on findings from elsewhere (e.g.Broodbank 2006). Our study highlights the Belgian coastline as the most reasonable source of the Orkney voles on the basis of available genetic data. This suggests Neolithic cultural linkages between Belgium and Orkney, of worthwhile focus for future archaeological investigation. Microtus arvalis were not introduced successfully into mainland Britain, which is consistent with relatively direct transport to Orkney from the continental source area. Second, if the introduction occurred about 5000 BP, then, because the tMRCA for the Orkney voles is so long (15 400 years), substantial numbers of femalevoles must have been introduced to explain the cytbvariation observed in modern and archaeological Orkney voles. High genetic diversity is already evident in the 16 aDNA sequences dating to 4200 BP or earlier, separated by up to 10 mutations (Fig. 3 and Table S3,Supporting information) and which produce an estimate for the tMRCA (14 780 years; 95% CI of 4681–36 379 years) similar to that of the full ancient and modern data set. To explain a substantial number of voles arriving accidentally on Orkney implies transport of plentiful grass livestock bedding/fodder in which the vole stowaways could have survived. This in turn may suggest the direct movement of livestock as part of the proposed Neolithic linkage between Belgium and Orkney. Alternatively, deliberate transport of voles onto Orkney could explain the large numbers introduced (Thaw et al. 2004). It is conceivable that voles were taken as food items, pets or for cultural/religious purposes – M. arvalis is docile in captivity (Berry 2000), so could theoretically have been ‘tamed’. This suggestion of deliberate transportation of small rodents has a precedent: it has been argued that Pacific rats (Rattusexulans), now present on islands throughout Oceania, were intentionally conveyed by Polynesians as a foodsource (Matisoo-Smith & Robins 2004). Evolutionary processes affecting voles on Orkney and the continental source area Compared with continental European M. arvalis, those on Orkney and another offshore island (Guernsey) are divergent in terms of tooth morphology, including increased tooth size. For Orkney, this divergence may have occurred over c. 5000 years, if introduced during the Neolithic. In addition to having larger teeth, the Orkney and Guernsey M. arvalis have a larger body size than continental voles (Gorman & Reynolds 2008). Quick-evolving rodent gigantism has been described previously on islands of the northeast Atlantic (Corbet1961; Angerbjorn 1986), but not within such a precisely defined time frame. A range of selective factors have been proposed to explain this gigantism, including an absence of small mammalian predators (Lomolino1985), and a genetic basis for gigantism has been identified in island house mice (Chan et al. 2012). Elsewhere,we further explore the dynamics of morphological evolution for the Orkney M. arvalis using archaeological specimens (T. Cucchi, R. Barnett, N. Martınkova, et al.submitted) extending substantially on previous studies (Berry & Rose 1975; Corbet 1986). Despite their similarity in large tooth and body size,Guernsey and Orkney voles exhibit distinctive mtDNA haplotypes (Fig. 3). It is therefore most reasonable to consider that the Guernsey and Orkney voles attained their large body size independently. It is not clear whetherGuernsey was colonized naturally before it became an island, as part of the continental European late glacial/postglacial species expansion (Haynes et al. 2003; Heckelet al. 2005; Tougard et al. 2008), or whether the voles were introduced by people after it became an island (Gorman& Reynolds 2008). However, given that Guernsey voles are likely to come from the same general (northernFrance/Belgium) source area as the Orkney voles and that they are also different in mtDNA from current northern France/Belgium populations, there would be much interest in further detailed comparison of Orkney, Guernsey and northern France/Belgium voles. In addition to the operation of selection in the evolution of Orkney voles suggested by morphology, stochastic processes appear to have been important based on microsatellites. The population on the largest island, Mainland Orkney, has retained much of the microsatellite variation found in continental Europe, while all theother Orkney Islands (which are considerably smaller:Fig. 1) show very low levels of microsatellite variation,consistent with founder events and genetic drift. Similar stochastic processes can also explain microsatellite variation among Scottish Island populations of common shrew (White & Searle 2007a). Our findings with regard to morphology and microsatellites in M. arvalis are unsurprising in comparison with previous studies on island small mammals, but the results from our mtDNA analyses are more unexpected. Although the cytb sequences from Orkney andthe proposed source area for the Orkney colonization both belong to the Western-North lineage of M. arvalis, the sequences are remarkably divergent given the timeframe for colonization. Also, it might have been expected that (as for the microsatellites) variability would have been lower on Orkney than in continental Europe. In fact, the opposite is the case. Taking either the principal island (Mainland Orkney) or the whole archipelago, mtDNA diversity is higher in Orkney than in coastal France/Belgium (Table 3). Our dating analysis also shows that the mtDNA sequences in coastalFrance/Belgium have a much more recent derivation than the Orkney sequences. So, here we are seeing another facet of evolution in association with the colonization of offshore islands, in this case occurring in the mainland population. Thepresence of derived sequences in coastal France/Belgium suggests a replacement event in M. arvalis, with one mtDNA type (the current type) replacing another(the Orkney type), similar to aDNA findings in other species (Barnes et al. 2002; Pergams et al. 2003; Hofreiteret al. 2007). The fact that there is an affiliation between coastal Belgium and Orkney on the basis of microsatellite genotypes argues against a complete population replacement (e.g. by extinction–recolonization) as an explanation for the mtDNA result. Instead, within-population processes of selective sweeps or genetic drift are implicated, and more likely expressed in the mtDNA data, as a single locus with small effective population size than in the microsatellite data. We cannot be surewhat environmental factors promoted the replacement. There could, for instance, have been a local, unrecorded disease outbreak. However, it is notable that the replacement occurred over a period when M. arvalis populations would have changed dramatically due to human land-use change, and this appears the most likely driver of the replacement. Over several thousand years, sustained forest clearance in continental Europe (Rackham 1998; Cyprien et al. 2004) created new agricultural habitats and associated selection pressures that essentially expanded the opportunities for M. arvalis as a species that particularly exploits managed grassland(Niethammer & Krapp 1982). In such a habitat, M. arvalis populations can undergo massive population expansions and crashes (Delattre et al. 1992) that reduce longterm effective population size, promoting genetic change through drift. On Orkney (which saw the rapid decline of low shrubs and tree species with the arrival of Neolithic farmers: Bunting 1996), M. arvalis utilizes a range of open habitats and does not show the same dramatic population fluctuations as seen in parts of continental Europe (Gorman & Reynolds 2008). 

