Time Team experts Dr John Gater, Matt Williams and Jackie McKinley have joined forces with the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), Shetland Islands Council and Viking specialist, Dr Colleen Batey to investigate a possible Viking era boat burial in Shetland.
Granted Scheduled Monument Consent by Historic Environment Scotland, the summer 2025 dig is the culmination of work over the past two years and will feature in a Time Team programme next year.
Shetland’s county archaeologist, Dr Val Turner, became aware of the site during an assessment for a housing planning proposal in early 2023. Her investigations identified a prominent, 22.5-metre prominent, and apparently undisturbed, mound on private land, with characteristic features associated with a potential Viking boat burial.
She explained: “On seeing the site, I blurted out to my colleague: ‘But that’s a Viking boat burial!’ It’s going to be a nerve-racking, but exciting few days until we find out if I was correct, thanks to the Time Team coming on board.”
There have been only a handful of Viking Age boat burials confirmed through excavation in the UK. In Orkney the locations include two at Westness, Rousay; one at Mayback on the north-eastern coast of Papa Westray; two at Pierowall, Westray, and one at Scar in Sanday.
Two surveys were conducted by Dr Nick Hannon, from Historic Environment Scotland and Time Team’s Dr John Gater (SUMO GeoSurveys) in September 2023 and September 2024 respectively. The results of these proved very exciting.
Time Team have been working with ORCA to put a project design together, with feedback from HES as the relevant regulatory body. The team hope that this will confirm whether the mound really does contain a Viking burial.
Paul Clark, ORCA’s senior project manager, said: “All of us at ORCA are excited to explore such an important site, especially with the added benefit of working alongside Time Team and sharing the story with a wide audience.
“Some of the excavation team have spent years living and working in Shetland and we’re very much looking forward to learning about this site and helping to inform its long-term conservation.”
The team will also be conducting a wider survey and evaluation of the area around the mound, bringing into focus other identified archaeological features which may contribute to the story.
