Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:07:22.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Continuity Over Three Thousand Years of Northern Prehistory: The ‘tel’ at Howe, Orkney

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2014

Euan W. MacKie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The excavation report of Howe, a multi-period prehistoric site in Orkney, appeared, in 1994 and is reviewed here in detail. The Iron Age levels revealed a series of stone roundhouses and broch-like buildings which – it is claimed – show the local development of these structures in the north. However the evidence for the nature of the structures concerned, and for the dating of the earlier ones, is not really clear enough to support this hypothesis, and the unstable site raises doubts about the primarily defensive nature of the structures. The large quantities of well stratified pottery and other finds have huge research potential, and the writer has undertaken some new work on the rotary querns. The remains of neolithic buildings – including two superimposed chambered cairns – were found underneath the Iron Age levels at the end of the excavations. Fresh fieldwork by the writer is described which suggests that the first tomb was linked to the winter solstice. Clear continuity with the orientation of the later structures can be seen, and it is possible that access to the neolithic structures in the Iron Age was retained by means of an underground chamber. The ceremonial purposes of the site at Howe throughout most of its life may thus have been seriously underestimated.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 78 , March 1998 , pp. 1 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alcock, L. 1980 [1977–78] ‘Excavation and publication: some comments’. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 109, 1–6 Google Scholar
Armit, I. 1990a ‘Brochs and beyond in the Western Isles’, in Beyond the Brochs: Changing Perspectives in the Scottish Atlantic Iron Age (Armit, I., ed.), Edinburgh, 40–71 Google Scholar
Armit, I. 1990b ‘Epilogue: the Atlantic Scottish Iron Age’, in Beyond the Brochs: Changing Perspectives in the Scottish Atlantic Iron Age (ed. Armit, I.), 194–210, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Armit, I. 1992 [1991] ‘The Atlantic Scottish Iron Age: five levels of chronology’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 121, 181–214 Google Scholar
Ballin Smith, B. (ed.) 1994. Howe: Four Millennia of Orkney Prehistory, Soc. Antiq. Scot. Monogr., 9, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Burl, H.A.W. 1976. The Stone Circles of the British Isles, New Haven & London.Google Scholar
Caulfield, S. 1977. ‘The beehive quern in Ireland’, J. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ir., 107, 104–38Google Scholar
Caulfield, S. 1980 [1977–78]. ‘Quern replacement and the origin of the brochs’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 109, 129–39Google Scholar
Childe, V.G. 1943. ‘Rotary querns on the Continent and in the Mediterranean basin’, Antiquity, 17, 19–26 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childe, V.G. 1954. ‘Rotary motion’, in A History of Technology, (eds. Singer, C., Holmyard, E.J. and Hall, A.R.), 187–215, Oxford Google Scholar
Close-Brooks, J. 1983. ‘Dr Bersu's excavations at Traprain Law’, in From the Stone Age to the ‘Forty-Five: Studies Presented to R.B.K. Stevenson (eds. O'Connor, A. and Clarke, D.V.), 206–23, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Coles, J.M. 1959 [1958–9]. ‘Scottish swan's-neck sunflower pins’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 92, 1–9 Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. 1983. Danebury: Anatomy of an Iron Age Hillfort, London Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. 1991. Danebury: an Iron Age Hillfort in Hampshire. The excavations 1979–1988, 5, The Finds, London Google Scholar
Curwen, E.C. 1937. ‘Querns’, Antiquity, 9, 133–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curwen, E.C. 1941. ‘More about querns’, Antiquity, 15, 15–32 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, J.C. and Henshall, A. 1989. The Chambered Cairns of Orkney, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Fairhurst, H. 1984. Excavations at Crosskirk broch, Caithness. Edinburgh: Soc. Antiq. Scot. Monog. ser. no. 3 Google Scholar
Foster, S.M. 1989. ‘Analysis of spatial patterns in buildings (access analysis) as an insight into social structure; examples from the Scottish Atlantic Iron Age’, Antiquity, 63, 40–50 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, A. 1949 [1946–47]. ‘Some observations on the brochs’. Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 81, 81–99 Google Scholar
Hamilton, J.R.C. 1956 Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Hamilton, J.R.C. 1968. Excavations at Clickhimin, Shetland, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Hanson, W.E. 1990. ‘The Flavian Auxiliary fort at Elginhaugh’, in Akten des 14. Internationalen Limeskongresses 1986 in Carnutum (eds., Vetters, V. and Kandier, M.), Der Römische Limes in Österreich, Heft 36/1, 379–85, Vienna Google Scholar
Harris, E.C. 1989. Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy, 2nd edn., London Google Scholar
Hawkins, G.S. 1965. Stonehenge Decoded, London Google Scholar
Hedges, J.W. 1987. Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney, 3 vols., Brit. Archaeol. Rep., Brit. Ser., 163, Oxford Google Scholar
