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Excavation
Date 18 June 2007 - 29 June 2007
Event ID 558264
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/558264
HY 50948 05971 The small Bronze Age round barrow at Long Howe was partially excavated as part of the Mine Howe Environs Project in 2004. This revealed that the makeup of the mound contained microliths characteristic of an earlier huntergatherer period. Work in 2005 looked at the possibility that Mesolithic features might have survived elsewhere in the vicinity of the mound, with no success. Between 18–29 June 2007 a quadrant of the barrow was excavated in detail with the aim of finding out more about the Mesolithic remains. This revealed the kerb and make-up of the barrow and confirmed the presence of residual Mesolithic lithics in the barrow matrix. It also confirmed that the old ground surface had been stripped when the barrow mound was built, but that pockets of soil had survived compressed into hollows in the bedrock. These contained lithics including microliths. These pockets were sealed by the mound material and one contained a fragment of hazelnut shell which has yielded a radiocarbon date of 7900+35BP (SUERC-15587), or 6820–6660BC.
Evidence relating to Orkney’s earliest (pre-Skara Brae) inhabitants is very rare; microlithic assemblages do exist but all come from surface collections and none have been excavated or dated. Long Howe is thus important as an indication of the presence of hunter-gatherers in the islands. Not only does it add to the existing assemblages of narrow blade microliths, but it has provided a dated context which suggests that settlement in Orkney occurred in the earlier half of the Scottish Mesolithic. At the time of Mesolithic activity lower sea levels would have meant that the site was further from the sea than it appears today, but the location offers several advantages in terms of nearby marshland and views across local moorland.
Archive deposited with Orkney SMR and RCAHMS.
Funder: Friends of Orkney Archaeological Trust, Historic Scotland, Orkney College, Orkney Islands Council, Society of Antiquaries of London, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
C R Wickham-Jones and J Downes 2007
