Ground Survey

Date October 2007

Event ID 558800

Category Recording

Type Ground Survey

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/558800

HU 338 841 In October 2007, a limited survey was carried out of further parts of North Roe, as part of a continued general survey of the area’s Neolithic felsite quarrying operations (‘The Felsite Industrial Complex of North Roe’). Previously (2004 and 2006), selected areas were surveyed and reported upon (DES 2006, 150). The area surveyed in 2007 was located immediately W of the Queina Waters lochs, on the southern side of the Burn of Springwells. This locale was selected for investigation, as 1) it is clearly marked on Phemister, Harvey and Sabine’s map of noticeable felsite dykes (1952: The Riebeckite-bearing Dykes of Shetland, Min. Mag. 29, 359–73), and 2) the campaigns of 2004 and 2006 clearly showed that most geological felsite dykes in North Roe are associated with anthropogenic debris, mostly from quarrying.

The 2007 Survey showed that the Queina Waters felsite dykes had also been exploited in prehistoric times. The easternmost of three dykes was associated with a small knapping floor, where a small stream had cut through the area’s extensive peat-cover. Small amounts of knapping debris were also found in connection

with the adjacent two dykes. In comparison with similar, but more substantial, locations at the Beorgs of Uyea and on Midfield, the Queina Waters sites included few artefacts, and axe rough-outs were rare, whereas flat flakes and slabs, possibly for Shetland knives, were relatively common. Unexpectedly, a small, wellexecuted

felsite scraper was recovered. It is in a form of felsite characterised as quartz-feldspar porphyry, and as the three main dykes in the area are in banded, spherulitic or riebeckite felsite, it is possible that the implement may have been brought into the Queina Waters area by Neolithic people moving between the North Roe felsite outcrops. Quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes are known W and NW of Queina Waters.