Hedges, J.W. 1990. ‘The broch period’, in The Prehistory of Orkney: BC 4000–100 AD (ed Renfrew, C.), 150–75, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Hedges, J.W. and Bell, B. 1980. ‘That tower of Scottish prehistory: the broch’, Antiquity, 54, 87–94 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heggie, D.C. 1981. Megalithic Science: Ancient Mathematics and Astronomy in Northwest Europe,. London Google Scholar
Lockyer, N. 1906. Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments, London Google Scholar
MacGregor, M. 1976. Early Celtic Metalwork in North Britain: a Study of Decorative Metalwork from the Third Century BC to the Third Century AD, 2 vols., Leicester Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1965. ‘The origin and development of the broch and wheelhouse building cultures of the Scottish Iron Age’, Proc. Prehist. Soc., 31, 93–143 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1969a. ‘Continuity in fort-building traditions in Caithness’, in The Dark Ages in the Highlands (ed. Meldrum, E.), 1–18, Inverness Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1969b. ‘Review’ of Hamilton 1968. Proc Prehist Soc., 35, 386–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1971. ‘English migrants and Scottish brochs’, Glasgow Archaeol. J., 2, 39–71 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1972 [1971–72]. ‘Some new quernstones from brochs and duns’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 104, 137–46Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1974. Dun Mor Vaui: an Iron Age Broch on Tiree, Glasgow Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1983. ‘Testing hypotheses about Scottish brochs’, Scott. Archaeol. Rev., 2.2, 117–27Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1985. ‘The Leckie broch, Stirlingshire; an interim report’, Glasgow Archaeol. J., 9, 60–72 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1987. ‘Review’ of Fairhurst 1984, Antiq. J., 65, 500–501 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1988. ‘Investigating the prehistoric solar calendar’, in Records in Stone: Papers Presented to Alexander Thom (ed. Ruggles, C.L.N.), 206–31, Cambridge Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1992 [1991]. ‘The Iron Age semibrochs of Atlantic Scotland: a case study in the problems of deductive reasoning’, Archaeol. J., 148, 149–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1995 [1994]. ‘Gurness and Midhowe brochs in Orkney: some problems of misinterpretation’. Archaeol. J., 151,–98–157Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1997a. ‘Dun Mor Vaul revisited’, in The Archaeology of Argyll (ed. Ritchie, J.N.G.), 141–80, Edinburgh Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1997b. ‘Maeshowe and the winter solstice: ceremonial aspects of the Orkney Grooved Ware culture’, Antiquity, 71, 338–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W., Gladwin, P.F. and Roy, A.E. 1985. ‘A prehistoric calendrical site in Argyll?’ Nature, 314, 158–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. and Davis, A. 1990 [1988–89]. ‘New light on neolithic rock carvings: the petroglyphs at Greenland (Auchentorlie), Dumbartonshire’, Glasgow Archaeol J., 15, 125–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, R.J. 1981. Archaeological Field Survey in Northern Scotland, Vol. II. 1980–1981, Univ. Edinburgh Dept. Archaeol. Occas. Pap., 7, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Nisbet, H. 1997 [1995–95] ‘Excavation of a vitrified dun at Langwell, Strath Oykell, Sutherland’, Glasgow Archaeol. J., 19, 51–74 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, J. 1997. Stonehenge, Neolithic Man and the Cosmos, London Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1979. Investigations in Orkney, Rep. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq. London, 38, London Google Scholar
Ritchie, A. 1985 [1984]. ‘Excavation of a neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 113, 140–121Google Scholar
Ritchie, J.N.G. 1988. ‘The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney’, in Records in Stone; Papers Presented to Alexander Thorn (ed. Ruggles, C.L.N.), 337–50, Cambridge Google Scholar
RCAHMS 1946. Inventory of Orkney and Shetland, vol. 2, Orkney, Roy. Comm. Ancient Hist. Monuments Scotland Inventories, Edinburgh Google Scholar
SirScott, L. 1948. ‘Gallo-British colonies; the aisled round-house culture in the north’. Proc. Prehist. Soc., 14, 46–125 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharples, N. 1986 [1985]. ‘Excavations at Pierowall Quarry, Westray, Orkney’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 114, 75–125 Google Scholar
Shepherd, A. 1994. ‘Howe: a review of the sequence’, in Ballin Smith ed., 267–89Google Scholar
Thatcher, A.R. 1976. ‘The Station Stones at Stonehenge’, Antiquity, 50, 144–6Google Scholar
Thorn, A. 1967. Megalithic Sites in Britain, Oxford Google Scholar
Thorn, A. and Thorn, A.S. 1978. Megalithic Sites in Britain and Brittany, Oxford Google Scholar
Thorn, A, Thorn, A.S. and Burl, H.A.W. 1980. Megalithic Rings; Plans and Data for 229 Monuments in Britain. Brit. Archaeol. Rep. Brit. Ser., 81, Oxford Google Scholar
Wailes, B. 1976. ‘Dun Ailinne: an interim report’, in Hillforts: Later Prehistoric Earthworks in Britain and Ireland (ed. Harding, D.W.), 319–18, London Google Scholar