Offshore islands as field laboratories 

There has been a tendency to view offshore island populations of small mammals (and other organisms with low density and low dispersal) as genetic deviants fromthe ‘norm’. This is because studies of various species have shown results similar to ours for morphology(substantial change) and microsatellites (loss of variation) (Lomolino 1985; Frankham 1997; Boessenkool et al.2007; Millien 2011). These have included detailed studies on small mammals such as wood mouse Apodemussylvaticus (Angerbjorn 1986; Michaux et al. 1996),masked shrew Sorex cinereus (Stewart & Baker 1992)and common shrew (White & Searle 2007a,b, 2008).However, as we have demonstrated with our M. arvalis mtDNA studies, island populations can also represent genetic ‘arks’, retaining the ancestral genetic variation,while evolutionary and other processes on the mainland may lead to a loss of that ancestral variation. Islands may have importance therefore in conservation of genetic variation. A further example involving human introduction of a small mammal onto an offshore island is provided by the Eurasian red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris. Thus, Irish red squirrels have genetic variants that apparently derive by introduction from Britain, but these are now absent in that source population (Finnegan et al. 2008; Searle 2008). For low density and low dispersal organisms such as small mammals, we suggest that genetic surveys of mainland areas should, where available, include populations from neighbouring offshore islands. It is very likely that those island populations will provide a new perspective on the temporal and spatial dynamics of the genetic variation in that region.The ‘ark’ concept that we discuss here is of course more general. Populations colonizing new areas will take the genetic and nongenetic characteristics of the source population, and some of those characteristics may subsequently be lost in the source population but retained in the population in the new area. In this way, for instance,the United States is a ‘linguistic ark’ for various English words that would have been common in the British Isles at the time of settlement of North America by the British, but which have subsequently fallen into disuse in the homeland (e.g. ‘fall’ meaning ‘autumn’). Returning to genetic characteristics of offshore islands, in addition to their potential as genetic ‘arks’, they also hold potential as field laboratories to study genetic change in the islands themselves. Compared with the classic evolutionary studies on oceanic islands, those based on offshore islands will tend to view events over shorter timescales and thus provide a different perspective on evolutionary processes. Offshore islands are particularly valuable for studying initial stages of diversification, with the opportunity (as in the current study together with T. Cucchi, R. Barnett, N. Martınkova,et al. submitted) to follow island populations from their foundation to the present day using advanced genetic and morphometric tools as applied to modern and ancient populations of different ages. Extremely accurate dating of ancient populations may be possible (e.g. in archaeological settings). With this short time duration and close proximity to the mainland, there is also a greater chance to find the precise source area for the island colonization, which allows interesting comparison of evolutionary processes on the mainland and island. This brings us back to the value of offshore island populations in interpreting mainland processes. Offshore islands are an underutilized resource for evolutionary analysis, with great potential. In some ways, they represent study systems intermediate between those in a continental setting and those on oceanic islands; they have the simplicity of the oceanic island system yet are clearly relevant to continental situations."

