Archaeological Evaluation
Date 16 June 2014 - 26 July 2014
Event ID 1013759
Category Recording
Type Archaeological Evaluation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1013759
HY 3753 2966 A team from the University of Bradford, Orkney College (UHI), William Paterson University and City University New York cleaned, recorded and sampled the site at Swandro, 16 June – 26 July 2014, as part of the Orkney Gateway to the Atlantic Project. The project aims to investigate and record coastal sites in Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre which are threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion.
Work in 2014 focused on the beach where investigation of set orthostatic stones just visible among the pebbles on the beach indicated archaeological survival below the eroding site. Investigation of these features has completely changed our understanding of this enigmatic mound. Initial clearance of the overlying beach material revealed the remains of an Iron Age structure. This was confirmed by an AMS radiocarbon date of 25BC-AD130 at 95% confidence for carbonized barley from a midden which sealed flagging in one of the compartments.
Work in 2012 enabled the nature of the erosion to be more fully understood, indicating significant archaeological survival and potential. The sea had created terraces or steps within the archaeological mound, with each of these eroded scars being covered by redeposited beach material. In 2012 on the NW side of the cleared archaeological surface the remains of a substantial outer wall forming the arc of a large circular
building seemed to be the continuation of a crescent shaped ridge at the top of the mound. It was thought at first that this was the outer wall of a large roundhouse of broch proportions. However, the presence of a series of stepped concentric outer wall-faces with a mixed midden and rubble core suggests that the core of the mound is a Neolithic chambered cairn.
Work in 2013 concentrated on the continuation of the site SE of the mound. Investigation demonstrated that a Pictish phase, indicated by cellular structures contained within the infilled remains of more substantial Iron Age structures, show a continuation of the site on the foreshore and under
the boulder beach. The truncated remains of the ‘Norse Hall’ of Westness, previously excavated by Kaland (1993), clearly overlies the Late Iron Age settlement.
Excavation of the centre of the Swandro mound continued in 2014 and this now clearly indicates that the mound forming the Neolithic chambered cairn had been partially robbed in the Iron Age and infilled with Late Iron Age (Pictish) midden. On the seaward area of the beach under the mound, the truncated building (Structure 1) was further investigated and midden was found to continue seaward, but was clearly affected by the tidal action.
Work was concentrated on the excavation of the later Iron Age (Pictish) elements of the site. Here buildings were found to be nested in larger structures which had been truncated by the sea. The truncations were cleaned as sections, sampled and recorded. The excavation of one of these later truncated buildings (Structure 2) saw the sampling of floor surfaces down to the primary flag floor. The continued excavation and
sampling of the infill of a third building (Structure 3), close to the Westness houses, but partly within the eroding beach area, confirmed its form as a Pictish style multi-cellular building and revealed the presence of slag and crucible material suggesting copper alloy working in the deliberately deposited infill.
One of the larger structures into which the later structures are nested became clearer during this season’s excavation, with a substantial wall in the erosion section and a series of paved surfaces butting the wall on the outside face of the curve. A feature consisting of a set of paving slabs which had cracked and tipped downwards appears to be related to this
structure. When the flags were removed what appears to be a well was revealed, with dry stone walls, a flagged area around the top and a set of steps inside. When some of the rubble was removed it was found that the well was still active, refilling to the base of the steps with spring water.
Archive and report: Orkney SMR and RCAHMS. Digital records: ADS
Funder: Orkney Islands Council, University of Bradford, Orkney College, City University of New York and William Patterson University
SJ Dockrill, JM Bond and R Maher – University of Bradford (SJD/JMB) and Orkney College (RM)
(Source: DES)
