Excavation

Date June 2009

Event ID 609271

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/609271

The final season of excavation at Belmont (part of the Viking Unst Project) continued in June 2009. Previous work has defined structural elements of a multi-period Norse settlement with a longhouse and two extensions in several phases, a single stone structure and two cup-marked areas to the NW and S of the longhouse.

Belmont - HP 568 007 The Viking and late Norse site of Belmont is situated at the southern tip of the island of Unst. The settlement is aligned downslope and located on a W-facing slope consisting of marginal hill grazing at c30m OD. The Norse settlement is part of a multi-period complex. The main objectives for the excavation at Belmont include:

• Identification of the scale and nature of the entire farmstead – the economic unit – including structures and

field boundaries.

• Distinction and interpretation of any phasing information, including the identification of structural modifications, both internally and through the addition of extensions, annexes and other related structures.

• Provision of opportunities for students, the local community and volunteers to take part in archaeological

fieldwork.

• Provision of information that informs the wider aims and objectives of the Viking Unst Project, including the

development and expansion of the Norse (Viking and Late Norse) settlement and its associated landscape.

In the first phases of the excavations at Belmont the multiperiod site appeared to be less complicated than it was found to be in the last excavation season. A Norse longhouse, House I (9th- to 10th-century), with curved walls, was built aligned downslope. In a later phase of House I, an eastern and a western extension had been added. Covering the lower-lying part of House I, a smaller Late Norse house was built on top of the longhouse. The younger house was constructed in a similar manner to the earlier Viking structure. A pathway ran from the longhouse between the two extensions to a presumed enclosure situated to the NW of the longhouse. In the post-medieval period a planticrub was constructed on top of the later Norse structure before the site was completely abandoned.

A cup-marked area of bedrock facing cultivable land was discovered c30m to the NW of the longhouse (Larsen 1997a). A cup-marked stone was also found in the NW corner of the gable end of House I and additional cup marks were discovered in a paved area S of the southern long wall of House I. In the area of Belmont archaeological remains like stone walls, enclosures etc are richly represented and some of them may date from the Neolithic or Bronze Age. The landscape around Belmont seems to have been inhabited over several thousands of years.

Longhouse (House I) - The whole interior of the Norse dwelling (House I) was excavated in order to record the inner house construction and habitation phases. House I, which has curved walls, was the earliest of the Norse houses and was c22m long x 7m wide (external measurements). The curved walls were constructed of two parallel rows of large stones with an inner and outer shell of dry stones and with a rubble core of earth and smaller stones. The walls were between 1m and 1.5m thick. The wall was extant around the eastern gable, southern wall and western gable. In a later phase of House I the northern long wall was truncated and the central section straightened. This was probably done to facilitate the construction of the extensions to the N of

this area. Within the longhouse a number of features were located and defined.

Entrances - An entrance to the N was defined by an area of paving. A slab near the entrance might have been connected to the construction of the northern entrance or indicated the presence of an internal dividing wall. Another entrance in the northern long wall, located in the upper part of the house, and a southern entrance opposite the northern one, were both documented.

Sunken floors, benches and posts - In the upper eastern part of the house two sunken floors were recorded at

different levels. The sunken areas were filled with occupation deposits. Benches defining the edges of the sunken floors had already been located during the first excavation season, along the inner parts of the long walls and the eastern gable end of the house. A posthole was located to the N of the hearth next to the northern bench. Two other postholes were found in the upper part of the longhouse near the gable end. In the lower-lying end a set of postholes were identified near the western gable end.

Hearths and drains - In the upper part of the longhouse an elongated hearth was placed in the centre of the sunken floor, in the eastern end of the longhouse. Another hearth, in the upper part near the gable end, had been truncated at a later stage by a drain running in the middle and along the long walls in the house. Another hearth was located in the sunken floor immediately to the W of the upper sunken floor. Samples have been taken for archaeo-magnetic dating.

The land surface was probably cleared and a number of drains constructed before the longhouse was built. For example, a drain consisting of flat slabs was located immediately outside the southern walls and ran the whole length of the southern wall and its continuation. A possible second drain parallel to the first ran along the inner part of the southern long wall and through the long wall.

Byre - The lower-lying western end of House I contained a possible byre which had been heavily truncated by the later shorter house and the planticrub. A drain ran through the centre of the byre and exited under the western gable end, where there appears to have been an outflow and a circular structure to collect the waste from the animals.

Eastern extension - The extension was added to the northern wall, and was a well built rectangular structure c7.5m long x 3.5m wide (internally). There was an entrance in the wall to the W. In the second phase of this extension the northern wall was extended to the E to create a larger building. At this stage the entrance in the north-eastern wall of the longhouse was blocked by the new eastern wall of the eastern extension. The

presence of hammerscale, charcoal and massive amounts of slag in the surface of the floor deposits indicated that this area had been used for metalworking.

