Lines on the Landscape, Circles from the Sky: Monuments of Neolithic Orkney
by Trevor Garnham
In attempting to gain an insight into how Neolithic man thought about and conceived of the physical and cosmological world around him, Trevor Garnham looks at the houses, burial monuments, feast-halls and stone circles of Orkney. This book collates a great deal of information on the sites and monuments of Orkney, interpreted from a fresh perspective. Evidence from other areas and research from a range of scholars, from Levi-Strauss and Cassirer to Renfrew and Bradley, forms an important part of this study, as Garnham teases out his own thoughts on how to access the idea of a cosmos through the buildings of Neolithic Orkney. Treating the buildings of Orkney as `architecture with inherent meaning' he argues that early architecture functioned as `simple and closed containers' against taboo, giving way to `complex and open "temples"' that actively engaged with the cosmos.
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The Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland
by Alexander Fenton
Originally published in 1978, this is a masterly and comprehensive (720 pages) account of the material
culture of Orkney and Shetland.. More information and prices from:
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Knap of Howar, Papa Westray.
Oldest standing domestic structure in North-West Europe
The Knap from the east
The oldest known standing settlement in
lies on the west
shore of the island of Papa Westray. It consists of two inter-connected 'houses' dating
from the Neolithic or 'New Stone Age'. The Knap was inhabited during the
same period as the famous Skara Brae site on mainland Orkney but was constructed
earlier. It is also contemporary with a number of chambered cairns - elaborate
mortuaries - including one on the Holm of Papay.
A key to understanding the Knap of Howar is that sea levels
- and, therefore, the shoreline- have changed dramatically in the last five to six
thousand years.The Knap would have been some
distance from the sea, perhaps part of a larger settlement. Papay (Papa Westray) might
still have been connected to Westray, its larger island neighbour at that
time.
The name 'Knap of Howar' means the 'knoll of mounds'
and describes the sandy dunes which covered the remains before their first
excavation by William Traill and William Kirkness in 1929. The combined
action of wind and winter storms had revealed stonework and shell-packed
midden (waste) which had been used to insulate the structure. They found
two well-constructed, oval and inter-connected stone buildings or house
structures. They thought the buildings dated from the iron age. At that
time most neolithic structures were labelled 'Pict's Houses' although William Traill
knew that such structures were likely to be much older than the Pictish period.
Knap of Howar in the 1950s - from Maggie's Book by M. Harcus
The remains were left until the 1970s when fresh excavations
were undertaken and the ruins consolidated by the Ministry of Works (now
Historic Scotland). Excavations were supervised by Anna Ritchie. Radiocarbon
dating of finds from these excavations showed, remarkably, that the Knap
of Howar had been lived in between 3700 and 2800 BC. In fact. it was the
oldest known inhabited structure in northern Europe!
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- photographs and information about Papa Westray, how to get
there and where to stay.
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Northern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland (Road Map S.)
Ordnance Survey
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Scottish Islands: Orkney and Shetland Bk.2 (Scottish Islands)
by James Penrith, Deborah Penrith
Orkney & Shetland's history goes back over 5,000 years creating the richest archaeological legacy in the British Isles. With stunning coastal scenery and unique flora and fauna, the islands are a spectacular and unspoilt destination.
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