The Border of Farming and the Cultural Markers - Nordlige Verdener

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6 Neolithic Shetland: a view from the ’mainland’ Alison Sheridan Introduction In comparison with the rest of Scotland, where our understanding of the Neolithic period has advanced considerably as a result of excavation and targeted research, Neolithic Shetland has remained something of an enigma. This is largely because the focus for excavation and research in Shetland over the last quarter century has tended to be on later periods, principally the Iron Age and Viking and Norse period, and because commercial and rescue archaeology has not operated on the same scale as on the Scottish ‘mainland’, leading to fewer discoveries. Until recently, very little Neolithic-orientated excavation or research had been carried out since Alasdair Whittle’s excavations at the Scord of Brouster settlement between 1977 and 1979 (Whittle et al. 1986) and Roy Ritchie’s investigation of felsite sources and their products (R. Ritchie 1968; 1992). With the exception of Gordon Parry’s West Burra survey (Hedges 1984), there had been nothing to compare with the flurry of surveying and excavation that took place during the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with the intention of clarifying Neolithic settlement and funerary practices (e.g. Calder 1950; 1956; 1963; Henshall 1963). However, there have been signs of a recent growth of interest in Shetland’s Neolithic, not least because of discoveries at West Voe, Sumburgh in 2002, 2004 and 2005 when Mesolithic and Neolithic middens, exposed through coastal erosion, were investigated (Melton 2005; Melton & Nicholson 2004 and see below). That small-scale excavation sparked Bradford University’s research project on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Shetland, which has included palaeoenvironmental investigation near West Voe and an osteological and isotopic analysis of the human remains from the cist found at Sumburgh Airport in 1977 (Edwards et al. 2009; Gilmore & Melton
7 2011; Melton 2008; 2009; Melton & Montgomery 2009). Renewed interest in the exploitation of felsite for the manufacture of axeheads and knives (Ballin 2011a; 2011b) has led to the current research project as outlined by Ballin and Cooney elsewhere in this volume, while the excavation of sites of probable Neolithic (and later) date on the Hill of Crooksetter near Sullom Voe in 2010 and 2011, in advance of the con struc tion of a gas processing plant by Total E&P UK, promises to produce important new evidence regarding Neolithic settlement in that part of Shetland (Ballin 2011c; Brend 2010; Brend & Barton 2011). Furthermore, in the last three years there have been three initiatives that focus specifically on Shetland’s Neolithic: the first is part of the Scotland-wide ScARF (Scottish Archaeological Research Frame work) Project, undertaken for Historic Scotland by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (http://www.socantscot.org/scarf. asp), and involves a critical appraisal of our current state of knowledge and outstanding research questions. The second is the development of The Neolithic Heart of Shetland Heritage Strategy, undertaken by AOC Archaeology for Viking Energy in 2010 and relating to plans for a major wind farm development around Voe in Central Mainland (http://www. shetland.gov.uk/planningcontrol/documents/AppendixA13.6TheNeolithicHear tofShetlandHeritageStrategy.pdf). If this controversial development were to go ahead, this strategy would include the excavation of several cairns and settlements of presumed Neolithic date. The third initiative is, of course, the Nationalmuseet’s Farming on the Edge: Cultural Landscapes of the North Project (Mahler & Andersen 2011), which has given rise to this volume and has acted as a catalyst for fresh research, including detailed field survey of several settlements and related land divisions by Ditlev Mahler. This work complements the survey work undertaken by Val Turner (Turner 2011) and the aerial photographic work undertaken by David Cowley of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland in 2010 at Sandwick Bay and the Walls area (RCAHMS 2010: 194); the results of all of this survey work need to be followed by excavation in order to determine how many of the sites are of Neolithic date. All these developments mean that the time is ripe to assess what we can say, and what we need to find out, about this fascinating but under-researched part of Shetland’s past. This contribution constitutes an initial attempt to do just that. Beginnings: the Earliest Neolithic and prior human activity While it has been claimed, on palynological grounds, that there was human presence in Shetland as early as c. 6000 Nordlige Verdener Shetlandsprojekt
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Page 5 and 6: Contents • Foreword H. C. Gulløv
Page 7: different parts of Scandinavia and
Page 11 and 12: 9 consists of just a handful of sma
Page 13 and 14: 11 Fig. 1: Possibly the earliest me
Page 15 and 16: 13 knives, found in a long ‘knoll
Page 17 and 18: 15 Fig. 4: Potsherds from Modesty.
