Excavation

Date 10 July 2017 - 25 July 2017

Event ID 1040474

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1040474

HY 37384 30093 (HY33SE 161) A third season of research excavations at the Viking/Norse/post-medieval farmstead at Skaill aimed to investigate the date, depth and character of deposits and structures within the farm mound using test pit excavation. Two intersecting transects of 21 test pits in a cross-shape were centred on the farmhouse (N/S and E/W). A total of 13 test pits were excavated/reopened this season, 10–25 July 2017. Test pits were generally 1 x 1m, but some were extended (TP 2, 3, 9 and 17).

Test Pits (TP) 2 and 3 were reopened from last season. In TP 2, the full width (4.6m) of the post-medieval stonebuilt barn was exposed. A stone culvert was located along the northern wall externally. The walls had been demolished to ground level (demolished by 1882). A partial flagstone floor survived internally. In TP 3, the suspected boundary bank sealed a stone-lined culvert and midden enhanced soil, indicating that the area to the SE of the farmstead is likely to contain complex structures and deposits relating to earlier phases of the farm.

To the N of the farm buildings, TP5 contained medieval midden (shell, pottery, animal bone), TP 6 a buried soil below later rubble, and TP 7 contained rubble. TP 9 contained a stone boundary wall (on an unlikely alignment) and TP 10 contained a modern sheep burial adjacent to the kirk boundary wall and was abandoned. Glacial till was located in TP 2, 6 and 7.

To the S, TP 11 revealed deep building rubble which contained medieval red sandstone architectural mouldings, TP 12 and 13 contained midden enhanced soils below deep topsoil. TP 14 and 15 contained topsoil. Glacial till was located at the base of all but TP11 demonstrating the substantial depth of the farm mound on the southern side.

To the W of the farmstead, two test pits were excavated revealing a stone boundary wall in TP 17 and deep soils in TP 18. No test pits on the eastern side were excavated this season (TP 19-20) and TP 1 and 4 were not reopened.

A building survey was also undertaken, 13–16 June, by the HES survey team. Scaled plans and cross sections of the farmstead at Skaill (domestic range and barn/kiln), The Wirk and St Marys Kirk were completed. In addition, walkover survey by UHI around the farmstead recorded 17 sites, including enclosures, walls, earthworks, platforms, structures and an early phase of curvilinear hill dyke (S214) upslope to the E of the road (centred on HY 37782 30589). The test pitting established that the farm mound at Skaill is over c1.5m in depth and contains well preserved structures and deposits dating to the Norse and post-medieval periods. The earlier structural phases are concentrated below the extant farmhouse. Excavations at Skaill were carried out in conjunction with the excavations at nearby Knowe of Swandro in collaboration with the University of Bradford. The project included community training, open days, workshops and placements. This forms part of the Rousay Landscapes of Change and NABO projects, which are researching long-term

environmental and societal change along the western side of Rousay.

Archive: Archaeology Institute, UHI (currently)

Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund, Orkney Islands Council, Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre Development Trust, and Archaeology Institute

Daniel Lee, Ingrid Mainland, Jen Harland and Sarah Jane Gibbon – Archaeology Institute, UHI

(Source: DES, Volume 18)