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Category: Iron Age

Plan of The Cairns Excavation
Iron Age Seminar The Cairns

Seminar: new thoughts on Iron Age stalled buildings of northern Scotland

The first UHI Archaeology Institute online research seminar of 2023 takes place next week and will see Martin Carruthers and Scott Timpany casting a fresh eye on Iron Age stalled buildings.

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, January 25, 2023 (12:27pm)Wednesday, January 25, 2023 (12:35pm)
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(Viv Walker)
Iron Age The Cairns

Link: Recreating Iron Age repairs – rivets and The Cairns bowl

A splendid blog post from experimental archaeologist and woodworker Viv Walker on her investigation into how The Cairns bowl was repaired in antiquity.

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, November 30, 2022 (7:30am)Wednesday, November 30, 2022 (7:39am)
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Picture: Bobby Friel
Excavation Iron Age Swartigill

A look back at Swartigill 2022

A flash back to the tail end of the summer and the excavation of the Iron Age site at Swartigill, Caithness.

by Sigurd TowrieFriday, November 25, 2022 (8:00am)Friday, December 9, 2022 (11:37am)
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The Cairns Broch
Excavation Iron Age The Cairns

Back at The Cairns in 2023

Excavation at The Cairns Iron Age site will resume on Monday, June 12, 2023, running until Friday, July 7.

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, November 16, 2022 (11:21am)Wednesday, November 16, 2022 (11:21am)
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close up photography of white shells
Iron Age Post-excavation The Cairns

Join Holly for an evening of shells…

The role of shellfish in the Iron Age will be among the subjects covered in a Stromness Museum talk by PhD candidate Holly Young next Thursday.

by Sigurd TowrieMonday, November 7, 2022 (7:50am)Monday, November 7, 2022 (7:51am)
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Iron Age The Cairns

Carving The Cairns bowl – an evening of talks at Stromness Museum

The wooden bowl recovered at The Cairns excavation in 2018 will be centre of attention at an evening of talks in the Stromness Museum next Friday.

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, October 26, 2022 (4:00pm)Monday, October 31, 2022 (7:30am)
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Excavation Iron Age Post-excavation The Cairns

Isotope analysis reveals an atypical Iron Age diet for The Cairn’s ‘elder’

Analysis of a woman’s jawbone deposited outside an Iron Age broch around AD200 has shown that seafood was major part of her diet throughout her life.

by Sigurd TowrieMonday, October 17, 2022 (4:43pm)Monday, October 17, 2022 (4:43pm)
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Picture: Holly Young
Excavation Iron Age Swartigill

Swartigill dig diary 2022 – week two

The excavation of the Swartigill Iron Age settlement has reached the end of its second week, and we have had some exciting finds and made a lot of progress.

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, August 31, 2022 (9:45am)Wednesday, August 31, 2022 (10:17am)
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Excavation Iron Age Swartigill

Spectacular Iron Age bead is Swartigill excavation’s find of the day

The star find at the ongoing Swartigill excavation yesterday must be this little flash of colour and decoration straight from the Iron Age! It is a half fragment of a beautifully decorated glass

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, August 24, 2022 (12:11pm)Wednesday, August 24, 2022 (12:11pm)
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Picture: ORCA
Excavation Iron Age Swartigill

Swartigill dig diary 2022 – week one

At the end of our first week of excavation at the Swartigill Iron Age settlement, we are already starting to see some intriguing features within the structures, and tantalising traces of things to come.

by Sigurd TowrieMonday, August 22, 2022 (12:29pm)Monday, August 22, 2022 (12:29pm)
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Swartigill site looking West
Excavation Iron Age Swartigill

Archaeologists back at Swartigill Iron Age site next week

The UHI Archaeology Institute begins its sixth season of excavation at the Burn of Swartigill on Monday, August 15.

by Sigurd TowrieSaturday, August 13, 2022 (11:04am)Sunday, August 14, 2022 (10:50am)
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Excavation Iron Age Swartigill

A look at the Burn of Swartigill dig

With the 2022 season at Swartigill, Caithness, due to start next month, here are two videos from the excavation director Rick Barton to whet your appetite.

by Sigurd TowrieWednesday, July 6, 2022 (6:58pm)Wednesday, July 6, 2022 (6:59pm)
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Aerial view of The Cairns, South Ronaldsay. (Bobby Friel)
Excavation Iron Age The Cairns

Catch up with The Cairns – tours of excavation site on offer next week

We had to significantly reduce the scale of excavation at The Cairns this year but before the covers go back on we’re inviting the public to come along for a tour and an update on the work undertaken this year.

by Sigurd TowrieFriday, July 1, 2022 (7:00am)Wednesday, June 29, 2022 (1:18pm)
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The Cairns Broch
Excavation Iron Age The Cairns

‘People of the Broch’ – OAS talk by Cairns dig director

The recording of Martin Carruthers’s talk – People of the Broch: Excavating an Iron Age Community at The Cairns – to the Orkney Archaeology Society on Thursday, May 26.

by Sigurd TowrieMonday, May 23, 2022 (8:00am)Monday, May 30, 2022 (5:18pm)
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The Cairns broch from above. (Bobby Friel)
Iron Age The Cairns

Cairns excavation takes pride of place at Stromness Museum summer exhibition

Our ongoing excavation at The Cairns is the subject of this year’s summer exhibition at the Stromness Museum.

by Sigurd TowrieFriday, May 6, 2022 (7:40am)Friday, June 10, 2022 (4:55pm)
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The Cairns broch from above. (Bobby Friel)
Excavation Iron Age The Cairns

Back at The Cairns – excavation dates set for 2022

Excavation will resume at The Cairns this summer – from June 13 until July 8, 2022.

by Sigurd TowrieMonday, March 7, 2022 (8:44am)Tuesday, May 10, 2022 (9:55am)
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Aerial view of The Cairns, South Ronaldsay. (Bobby Friel)
Excavation Iron Age The Cairns

Catch up with The Cairns in Glasgow University’s free online seminar

Archaeology Institute excavations at The Cairns, in South Ronaldsay, will be among the topics covered by the University of Glasgow’s new season of free online seminars.

by Sigurd TowrieFriday, March 4, 2022 (8:32am)Monday, May 2, 2022 (11:10am)
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Picture: Sigurd Towrie
Iron Age Post-excavation Swartigill

The significance of the ‘miniscule’ blue beads from Swartigill

Recent post-excavation work, processing soil samples excavated from Swartigill, has revealed several beautiful and tiny pieces of Iron Age jewellery. Not one, not two, but three blue glass beads!

by Sigurd TowrieMonday, January 31, 2022 (9:00am)Monday, January 31, 2022 (9:16am)
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Archaeology Orkney

UHI Archaeology Institute

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UHI Archaeology Institute, Orkney College UHI, East Road, Kirkwall. KW15 1LX
(01856) 569000
sigurd.towrie@uhi.ac.uk
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  • Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA)
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  • Ness of Brodgar Excavation
  • Ness of Brodgar Facebook Page
  • The Cairns excavation Facebook Group
  • Working Stone – the prehistoric stone tools of Orkney

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Top Posts & Pages

  • Masters students out fieldwalking in the shadow of Maeshowe
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  • Seminar: 'Beyond Hillshade' - LiDAR visualisation techniques in Orkney
  • The chambered cairns of Orkney
  • The Cairns
  • Orkney hosting SIRFA's final archaeology symposium in March
  • Moving to Orkney - our experience
  • Get up close to Skara Brae with new 3D model of 5,000-year-old settlement