Rivalries in Neolithic Orkney outlined in new ‘Antiquity’ study
Rivalries in Orkney more than 4,500 years ago led to competition between communities including over how people were buried, according to new research.
Scientists were able to gather much more precise estimates of the timing and duration of events in the period around 3200–2500 BC by examining more than 600 radiocarbon dates. This allowed more precise estimates of the timing and duration of events in the period c.3200-2500BC.
The study, published in the journal Antiquity, challenges many previously-held ideas about Neolithic Orkney. It used a Bayesian statistical approach to combine calibrated radiocarbon dates with knowledge of the archaeological contexts that the finds have come from to provide much more precise chronologies than those previously available.
It was led by Prof Alex Bayliss from Historic England, with Prof Colin Richards of the UHI Archaeology Instituteas co-author. The study is part of The Times of Their Lives – a project funded by the European Research Council, which applied the same methodology to a wider series of case studies across Neolithic Europe.
The study concludes that seemingly rapid changes in settlements and monuments indicate that there were rivalries and tension between social groups. This was played out in how they buried their dead and in their communal gatherings and rituals.
Key dates indicated by the study:
- Orkney was probably first colonised in c. 3600 cal BC. There was an expansion and growth of settlement and building of monuments from c. 3300 cal BC.
- Settlement peaked in the period c. 3100–2900 cal BC.
- There was a phase of decline c. 2800–2600 cal BC, measured by the number of stone houses in use.
- Settlement resumed in c. 2600–2300 cal BC, but only outside the “core” area of Brodgar-Stenness. It could have been about this time that the Ring of Brodgar itself was erected, probably bringing people together from across Orkney but into what was now a sacred, not a domestic, landscape.
It also suggests that the period saw competition between communities that was played out in how they buried their dead and in their communal gatherings and rituals, as well as:
- An overlap between the construction of the two main type of chambered cairns – Maeshowe-type passage graves and the stalled cairns – in the later fourth millennium cal BC.
- An overlap between the emergence of the flat-based Grooved Ware pottery style and the round-based Unstan Ware pottery of the earlier Neolithic.
- The first appearance of the non-native Orkney vole, Microtus agrestis, c. 3200 cal BC. This is significant as it is found today on Orkney and on the European continent but not in mainland Britain. It was probably introduced via direct long-distance sea travel between Orkney and the continent. The study therefore also considers whether new people from continental Europe were part of this complex cultural scenario.
Prof Bayliss said: “This study shows that new statistical analysis of the large numbers of radiocarbon dates that are now available in British archaeology really changes what we can know about our pasts.
“People in the Neolithic made choices, just like us, about all sorts of things – where to live, how to bury their dead, how to farm, where and when to gather together – and those choices are just beginning to come into view through archaeology.”
Prof Richards said: “Our study shows how much remains to be discovered in Orkney about the Neolithic period, even though it may appear well known.”
Prof Alasdair Whittle of Cardiff University is the lead investigator for The Times of Their Lives.
Prof Whittle said: “Visitors come from all over the world to admire the wonderfully preserved archaeological remains of Orkney, in what may seem a timeless setting.
“Our study underlines that the Neolithic past was often rapidly changing, and that what may appear to us to be enduring monuments were in fact part of a dynamic historical context.”
The paper, Islands of history: the Late Neolithic timescape of Orkney, is available here.
