A change of thought at the start of week two…
The second and final week of this demanding, but rewarding, field season got under way today with a full complement of student diggers and volunteers on site.
And what a day it was. Again, great progress was made across the trench and we were also delighted to welcome interested residents and visitors to both the site and Sanday Heritage Centre as part of our open day.
We’ll begin today, however, with a change…
When digging started last Sunday, we were of the opinion that we had a Bronze Age double house. As work continued, and the trench was uncovered and extended, the seeds of doubt began to take root.
It’s now (almost) certain that what we have at the west end of the trench is not a Bronze Age house but a substantial Early Neolithic structure – one that underwent at least three major modifications in what was clearly a long life.
It seems to have started out as a long, subrectangular structure, orientated east to west, with an interior divided by a series of paired orthostats – a feature found not only in early dwellings but within the stalled cairns, such as Unstan , Midhowe and Tresness (see below).
3d model of the Tresness stalled cairn, Sanday. (📷 Hugo Anderson-Whymark)
At some point this building was reduced in size and a new western end wall constructed. Against this was an end chamber, divided in two by central orthostats and separated from the rest of the interior by a row of kerbstones running south-north. This feature, which brings to mind the so-called “dressers” in Late Neolithic structures, is reminiscent of end chambers found in early Neolithic dwellings and in the stalled, Orkney-Cromarty type “tombs”.
The later, probably Bronze Age, addition to the east of the Neolithic building, featuring walling and a curved passageway. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
The third phase of activity very likely dates to the Bronze Age, and relates to a structure added to the eastern end of the Neolithic building with a curving passageway leading into it. So far, only elements of this later structure have been revealed, so its form, and exactly how it relates to the earlier building, remains unclear for now.
And that’s where we stand at the end of day seven.
Excavation under way today. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
The remaining few days of the dig will focus on a later, circular feature revealed outside the suspected southern entrance of the Neolithic structure. This stone feature, 4.5 metres in diameter, was cleaned and carefully defined today before work to plan it began…
Once that is complete, its excavation can get under way.
Professor Colin Richards planning the circular stone feature this afternoon. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
Among today’s site visitors were Professor Ingrid Mainland, of the UHI Archaeology Institute, and pollen specialist Robert Craigie. They were out to demonstrate environmental coring to our students before leading the open day activities in the Sanday Heritage Centre.
These focused on elements of environmental archaeology that will form part of or new RICHeS-funded AEONS laboratories at UHI Orkney.
UHI Archaeology Institute students carrying out environmental coring with Robert Craigie at the north end of the Bay of Stove. (📷 Nicola Newman)
In Sanday with Ingrid and Robert was zooarchaeologist Associate Professor Ramona Harrison, a visiting researcher from the University of Bergen, Norway.