Recent research suggests that s population of European Vole origin survived in south-west england during the final deglaciation of Britain, about 11,000BP,. The report on this research is entitled "Diverse responses of common vole (Microtus arvalis) populations to Late Glacial and Early Holocene climate changes e Evidence from ancient DNA" by Mateusz Baca et al

"Two radiocarbon dated specimens from Trou Al’Wesse (Belgium) yielded a pre-LGM age, 30,000BP to 28000BP. They belonged to the Western/Northern lineage although they diverged earlier than the coalescence of the extant populations. This suggests that population continuity existed in the region throughout the last 30 ka rather than there being a turnover, even if the population decreased in numbers as a result of the LGM. Although the genetic evidence is still very limited this is concordant with the cryptic northern refugium hypothesis (Stewart and Lister, 2001). The other interesting case is the single specimen from Bridged Pot cave dated to the Early Holocene. At present there are no common voles in the British Isles with the exception of the Orkney Isles, where they have been introduced by humans ca. 5000 years ago (Martínkova et al., 2013
). Microtus arvalis has not been considered to be part of the British fauna of the Last Glacial and only the field vole has been identified in the fossil record (Coard and Chamberlain, 1999; Currant and Jacobi, 2001) although there are problems distinguishing these two species based on dental characters (Navarro et al., 2018).

Recently, a number of common vole remains were identified using collagen fingerprinting from Pin Hole cave (Creswell Crags, UK) (Buckley et al., 2018). Although the deposits Pin Hole have been shown to be mixed (Stewart and Jacobi, 2015), this suggests that the common vole was present in the British Isles during the Late Pleistocene and/or early Holocene. The phylogenetic position of the individual from Bridged Pot cave suggests that it was a part of the continuous population of mainland Europe. Given the age of the specimen, 11,000BP, possible scenario explaining its presence in the British Isles may be that the common vole may have expanded to Britain during the Late Glacial warming and their local extinction was then caused by either YD cooling or the Holocene reforestation. The disappearance of the connection between the British Isles and continental Europe during the Early Holocene may have prevented the species’ subsequent recolonization. In other small mammals inhabiting Britain today such as the field vole, bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus), water vole (Arvicola amphibius) and pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus) the populations of these taxa, which colonized Britain during Late Glacial, retreated to fringes of the island possibly as a result of YD cooling (Brace et al., 2016; Searle et al., 2009). Subsequent populations of all these species were able to recolonize Britain at the onset of the Holocene. This was not the case for the common vole. Recently Martínkova et al. (2013)
showed that recolonization of the northern areas of France and Belgium by the common vole was relatively late and started not earlier than 2000 years ago, long after the disappearance of land connecting the British Isles and mainland Europe"

Radiocarbon dating of vole at Bridget Pot Cave , UGAMS 43,314 MI1371 11,125BP

   

Fig. 2. Distribution of mtDNA diversity of common vole in Europe. 

