Excavation

Date 25 August 2008 - 19 September 2008

Event ID 578434

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578434

HY 4375 2592 Two trenches were excavated 25 August–19 September 2008, enlarging Trenches A and C from the 2007 season. Several buildings, all apparently Early Neolithic in date but representing different phases of habitation, have now been identified across the site.

Trench A was extended to investigate the extensive area of paving revealed in 2007. Further paving, consisting of slabs up to 1.5m in length was found underlying a thick layer of black midden that was rich in Skaill knives, Early Neolithic pottery and flint tools. This paving leads straight to a stone structure, the outer wall of which was exposed in the SW corner of the trench. Although the base of this wall was not reached, at least two courses of stones are surviving in places. A paved entrance with an upright threshold stone was also revealed in this wall.

Trench C was extended to 10m2 to investigate the badly plough-truncated features first exposed last season. The truncation was more severe than initially thought and there was a heavy iron pan across the trench. Nevertheless, postholes and gullies forming the footprint of an Early Neolithic-style ‘longhouse’ survived. A stone built ‘longhouse’ consisting of orthostats and further postholes forms a later phase of habitation, truncating the earlier building after it had fallen out of use. Hearths associated with both phases were relatively well preserved and despite the heavy plough truncation, a significant Early Neolithic ceramic and flint

assemblage was recovered.

In total, five polished stone axes were found, in addition to the hundreds of fragments of Early Neolithic pottery, flint and coarse stone tools, making this assemblage one of the largest and most significant from an Early Neolithic domestic context in Orkney. The activity on the site, all apparently oriented NW/SE, is spread over an area covering several 100m2 and is therefore one of the largest known Early Neolithic settlement sites in Orkney.

Report: Orkney SMR and RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Orkney Islands Council, ORCA, Orkney College, the Flaws family and The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Antonia Thomas (ORCA), 2008