Excavation

Date 10 June 2009 - 1 October 2009

Event ID 608702

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/608702

HY 428 493 Previous work has recorded archaeological remains eroding over a 2.5ha area at The Links of Noltland. An extended field season, 10 June–1 October 2009, saw the continued excavation of a large Neolithic house and surrounding field system and the discovery and investigation of two further Neolithic buildings. A limited programme of survey and assessment in the hinterland identified up to two further structures and two inhumation burials, all thought to be Bronze Age in date. The results of this work increases to six the number of known or suspected Neolithic buildings and to eight the number of Bronze Age buildings. While the site is at great risk from erosion, the remains are currently intact and the preservation conditions are excellent. Highlights of the 2009 season included the discovery of a small carved stone figurine. Dubbed ‘the Westray Wife’, this is the earliest representation of a human yet found in Scotland and one of very few known from the British Isles. This rare object was found amongst rubble filling in the central Neolithic building and may have been placed there at the time of its abandonment. Equally unusual and exciting was the discovery of a large number of cattle skulls which had been placed face down, horns interlinked, within the wall of an adjacent building. This structure has yet to be fully uncovered, but it is suspected that the cattle skulls continue around the entire circuit of the wall.

Archive: RCAHMS. An Interim report is planned in 2010

Funder: Historic Scotland

H Moore and G Wilson – EASE Archaeology