A modern, 

B Holocene, 

C post-LGM.

Colour correspond to mtDNA lineages 

pink, Eastern;

yellow, Central; 

orange, Italian; 

green, Western-North; 

violet, Western-South; 

navy blue, Balkan. 

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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 

The Orkney Riddle (index here) is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

Neolithic Migration to Orkney

 

 The Orkney Riddle

The Neolithic Migration to Orkney 

There are a large number of reports, large and small, that have been written following excavation of Neolithic sites on Orkney.  

These reports include plans, sections, find reports, bone reports, dating reports, and any other data investigations that are relevant to the site.  At the end of the report, the findings are discussed, and sone tentative conclusions are drawn. 

In discussing the conclusions that could reasonably be drawn from the data supplied by the work of excavation, many odd features are, very sensibly left in a kind of limbo. Better to conclude nothing than to assert something that no qualifying evidence supports.

Across the mass of evidence derived from the excavations of Neolithic Orkney there are enough of these archaeological peculiarities, that if collected together, they form a pattern.

The pattern does not prove the concept, but it does shift the discussion in different ways.

The following is an outline to demonstrate how the occupation of Orkney by Neolithic migrants may have developed over time.

Nomads

The Neolithic people of Britain were a nomadic group of cultures that entered the country from the Dutch region of northern Europe from before 7000 years ago until after 6000 years ago.

They came on foot, across a land bridge that is now shallow water between Holland and East Anglia, in England. 

These people brought with them a suite of technologies,  including pottery, domesticated animals, landscape structures, economic systems, community activities, timber joinery, structural engineering, and small-scale industries.

They had boats, but these were limited to dugout canoes for use on inland waters, lakes, harbours, and perhaps for crossing rivers.

These were people who had arrived in Northern Europe from the south, gathering in the Scheldt valley. As a group of various peoples we call these the Swifterbant Culture, and it was much later that the various groups included here, having established mobile populations across Britain, arrived in Orkney. 

To Orkney 

The earliest arrivals in Orkney were in 3500BC, and these people built cairns that are believed to have been designed for the housing of the prehistoric people who had died. Their human habitations for the living were mostly light timber structures that may have looked like teepees or bivouacs. With rare exceptions these structures were not designed to endure an Orkney winter. If the winter wind did not dismantle them the ground around them would have rapidly turned to mush from repeated footsteps in Orcadian heavy rainfall.

In spite of their construction of cairns, these people retained their nomadic lifestyle, at least here in Orkney. They would cross from Caithness to South Ronaldsay along a strand made up of geologically soft  ground linking those locations. 

They crossed from Scotland to Orkney every summer, returning to the south when the weather turned. As they crossed, from year to year, the people would have noted that the strand of land linking the two regions was narrowing. Sea levels were rising and coastal beaches were being eroded by strong tides.

At the very end of the 4th millennium BC, before 3000BC, when sea-level wasn't yet high enough to cause concern, the summer solstice, and the Orkney Simmerdim, became an annual event, drawing hundreds of people to settle in temporary campsites around the Harray Loch. 

While they were temporary residents, camping in Orkney, these huge groups built some of the monuments of the Orkney World Heritage Site. These include the Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, and a couple of other henges in the area.

As seasons progressed, and people returned to Orkney, to continue this great work, the level of the sea rose, and whittled away at the strand that joined Caithness to Orkney. 

Castaways 

At a critical point in the erosion of the strand between Caithness and Orkney, most people would have read the signs, and realised that Orkney would no longer be a viable meeting place for their summer retreat. Either they would, in future, not be able to cross between the two places, or if they did they might not be able to return to Scotland. 

The greater number of people did not return to Orkney. Their campsite was abandoned just after 3000BC, and the stone circles that they were building remained, incomplete. 

The very few people that remained in Orkney formed into small co-habiting communities, and built solid structures of stone and timber, with covered drains, and great windbreaks, or covered interconnecting passages. 

The buildings that these people constructed were among the most complex and revolutionary structures built in Britain at the time, but their longevity was distinctly limited by the deterioration of the roofing timbers.

