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Archaeological Evaluation

Date 22 July 2011 - 27 July 2011

Event ID 964747

Category Recording

Type Archaeological Evaluation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/964747

HY 3727 3037 (Brough) and HY 3753 2966 (Swandro) A team from the University of Bradford, Orkney College (UHI) and City University New York cleaned, recorded and sampled the site at Swandro, 22 June–27 July 2011, as part of the ‘Orkney Gateway to the Atlantic Project’. The project aims to investigate and record coastal sites in Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre which are threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

The Mound of Brough The man-made mound at ‘Brough’, also known as South Howe, on the SW shore of Rousay contains an eroding Iron Age broch and houses. These structures seem to be overlain by Late Norse buildings which in turn are overlain by 19th-century middens. This broch is only a few hundred metres away from the Broch of Midhowe.

The Knowe of Swandro Work on the Knowe of Swandro this year again concentrated on two areas, the mound itself (Area B) and the eroding beach deposits (Area A). An area 4 x 10m was deturfed on the mound and features defined. The structural elements noted in the 2010 season were investigated and appear to be the remains of a substantial double faced curving wall. A small area of paving close to the beach section appears to be later in date.

On the storm beach, the cleared area was extended to 4 x 10m, to assess the extent of the remaining deposits. Midden and other features were found to extend to the high tide mark and further test pitting at low tide revealed that anthropogenic deposits stretched under the storm beach and sand deposits to the low tide line. A sondage in the E corner of the excavated area showed a complex series of stony midden deposits to a depth of >1.5m below the eroded surface; at this depth, a freshwater spring made excavation difficult, but the sondage demonstrates the depth of midden deposits under the eroding beach. Finds from these middens include a worked bone pin, pottery and well preserved bone.

The remains of a prehistoric structure, first investigated last year, were further excavated and samples taken for environmental evidence and radiocarbon dating. A single radiocarbon date indicated a date in the 1st to 2nd century AD. Archaeomagnetic dates obtained from an earlier hearth indicate use in the 4th to 2nd centuries BC.

Clearance of large beach boulders on the W edge of Area A revealed large dressed stones, much battered by the storm beach, forming a substantial wall which could be shown to be the continuation of the large curving wall seen in Area B.

Stratigraphically above the structure excavated last year, and physically further up the beach, a paved area, a fragment of hearth surround and a series of cells formed from orthostats indicated the presence of a later structure. The evidence suggests that Swandro is a multi-period settlement.

This years excavations have demonstrated that the deposits at Swandro are much deeper than initially suspected and the extent of the site much greater. Marine erosion has proceeded in a stepped fashion, so that the earliest deposits survive in greatest extent below the storm beach, whilst the later deposits are fragmentary.

Archive and reports: Orkney SMR and RCAHMS (intended). Digital record: ADS (intended)

Funder: Orkney Islands Council, University of Bradford, Orkney College and City University of New York

University of Bradford/ Orkney College, 2011

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