To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

Abstract

Abstract:In the context of unanswered questions about the nature and development of the Late Neolithic in Orkney, a summary is given of research up to 2015 on the major site at the Ness of Brodgar, Mainland, concentrating on the impressive buildings. Finding sufficient samples for radiocarbon dating was a considerable challenge. There are indications from both features and finds of activity predating the main set of buildings exposed so far by excavation. Forty-six dates on 39 samples are presented and are interpreted in a formal chronological framework. Two models are presented, reflecting different possible readings of the sequence. Both indicate that piered architecture was in use by the 30th century cal BC and that the massive Structure 10, not the first building in the sequence, was also in existence by the 30th century cal BC. Activity associated with piered architecture came to an end (in Model 2) c. 2800 cal BC. Midden and rubble infill followed. After an appreciable interval, the hearth at the centre of Structure 10 was last used c. 2500 cal BC, perhaps the only activity in an otherwise abandoned site. The remains of some 400 or more cattle were deposited over the ruins of Structure 10: in Model 2, in the mid-25th century cal BC, but in Model 1 in the late 24th or 23rd century cal BC. The chronologies invite comparison with the near- Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporationneighbour of Barnhouse, in use from the later 32nd to the earlier 29th century cal BC, and the Stones of Stenness, probably constructed by the 30th century cal BC. The Ness, including Structure 10, appears to have outlasted Barnhouse, but probably did not endure in its primary form for as long as previously envisaged. The decay and decommissioning of the Ness might coincide with the further development of the sacred landscape around it; but precise chronologies for both the Ring of Brodgar and Maeshowe are urgently required. The spectacular feasting remains deposited above Structure 10 may belong to a radically changing world, coinciding (in Model 2) with the appearance of Beakers nationally, but it was arguably the by now mythic status of that building which drew people back to it. (Richards, 2013; Richards & Jones, 2016). The idea of chambered cairns persisted into this period, but now, in contrast to earlier styles of simple-chambered and stalled cairns, these probably principally took the form of the passage grave, of 'Maeshowe' type (Henshall, 1972), seen in the construction of monuments such as Quanterness, Quoyness and Maeshowe itself (Renfrew, 1979; Davidson & Henshall, 1989;Schulting et al., 2010;Griffiths & Richards, 2013; MacSween et al., 2015;Griffiths, 2016). Their elaborate architecture, with marked separation of the interior from the exterior, controlled access via passages, and gradation among internal chambers, may have derived from or been part of active connections with the apogee of the passage tomb tradition in eastern Ireland (Sheridan, 2004;Schulting et al., 2010;Hen...

Maps From Mud—Using the Multiple Scenario Approach to Reconstruct Land Cover Dynamics From Pollen Records: A Case Study of Two Neolithic Landscapes

“…Prior to any dated Neolithic activity, the landscape was dominated by grassland suitable for pasture. This natural prevalence of grassland may help to explain the rapid expansion of Neolithic settlement on Mainland, since the Neolithic Orcadian economy probably relied heavily on cattle (see Mainland et al, 2014;Card et al, 2017) and extensive clearance would not have been necessary to provide land for grazing. Inferred variations in the amount of "disturbed ground" above the baseline from the 4000 to 3800 cal BC timeslice onwards may hint at earlier anthropogenic disturbance by either late hunter-gatherers or farming pioneers; Sharples (1992) has suggested that the comparatively heavy FIGURE 3 | Example best-fit grids of land cover for Orkney case study in 200 year timeslices between 4200-2200 cal BC (age shown is midpoint of timeslice).…”

“…Whilst the crops and settlements of these Neolithic populations will have occupied a very small fraction of a landscape at any one point in time, the effects of these cultural practices will have been more widely seen, both through the impacts of grazing livestock and through the persistence of an ecological signal of disturbance for decades and sometimes centuries following abandonment and movement of the farming population. However, not all parts of the UK were fully wooded at the start of the Neolithic, and some of the most exciting archaeological finds of recent years (e.g., Ness of Brodgar; Card et al, 2017) come from the far North, where woodland cover was probably never complete in the Holocene, and certainly by the mid-Holocene the landscape contained extensive areas of naturally treeless grassland. Here woodland did not have to be cleared to permit agricultural activity, and indeed may have been sufficiently limited that it required deliberate protection.…”

The end of the world, or just ‘goodbye to all that’? Contextualising the red deer heap from Links of Noltland, Westray, within late 3rd-millennium cal BC Orkney

“…To the west, a sizeable field system was uncovered, while in the south-west part of the Links (EASE Area 5) the excavators uncovered what they have described as 'a series of at least seven well-preserved dry stone buildings arranged in close proximity within a finely built stone-walled enclosure, linked by paved passageways and surrounded [and capped] by extensive and extremely rich midden deposits' (Moore & Wilson 2014); a Late Neolithic human skeleton was also found. One of the Area 5 structures (Structure 8, subsequently renamed Structure 10), a massive building some 22m across in its maximum extent (Moore & Wilson 2010a), closely resembles Structure 8 at Barnhouse (Richards 2005;Richards et al 2016) and Structure 10 at Ness of Brodgar (Towers et al 2015;Card et al 2017) in its size, shape and quality of construction. It was among the wallcollapse rubble within this building that the first (and most famous) of the Links of Noltland figurines was found (ie the so-called 'Westray wifie' or 'Westray Venus' (Moore & Wilson 2011a: illus 43)).…”

“…Here, on a pathway leading around the building, people had piled up thousands of bones -mostly cattle tibiae, split to extract the marrow, but also including a few non-cattle bones (Mainland et al 2014;Towers et al 2015;Card et al 2017). By the time of their deposition, that structure was already centuries old and possibly abandoned.…”

“…This deer heap and the remarkable condition of the remains have generated much discussion (eg Sharples 2000; Morris 2005;Richards et al 2015), and yet the deer themselves remained undated until 2015, when they became the subject of a radiocarbon dating programme undertaken as part of a much larger, European Research Council-funded research project, The Times of Their Lives (www.totl.eu). One of the constituent projects within this Europe-wide programme has focused on refining the chronology of developments in late 4th-and 3rd-millennium cal bc Orkney (MacSween et al 2015; Richards et al 2016;Card et al 2017;Bayliss et al 2017). Given the potential importance of the deer heap to our understanding of these developments, it was duly incorporated into the project.…”