These communities were based at Skara Brae,  and the Ness of Brodgar.

Mariners

In the middle of the 3rd millennium BC boats were being developed , and mariners were setting out, from Britain and Europe, to explore offshore islands, like Orkney. 

The mariners arrived at several coastal locations in Orkney, where they set up camp in the ruins of the dwellings that had housed the earlier inhabitants of Orkney.

In some places they appear to have visited the islands briefly, pulled their boats onto land, and hunted the wild aurochs and other beasts roaming the landscape. In other places more permant settlements may have been established. 

When the mariners in their boats arrived in Orkney in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC it is possible that they met face-to-face with some of the surviving ancestors of the Neolithic Orcadian Founding Population.

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 Map of Orkney,  showing Neolithic sites

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

The Orkney Riddle (index here) is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

In Conclusion

 

The Orkney Riddle 

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 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. 

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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 

The Orkney Riddle is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

The Swifterbant Culture

 

The Orkney Riddle

The Swifterbant Culture 

The Swifterbant Culture represents the tribes that occupied northern Europe,  and are likely to have interacted with Britain in the 5th millennium BC. 

 

From:-

"New evidence on the earliest domesticated animals and possible small‑scale husbandry inAtlantic NW Europe" by Philippe Crombé, et al

"The coastal lowlands of Northwest Europe are situated at the periphery of the extensive loess belt of Centraland West Europe, which was colonized in the course of the 6th millennium cal BC by migrating farmers from the Near East and Anatolia. The transition from (Mesolithic) hunter-gatherers to (Neolithic) farmers-herders in this coastal lowland area  has been debated by numerous scholars over the past decades. The debate centers around two opposing models. The frst advocates a long-term and gradual transition towards farming and herding starting early in the 5th millennium cal BC, a process in which local hunter-gatherers played asignifcant role (acculturation/cultural difusion model). The second model, on the other hand, considers a rapid introduction of domesticates near the end of the 5th millennium cal BC, more precisely around ca. 4300 cal BC in the Netherlands and ca. 4100/4000 cal BC in theUK, northernGermany and southern Scandinavia. According to some, the speed of transition suggests demic difusion of pioneering farmers from Central Europeinto the lowlands of NWEurope, as recently supported by genetic evidence, although not all scholars agree on this."

"The Neolithization process of the Lower Scheldt basin. 

The presence of domesticated animals and possible small-scale husbandry from ca. 4800–4600 cal BC onwards, implies that farmer/hunter-gatherer interaction along the NW border of the agro-pastoral frontier was much more intense and drastic than previously thought, and may have involved more than mere exchange of “exotic” goods.

Indeed, local stock breeding demands a transmission of knowledge e.g. through training by skilled specialists which implies direct and prolonged involvement of farmers/herders from the loess areas. This is corroborated by the material culture, which also underwent drastic changes at precisely the same moment. Between 4800 and 4600 cal BC new knapping techniques appeared within the local “Mesolithic” lithic traditions, focusing on the production of thick fakes and new tool types, such as splintered and facetted tools. This was accompanied by new activities, as indicated by new types of micro- and macroscopic use wear traces on lithic tools, e.g. crushing and grinding of animal bone. The start of local pottery production by hunter-gatherers of the Scheldt river valley (Swiferbant Culture), using local clays, must have started during this same period. These new technologies present clear affities with post-LBK cultures, in particular with the Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint-Germain Culture (ca. 5000/4950 – 4750/4650 cal BC) and later the Rössen Culture (ca. 4700 – 4450 cal BC). 

As such, these changes point to increased infuence of farmer-herders from the loess area. The transfer of technological know-how must have required close and long-term interactions between the farmer-herders and hunter-gatherer population groups, which might have involved the migration of specialists or even inter marriage. This is certainly the case for the pottery production, which represents an entirely new technology in hunter-gatherer context, that required new knowledge of raw materials and the development of new motor habits, i.e. motions and body postures that were previously not used for other activities. The same holds for keeping local livestock consisting of diferent species.At first glance, all this seems in contradiction with genetic evidence from the Central European loess area mainly from central and southern Germany, which points to limited (< 10%, max. 17%) interaction and admixture between both populations before ca. 4000 cal BC, and thus genetic continuity over a period of ca.1500 years. 

