Excavation

Date 2008

Event ID 578491

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578491

HY 5955 0873 The Brough of Deerness is a sea stack, the top of which holds the remains of a late Viking Age church and approximately 30 associated buildings. Past archaeological excavation by Christopher Morris and Norman Emery focussed on the church. Scheduled monument consent was granted for the excavation of two areas in 2008 in order to clarify the preservation, chronology and (as far as possible) function of the associated settlement. Most work in 2008 focussed on Structure 24 in Area A and on Area B.

Area A – An area of c13.6 x 5.8m was opened over Structures 23 and 24 as recorded in the survey of Morris,

Emery and Bettess (1977). Structure 23 was not visible on the surface in 2008, but Structure 24 was clear as a raised semicircular feature with a diameter of c4m. Excavation revealed the general outline of Structure 23 and showed that Structure 24 was a palimpsest of superimposed ancient features, rather than a single building or a large shell-hole from when the site was used for target practice during the First and Second World Wars.

Structure 23 was rectilinear but irregular in plan, partly due to post-abandonment collapse, but also because it was apparently inserted into a space framed by pre-existing buildings and/or ruins. Internally it measured c7.2 x 3.5m. It had an inner wall face of unbonded masonry, partly cut into pre-existing deposits and partly set in what was otherwise an earth and rubble foundation (presumably for a turf superstructure). Its bioturbated upper floor level included much charcoal. A single small shell-hole was discovered near the middle of the building, associated with fragments of probable shell-casing. The structure may have had two opposing doorways near its western gable, but it was not excavated after we exposed its general outline so this

interpretation remains conjectural.

Structure 24 turned out to be a series of in situ features of differing dates. The lowest of these were midden deposits (with good preservation of animal bone) into which Structure 23 was inserted. The middens were examined in a small 2 x 1m sondage, but were found to overlie earlier structural features which prevented continued excavation in such a small trench. No clear dating evidence was recovered from Area A, but it is considered that the absence of Pictish or medieval ceramics in the areas excavated to date strongly implies a broadly Viking Age chronology.

Area B – An area of c14.6 x 9.8m was opened over Structure 20, one of a series of parallel buildings W of a

trackway running through the settlement. Before excavation it was thought likely to be single-phase, based on the clarity of its outline in the earthwork and resistance surveys and aerial photographs. Excavation demonstrated that it was a multi-phase house of Viking Age Scandinavian style that was abandoned in the 11th–12th centuries. Internally it measured c10.4 x 4.1m (after narrowing from a probable original width of c4.9m). House 20 overlaid an earlier feature, possibly another building, the remains of which were found extending

out from under its SE corner.

The earliest construction and occupation phases of House 20 itself have not yet been excavated. In its penultimate configuration, the building was a three-aisled house with two rows of roof-supporting posts and probably an internal crosswall of perishable material dividing its internal space into E and W rooms.

Its E room contained a central hearth, side aisles (marked out by the roof-supporting posts and small edge-set stones) and niches in the NE and SE corners (also demarcated by edge-set stones). At some point a small subsidiary hearth was also established near the E end of the building. The W room was mostly featureless, but may originally have had side aisles. The floors associated with this penultimate phase of the buildings use produced a glass bead of 11th-century date.

Additional finds from the exterior of House 20, or from the destruction of its walls, may be broadly contemporary with use of the building. These included a steatite loom weight or fishing weight and a steatite vessel sherd. It is probable that there were originally two entrances into the building, in the NW and NE ends of the N wall. The N wall itself was a rebuild, the original having collapsed earlier in the life of the house.

The internal posts were removed from House 20 near the end of its life, possibly to be replaced with timbers along the inside edge of its N and S walls. A new entrance was inserted in the centre of the S wall and a new earth floor with occasional paving slabs was laid. At this time, or shortly after, a copper alloy pin of 11th- to 12th-century date and an inscribed spindle whorl were lost in the building.

There were no shell-holes in Area B, although occasional pieces of possible shell-casing were recovered. Bone was not preserved in this area, with the exception of a few pieces in the ash of a hearth. The sediments were probably too acidic, presumably because the cultural deposits are shallower in Area B than in Area A and do not adequately buffer the naturally high pH. The closeness of House 20 to the cliff edge may also be relevant. Presumably much household refuse would have been discarded directly into the sea.

170 sediment samples were collected to allow the post-excavation study of botanical remains, small animal remains, micro-refuse and soil chemistry. Samples were collected from middens and features (such as hearths) and on a 0.50m grid across the best preserved floor level of Structure 20. Soil micromorphology samples were also collected from floor surfaces. Animal bone (where preserved) was carefully collected by hand from any sediment not otherwise sampled.

Funder: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Orkney Islands Council, Royal Norwegian Embassy (London) and Norwegian Consulate General (Edinburgh).

James Barrett and Adam Slater, 2008