The heart of Orkney
Mick Sharp reflects on the many attractions of Orkney, now and in antiquity
The Orkney archipelago – some 90 islands and skerries (rocky outcrops and sea stacks) – provides a paradise for archaeologists, historians, geologists, naturalists, writers, poets, artists and musicians, and lovers of varied coastal scenery, good food and drink. The islands are part of the Scottish mainland, almost drowned by rising sea levels during the Final Upper Palaeolithic (around 11,000bc). Remorseless seas are further reducing Orkney’s margins, revealing remarkable ancient sites in dunes and exposed land faces. In the Neolithic, kinder sea conditions than today allowed islandhopping people to cross the Pentland Firth from Caithness. Fertile land for mixed farming, manageable woodland, easily split building blocks and flagstones of Old Red Sandstone, spare time and abundant human resources enabled the building of exquisite stone structures – houses, chambered tombs, temples and circles – on a grand scale.
In western Mainland, within the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, stand the great stone circles of Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness. Along with associated tombs and outlying menhirs, they form a breathtaking ceremonial complex now set in a theatre of water and sky. Linking them, running between the lochs of Stenness and Harray, is an isthmus called the Ness of Brodgar. Excavations there by Nick Card have, since 2003, revealed a complex of Neolithic (around 3200bc–2300bc) drystone structures – a massive boundary wall, long houses with ground plans similar to stalled cairns, and a large temple-like building – combining “domestic” and “religious” characteristics (see most recent feature Sep/Oct 2018/162).
In 1984–91 Colin Richards uncovered a similar mix at Barnhouse just north of the Stenness circle, by fieldwalking and excavations. Some of the circular, free-standing “family” houses, and two elaborate “ceremonial” buildings, have been partially reconstructed. The feasting and meeting-house (House 2, foreground above) was used throughout the life of the settlement (3300– 2600bc). Its interior resembles a Maes Howe-type tomb with six recesses leading off a central area. The doorway was aligned south-east to midwinter sunrise, such that a beam of light would fall on the covering slab of a cist between the two fireplaces.
During the settlement’s final phase a monumental temple (Structure 8, rear) was constructed, with a 3m wide (10ft) cavity wall surrounded by a circular clayfloored courtyard. The inner covered space was over 7m (23ft) square, with a central hearth and a stone dresser. The entrance faced north-west towards the summer solstice setting sun. Beyond the threshold, flanked by two standing stones, lay another hearth, possibly used for ritual purification. Cooking for large-scale feasting was carried out in the courtyard, on hearths situated behind the temple’s rear wall.
While I was photographing Barnhouse from a pair of steps in June 1997, a familiar Time Team figure arrived. I admired Mick Aston’s work, we shared an interest in Early Christian sites and he’d made kind comments about my photos in reviews for Oxbow Books, so we soon got chatting. There was the possibility of some of my photographs being used in his planned book on early monasticism in the British Isles: we stayed in touch but, sadly, it was not to be.