However, the first recently published genetic evidence from northern France, demonstrates much more hunter-gatherer ancestry in early farmer’s genes in western Europe compared to central and SE Europe,which fits the conclusions of the present study. Interestingly, the predominance of cattle over sheep/goat within the assemblage of Bazel perfectly mirrors the livestock within the different succeeding agro-pastoral Cultures of the loess region, characterized by a cattle-based economy in which sheep/goat only played a minor role (ca.6/10% to 20%). This cattle-based economy has been linked to increased milk consumption based on the recurrent detection of dairy residues associated with early Neolithic pottery, traces of which have recently also been detected in some Swiferbant Culture potsherds from Bazel (research in progress).

Conclusions. The present study irrefutably proofs the presence of domesticated sheep/goat and most likely also cattle from ca.4800/4600 cal BC along the NW margins of the agro-pastoral frontier, and hence supports the model viewing the neolithization of NW Europa as a long-term process. In addition the isotope data, although not yet fully conclusive, seems to be in favor of small-scale husbandry from the very beginning. If this is confrmed by future, more in-depth isotope analyses, it demonstrates that farmer-herders had a considerable impact on hunter-gatherer’s subsistence as early as the frst half of the 5th millennium cal BC. Clearly before 4800/4600 cal BC contact and interaction with farmer-herders from the LBK was limited to the exchange of “exotic” commodities, such as decorated pottery. This changed markedly with the development of the subsequent Blicquy/Villeneuve-Saint Germain and Rössen Cultures. Contact intensifed resulting in a transfer of knowledge on pottery production,the production of new stone tools (with new functions) and likely also herding. In this sense the frst half of the 5th millennium cal BC was a turning point for hunter-gatherers living in the lowlands along the margins of the agro-pastoral frontier, corresponding to the “substitution phase” or “Introduction phase”. It was the start of a totally new lifeway which probably would culminate into a fully agrarian society in the course of the second half of the 5th millennium cal BC, around 4000 cal BC at the latest. The latter might have been triggered by the tidal fooding events in the Lower Scheldt valley which certainly will have reduced the availability of edible plants and wild game considerably. On the other hand flooding might have offered better conditions for local agriculture, through the deposition of more fertile tidal mud, including clay and silt, in an overall sandy environment."

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Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

The Orkney Riddle (index here) is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

The Ness of Brodgar Excavation

Orkney Riddle

The Ness of Brodgar Excavation 

Trench P, which includes Structure 10

While, in recent times, the stone circles of Stenness and Brodgar were a present reminder of times past for Orkney folk, Barnhouse was unknown, and completely hidden from view. So also was the Ness of Brodgar, which is now one of the most exciting archaeology projects to explore Neolithic Britain, in recent years.

It is directed by Nick Card, and is best described by him, as follows.

“The Ness of Brodgar (Fig. 49) 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. From it the Ring of Brodgar (0.75 km to the NW), the Stones of Stenness (0.5 km to the SE) and Maeshowe (1.5 km to the E) are clearly visible. On the south side of the Bridge of Brodgar, barely 300 m distant, is the Neolithic settlement of Barnhouse (Richards, 2005).

Ness of Brodgar, aerial view

Between 2004 and 2008 trial trenching to investigate the nature of the mound and the threat from agricultural practices gave indications that this massive mound (c. 250 m by 100 m, lying NW–SE, and over 4 M high), previously considered a natural feature of the landscape, was mainly artificial and consisted of a sequence of Neolithic buildings, middens and midden-enhanced soils. Since 2008, area excavation (though still less than 10% of site) has been carried out (Fig. 50). This has revealed a complex sequence of monumental buildings contained within a massive walled enclosure. In it’s latter phases the site is dominated by several large buildings which, judging by their scale and architectural finesse, would appear to be outside the norm for the domestic sphere. This is also reflected in the artefactual assemblage and over 700 examples of decorated stone (Card & Thomas, 2012).

