The Border of Farming and the Cultural Markers - Nordlige Verdener

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the tool pre-forms or rough-outs were produced.
Potentially related features such
as small shelters and cairns can be recognized
and at the Beorgs of Uyea there is
the well-known lintelled gallery, with one
lateral side formed by a worked felsite
dyke (Scott and Calder 1952). Three distinct
zones can be recognized in the quarry
complex; The Beorgs (of Uyea) / Pettadale
Water, Midfield (east of Ronas Hill)
and the central Lakelands (the area between
the two main quarry complexes).
An important factor to be considered is
the presence of blanket peat over much
of the complex, particularly the lowerlying
areas. There are locations where
the peat has been eroded and felsite
can be seen but it is difficult to characterize
the nature of this material. More
broadly the issue is the amount and
character of evidence that may be concealed
by the blanket peat cover.
Preliminary analysis of museum collections
indicates that the distribution of felsite
products was widespread within but
restricted to the Shetland archipelago
(see Ballin 2011c: 38-9). Combined with
the exceptional quality of the evidence
for quarrying and production in North
Roe this geographic context facilitates
following the cultural life of felsite objects
through extraction, production, uselife
and deposition, in some cases as
spectacular caches or hoards and in other
cases in houses, where they mainly occur
in fragmentary or re-used form. The distribution
and context of these artifacts
can be taken as a proxy for the amount
and nature of exchange and contact within
and between island communities in
Shetland and how this changed over time.
This evidence provides a critically important
research opportunity to examine
the dynamics of island life and compare
and contrast it with Neolithic societies
elsewhere in Europe.
Nordlige Verdener
Shetlandsprojekt