Publication Account
Date 2002
Event ID 585657
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/585657
HY44 8 PIEROWALL QUARRY
HY/438490
Early Iron Age roundhouse on Westray which was discovered during rescue excavations in 1981; these took place after the discovery in the quarry of a decorated stone from a Neolithic tomb. The excavation has been reported in detail [1].
The remains of the roundhouse were found on top of the abandoned Neolithic cairn, which had probably become a turfed mound by that time. Only segments of the roundhouse wall remained and this had an irregular curvature, so that its overall dimensions cannot be estimated; it must however have been at least 16 m in overall width at one point. A thickness of 3.1 m could be measured at one point.
The old ground surface on which the wall stood gave a C-14 date of 560 +/- 80 bc (GU-1580). An occupation deposit was found outside the wall and more dates were obtained from bones from this, though most were of Neolithic age. Iron Age bones gave a date of 475 +/- 60 bc (GU-1581). Broadly speaking these two, when calibrated, confirm that the house belongs to the 7th and 6th centuries BC.
The pottery from the midden included fragments of vessels with vertical rims and sharp shoulders, closely parallel to the material from the second pre-broch village at Jarlshof (HU30 1). Thus as with Quanterness (HY41 5) and Bu (HY20 4) the radiocarbon dates and the distinctive pottery combined to give a clear picture of the age and cultural affinities of the house.
Source: 1. Sharples 1984.
E W MacKie 2002