Due to the depth and complexity of the stratigraphy, and the exceptional preservation of the architecture, only the later phases of the site have so far been investigated in detail.

Other activity pre-dating the construction of the large piered buildings is represented by several lengths of walling revealed between, under, and in some cases incorporated into, the buildings presently under investigation. Other earlier buildings are also implied by the subsidence, collapse and the undulating nature of wall lines of later buildings. These earlier buildings where revealed utilise orthostats partially built into wall lines to define internal space similar to stalled tombs and early Neolithic houses. It is presumed that the surrounding walled enclosure is first constructed during these earlier phases.

In the later phases, orthostats are replaced by the use of opposed stone-built piers to create recesses along internal wall faces as in Structures 1, 8, 12, 14 and 21, each of which saw several phases of reuse and remodelling. These buildings (which are the present focus of excavation) can be seen as exaggerated or elongated versions of Neolithic houses of the kind seen, for instance, in the early phase of Skara Brae (Clarke, 1976). A paved area with a standing stone is central to the whole of the walled enclosure at this stage.

The last major construction so far identified, Structure 10 (Fig. 4), is a departure in style and scale from earlier building styles. It partially overlies the collapsed remains of the piered Structure 8. Its internal square chamber with rounded corners bears close comparison with Structure 8 at Barnhouse (Richards, 2005), as does its scale (some 20 by 19 m externally), which mirrors a general trend to monumentality in the Late Neolithic of Orkney. As with the piered structures at the Ness which mirror other house plans but on an exaggerated scale, so too does Structure 10 reflect later house styles, such as House 1 at Skara Brae (Clarke, 1976). Although the foundations of Structure 10 show the overall monumentality of its build, as with the majority of other late structures at the Ness it suffered from subsidence. That may have been the cause of the collapse of its SW corner. It was rebuilt with extensive remodelling of the interior into a cruciform plan with the addition of new wall faces and corner buttressing.

At the end of these monumental phases, the buildings at the Ness were partly demolished and suffocated with layers of midden and rubble. The placing of a structured deposit of mainly cattle bone around Structure 10 has been seen as part of this decommissioning process (Mainland et Al., 2014). This has been suggested as ‘a single depositional event’ or ‘at the least a series of events occurring over a fairly short period of time’ (Mainland et al., 2014: 875). Later, some of the walls of the structures were systematically robbed of stone. Ephemeral activity continued, but on a much reduced scale.

The exceptional architecture, the diversity of structures, and the evident size and spatial complexity of the Ness of Brodgar all emphasise its special character. “(Card)

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

The Orkney Riddle (index here) is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono 

Modern Sweat Lodge Practices

 

Orkney Riddle

Modern Sweat Lodge Practices

At Barnhouse,  Structure 8 has good evidence that it was built to function as a sweat Lodge. There may be as many as three other sweat lodges on the Orkney Archipelago. 

Sweat Lodges in present cultures may help us to understand better the culture of Neolithic people in Orkney. 

“Sweat lodges are heated dome-shaped structures used by Indigenous peoples during certain purification rites and as a way to promote healthy living. The intense heat generated — often by steam created from pouring water onto heated rocks — is meant to encourage a sweating out of toxins and negative energy that create disorder and imbalance in life. In this way, the sweat lodge ceremony cleanses the body, mind and soul.

Each sweat lodge is slightly different, depending on the community or person who operates it, and the purpose for which it is used. For example, some sweat lodge ceremonies are restricted to men, women, children or members of certain clans; at other times, the lodge is open to all. There are also sweats specific to fasting rituals, or in celebration of the Sun Dance and other cultural traditions.

Despite these differences, there are important commonalities among sweat lodge ceremonies. Most importantly, the sweat lodge is a sacred place, likened to the womb of Mother Earth. Sweats are therefore deeply spiritual and cultural experiences for many people. For this reason, sweat lodges are run by special operators — sometimes called keepers, and oftentimes an elder or healer — who are well versed in traditional healing and sweat lodge practices. The operator knows how to conduct sweats safely and effectively, and for various purposes. The great majority of conductors do not charge a fee to participate in the sweat lodge, although it is customary to offer them cloth or tobacco for their services. The purpose of the sweat lodge is not to generate revenue, but to heal and cleanse. Elders strongly caution against those who disguise themselves as healers, but are not trained in the sacred teachings. Non-traditional sweats can be dangerous. On 8 October 2009, for example, three sweat lodge participants died at a New Age “Spiritual Warrior” retreat near Sedona, Arizona.

