Langskaill

This mound was visited as part of the Orkney Barrows Project. It measures 7.7m by 7.1m and 0.4m in height. A cist and probable kerb were visible. The mound is visible for up to 1km to the S and SW, and is obscured to the E.

Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1993

HY 5094 0599 A low mound on top of Long Howe was investigated as part of the Mine Howe landscape project, and because the capstone of a cist was visible on the surface and it and the mound were under threat from damage by livestock.

information from Nick Card (Orkney Archaeological Trust) and Jane Downes (Orkney College).

Excavation; geophysical survey HY 510 060 Excavations in August 2005 were aimed at further elucidating the nature and range of activities that took place after the construction of the underground chamber and its surrounding ditch (DES 2004, 96-7). The Iron Age metalworking area (Trench E), which lay outwith the ditch that surrounded the underground structure, was further investigated. Excavation concentrated on the round structure uncovered at the end of the 2002 season, with preliminary investigation of the floor levels in 2003 and 2004. Throughout its history it appears to have been primarily a smithy for the production of both ferrous and non-ferrous metalwork. In the primary phase of use, a large central hearth was surrounded by various associated activities including small smithing furnaces and anvils. A very rich assemblage of associated metalworking debris has been recovered. Archaeomagnetic dating of the central hearth provided a date of 100 BC - AD 110.

In addition to the burial discovered within the floor deposits of the smithy in 2004, a second burial was discovered just outwith the smithy: an adult male lying on his side in a semi-crouched position in a shallow pit.

The ditch section in Trench G was fully excavated to reveal a complete cross-section of the ditch, which was over 4m deep and 8.5m wide. A sequence of ditch infilling and remodelling was uncovered, similar to that found in the ditch terminal (Trench B in 2000).

Further geophysical anomalies on the S side of the central mound were also investigated. Overall these proved to be natural, however evidence for the enhancement of the mound was revealed along with a small paved 'alcove'.

Several small discrete magnetic anomalies, with similar signatures to the one that represented a furnace revealed in 2003-4, were also investigated. These turned out to be the result of modern ferrous debris.

In 2004, as part of the study of the environs of Mine Howe, the Bronze Age barrow on the top of the neighbouring glacial moraine of Long Howe was investigated. Within the cairn make-up several Mesolithic microliths and general flint-knapping debitage were recovered. It was thought that these lithics could be associated with several sub-circular features downslope from the cairn, as revealed by geophysics. Extensive trial trenching over these anomalies showed that they were natural and, apart from some further lithics, no trace of any in situ Mesolithic activity was recovered.

Report to be lodged with Orkney SMR and NMRS.

Sponsors: HS A, Orkney Islands Council, Orkney Archaeology Trust, Orkney College, University of Bradford.

N Card, J Downes and S Ovenden 2005.

HY 50948 05971 The small Bronze Age round barrow at Long Howe was partially excavated as part of the Mine Howe Environs Project in 2004. This revealed that the makeup of the mound contained microliths characteristic of an earlier huntergatherer period. Work in 2005 looked at the possibility that Mesolithic features might have survived elsewhere in the vicinity of the mound, with no success. Between 18–29 June 2007 a quadrant of the barrow was excavated in detail with the aim of finding out more about the Mesolithic remains. This revealed the kerb and make-up of the barrow and confirmed the presence of residual Mesolithic lithics in the barrow matrix. It also confirmed that the old ground surface had been stripped when the barrow mound was built, but that pockets of soil had survived compressed into hollows in the bedrock. These contained lithics including microliths. These pockets were sealed by the mound material and one contained a fragment of hazelnut shell which has yielded a radiocarbon date of 7900+35BP (SUERC-15587), or 6820–6660BC.

Evidence relating to Orkney’s earliest (pre-Skara Brae) inhabitants is very rare; microlithic assemblages do exist but all come from surface collections and none have been excavated or dated. Long Howe is thus important as an indication of the presence of hunter-gatherers in the islands. Not only does it add to the existing assemblages of narrow blade microliths, but it has provided a dated context which suggests that settlement in Orkney occurred in the earlier half of the Scottish Mesolithic. At the time of Mesolithic activity lower sea levels would have meant that the site was further from the sea than it appears today, but the location offers several advantages in terms of nearby marshland and views across local moorland.

Archive deposited with Orkney SMR and RCAHMS.

Funder: Friends of Orkney Archaeological Trust, Historic Scotland, Orkney College, Orkney Islands Council, Society of Antiquaries of London, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

C R Wickham-Jones and J Downes 2007

Geophysical survey around the neighbouring site of Minehowe, OR 63, suggests that there may be associated pyre site to the NE of the barrow.

Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]