Page 19 and 20: 17 settlement was not recorded in d
Page 21 and 22: 19 Among the many outstanding quest
Page 23 and 24: 21 Fig. 7: Undecorated, uncarinated
Page 25 and 26: 23 Fig. 8: Top: cushion macehead, S
Page 27 and 28: 25 carbon dates suggest that House
Page 29 and 30: 27 monument (Henshall 1963) - which
Page 31 and 32: 29 Fig. 10: Notional sequence of fu
Page 33 and 34: 31 it is anticipated that the resea
Page 35 and 36: 33 zons. Papers Presented at the Se
Page 37 and 38: 35 RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the
Page 39 and 40: 37 Pinhoulland - a multi period sit
Page 41 and 42: 39 general which could be interpret
Page 43 and 44: 41 Fig. 3: Map of the area around P
Page 45 and 46: 43 Most of the house structures are
Page 47 and 48: 45 Photo Ditlev L. Mahler. Jarlshof
Page 49 and 50: 47 ± 1 15 14 1 16 18 13 17 12 7 9
Page 51 and 52: ± 49 14 15 16 13 18 14 15 16 17 13
Page 53 and 54: 51 Bennett, K. D. et al. 1992: Holo
Page 55 and 56: 53 Sacred Work: Cultivating the soi
Page 57 and 58: 55 Photographs by the author. Fig 4
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57 Fig. 7: Shetland spade from the
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59 The significance of agrarian too
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61 Lamb, R. & Rees, S. 1981: Ard Cu
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63 like that of Schneiderman-Fox &
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65 Fig. 3: Shetland knife workshop
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67 a list of rituals to be carried
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69 (hollow-edged), profile category
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71 35 30 TN - far from Bømlo 25 20
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Cambrian flint Southern Scottish ch
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75 flint and some Arran pitchstone,
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77 [http://www.sair.org.uk/sair17/i
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79 Axes from islands: the role of s
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81 material but there were a couple
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83 A centre of island life, axe pro
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85 dal 1998: 61). It is clear that
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87 as larger ones were being produc
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89 the tool pre-forms or rough-outs
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91 During September 2011, following
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93 Fig. 11: Knive workshop at easte
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95 support a symbolic interpretatio
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97 farming: an extended broad spect
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99 Ritchie, P.R. 1992: Stone axehea
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101 Age societies reached this poin
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103 F. Kaul Photo. Culture. In Sout
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105 monumental passage tombs, a sma
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107 F. Kaul Photo. Fig. 6: Dæmpe g
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109 Fig. 7: Plan drawing of the mul
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111 Fig. 11: Tulach an t-Sionnaich,
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113 Among the remarkably few horned
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115 Fig. 14: Plan drawing of the Ne
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117 just before the time when the C
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119 Bibliography Andersen, S.H. & J
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121 Madsen, A.P., 1896: Gravhøje o
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123 Norway - the first remains of f
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125 Fig. 4: The northernmost house
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127 Børsheim 2005: 115, 116 fig. 4
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129 scarce in Norway, and they are
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131 Bibliography Arntzen, J. 2010 a
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133 Introduction As introduced else
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135 Generally we speak of six diffe
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137 earlier. In this respect the co
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139 coming up the British West coas
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141 Grønnow, B. 2004: Saqqaqkultur
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143 The heel shaped cain on the isl
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The Border of Farming and the Cultu
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The Border of Farming and the Cultural Markers - Nordlige Verdener

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