Historically, there were two sweating techniques reflected in lodge construction. Indigenous peoples in Alaska, California and parts of Central America used a system of direct exposure to fire within the confines of a small, often semi-subterranean (partially underground) structure. The more common system, used by most Indigenous peoples in Canada, was to heat stones in a fire, place them inside a small, domed structure draped with buffalo or deer hides, and pour water on them to produce steam. Direct fire sweathouses doubled as men’s houses, but steam lodges were often used by a single person.

Today, sweat lodges heated by the steam of hot rocks are the most common. The majority of modern structures are made out of wood, covered with tarps and blankets. Tobacco is usually placed somewhere underneath the structure’s base. Altars and the sacred place where the heated rocks are kept before the ceremony are kept outside the structure. The direction of the lodge’s doorway often faces east, but this differs depending on the conductor; some teachings indicate that the doorway should face another direction or that its direction should change throughout the year. 

Conductors will indicate how to best prepare for a sweat. Usually, participants will be told to abstain from alcohol and drugs beforehand. After making an offering to the conductor, participants also make offerings to the altar outside the lodge, and to the Grandmothers and Grandfathers — the heated rocks — before entering the sweat lodge. The fire keeper is in charge of heating the rocks and placing them inside the fire pit in the centre of the lodge. Other items are also placed inside the lodge, such as water (used to pour onto the rocks, thereby creating steam), tobacco (a sacred offering), medicines (certain herbs), and musical shakers and drums (used during prayers).

Once inside, participants sit in a circle around the fire pit for a length of time determined by the conductor and depending on the purpose of the sweat; often, this is a few hours. The fire keeper closes the door before the ceremony begins. Music is played and prayers are recited throughout the ceremony, inviting healing spirits into the lodge. In turn, participants are asked to talk about themselves and their reasons for using the lodge — this is their opportunity to speak to the Creator, to share their personal stories and to meditate on life. At the end of the ceremony, the conductor says prayers to thank the Creator and spirits. Elders might also smoke sacred pipes at this point. The fire keeper then opens the door to the lodge.”

René R. Gadacz in the Canadian Encyclopedia  

“In one form or another, the sweat bath has been practiced in many Native North American Tribes, from the Inuit in the north, to the Navajo in the Midwest, the Sioux/Lakota/Cree in the plains, the Mickmaq in the East and all the way down south into the land of the Mayans (Bruchac). This sacred religious/healing ceremony has been in practice for thousands of years. The purpose usually went far beyond cleaning the body. The sweat bath (Sweat lodge) provided a cure for illness, revitalization for aching muscles, and a sense of identity for Natives participating in and reclaiming their culture. It heals the mind, the body, the emotions and the soul. Finally the Sweat lodge is a holy place where we can connect and communicate with Creator (God), the Spirit Helpers (comparable to the angels and others depending on your spiritual or religious practices) and our ancestors (our grandmothers and grandfathers and all the generations who came before us).

The Sweat lodge is used as a place of teaching, planning, praying, singing, and communing with others. Furthermore, a sweat is often performed in preparation for other rites, and as a means of returning to the non-ritual world after the completion of other holy ceremonies such as the Sun Dance, the Ghost Dance or the Winter Dance ceremonies. “ 

(The author continues, describing in detail the building of the Sweat Lodge and the process and management of the ceremonies) 

The Eagle Spirit Society

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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 

The Orkney Riddle (index here) is a series of blogs promoting the notion that Neolithic people walked from Scotland to Orkney to build the Ring of Brodgar. 

#Orkney #archaeology #Neolithic #prehistory #British #SkaraBrae #NessofBrodgar #BIIS ##Britice-Chrono