Western extension - The north-western extension, which had a paved passage between it and the northern long wall and an entrance which led into the interior of this outbuilding, was in a much more ruinous state. It had two phases and was built with a double-skinned stone wall with a rubble and soil core. It measured c7 x 3m (internally) and the walls were up to c1.5m thick.

The Late Norse house (House II) House II, which has been built on top of the western part and lower-lying end of

the longhouse, measured c13 x 6m (externally). The eastern gable end was well defined and the wall was constructed with a double face of stone and a probable turf and stone core. An additional dump of rubble and soil was used during this phase of construction to infill the southern and northern entrance to House I. Many more of the details of the interior of this building were resolved this year. For example, several postholes were uncovered in the floor layers.

Bench and hearth - A small stone feature was recorded in the NE corner of the gable. It was probably a bench or storage area and consisted of a single rough course of masonry enclosing an area c1 x 2m. In the centre of the house, construction of the planticrub had left no undisturbed floor or occupation surfaces. There was a hearth, defined by a small stone setting, in the centre of House II. A secondary hearth next to the southern wall was further defined.

Paved areas - Several paved areas connected with the longhouse and its extensions were investigated around the entrance area in the northern long wall of House I. Paved areas were documented inside House I at the western end, and outside the house around the northern part of the eastern gable end. Paved areas were also recorded further along the western part of the northern long wall. Along the southern long wall paved areas were found to the E, S and W, many of them as part of the construction of the drains.

Field walls - Traces of stone walls surrounding the farmstead have been located. The stone walls were connected with the south-western gable end and the north-eastern part of the eastern extension N of the longhouse. The latter ran N, had a bend to the W, continued to the N and then ran in a western direction. Val Turner has been carrying out an assessment of the significance of these walls.

Environmental evidence - On-site sampling covered the whole excavation area at Belmont. Bulk samples from

contexts in the longhouse may supply insect and plant macrofossil data. Additional monoliths were also extracted from soil (including occupation layers) in the longhouse for palaeoenvironmental and soil micromorphological purposes. The environmental investigations are centred upon pollen and related sedimentological analyses and Kevin Edwards has investigated Belmont and other Norse sites on Unst by on- and off-site sampling. Val Turner is investigating the soils and field systems at Belmont and other Norse sites on Unst as part of her PhD research.

Norse finds - More than 1100 finds have been retrieved. They include artefacts such as a comb fragment, steatite lamps, net sinkers, loomweights, line sinkers, hones of schist, baking plates, and fragments of household articles such as pottery and steatite bowls, as well as large amounts of raw materials and

manufacturing waste, mainly of steatite. Massive amounts of slag plus hammerscale, charcoal and an iron bloom were also found. The large quantities of worked steatite, raw material and manufacturing waste indicate that steatite quarrying and production played a very important role in the economy of Norse Belmont. The majority of Shetland’s steatite outcrops are in Unst, and the close proximity of Belmont to the Belmont/

Head of Mula outcrop suggests local production. The presence of iron bloom, slag and hammerscale certainly indicate that iron smelting and iron working could also have played an important role in the economy of Belmont. These finds also raise pressing questions about local sources of ore and fuel, given that iron refining is such a resource-intensive process. It is possible that these finds also relate to the quarrying and working of steatite on the site, as good tools are essential.

Preliminary dating - The earliest phase of the longhouse House I, with its curved walls, its size, the byre and the centrally placed hearth, has parallels with other Norse sites in Shetland and the Faroe Islands dated to the 9th–10th centuries AD. The layout of the structures and the finds suggest similar dates.

The later House II has two hearths, one along the wall and one in the centre of the house, indicating at least two different occupational phases. The house was smaller, a feature which seems to be characteristic of the medieval or late Norse period. This structure is currently tentatively dated to the 11th–14th centuries AD. This is corroborated by the finds such as baking plates and imported ceramics. The result of archaeo-magnetic

dating is not yet available.

The four excavation seasons at Belmont have provided much valuable information for the Viking Unst Project. The excavation provided enough detail to inform the consolidation exercise at Belmont, as well as sufficient information about Norse house types and their construction to make it possible to build a reconstruction of a Viking longhouse. The samples taken will yield data on plant macrofossils, insects, bones, charcoal etc. Deposits were left in the sections for potential future sampling. Post-excavation work and dating of the Belmont site is continuing. The excavation was carried out as a research and training excavation with students from the University of Copenhagen, Scottish, Icelandic and Danish archaeologists, specialists and local volunteers.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland, Shetland Amenity Trust, Shetland Development Trust, Shetland Enterprise, The Viking Fortress Trelleborg in Denmark and University of Copenhagen

Anne-Christine Larsen and Val Turner – The Viking Fortress Trelleborg in Denmark, University of Copenhagen and Shetland Amenity Trust