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A Stone-Age Settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney

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A Stone-Age Settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney I. A STONE-AGE SETTLEMENT AT THE BRAES OF RINYO, ROUSAY, ORKNEY. (FIRST REPORT.) BY PROFESSOR V. G. CHILDE, F.S.A.ScoT., AND WALTER G. GRANT, F.S.A.ScoT. Sherds and flints have frequently turned up on the lands of Bigland Brae e settlemen e fooFarth e th Rinyof f th so o t mt a Bu . t here described was first discovered by James Yorston, jun., an employe of Mr Grant's, engage prospectinn i d g unde s directiohi r n durin wintee th g f 1937-8o r . Following up indications afforded by slabs on edge projecting through the turf, he exposed the outlines of prehistoric dwellings, including the whol whaf eo t wil, F , l hereafteD part, d B an f so C describee rb d an A s da . RecognisinG d an g thae architecturth t d relican e s agreed with those discovere t Skara d a Brae t thabu , t their association with sherda f o s Beake sitw re ne gavexceptiona e eth l importance desistee h , d from further operations until excavations could be carried out under our continuous supervision. We began work in June 1938 and continued till the middle of July, after which dat e ruinth e s were covered over protectionfo r . Durin weekx si g f relativelo s y unfavourable weathe e completew r e th d examination of chambers A, B, C, and D and brought to light a new chamber situated beneath them. The results obtained suggest that we have on Rousay a complete settlement of Beaker age or earlier, the full excavation of which may be expected to prove no less revolutionary for British prehistory than that of Koln-Lindentha s bee r Centraha lfo n l STONE-AGE SETTLEMENT, ROUSAY, ORKNEY. 7 European. But it will require several seasons' work, so it has seemed desirabl o publist e t oncha fairlea y full accoun e resultth f o st obtained up to date. In the north-east corner of Rousay the land falls away in a south- westerly direction from the heights of Faraclett Head in a succession of terraces where the flagstones, bedded almost horizontally, crop out in a series of miniature precipices. The lowest of these terraces rises to 100 feet above O.D., or rather over 20 feet (in a distance of 80 feet) above the cultivated fields of Bigland Farm. The prehistoric settlement begins immediately at the foot of this steep brae, which shelters it (see fig. 1). The preservation of the buildings described below is to be attributed at leasscree hild parn th i te an lo t twas h fro terrace mth e aboveth n O . other hand, the outcrops on the brae have been quarried for building ston r centuriesefo eved e stee e basth an , n th f p eo declivity, thougw hno reserved, like the moor above it, for pasture, seems not to have escaped agricultural operations. Stones of the prehistoric dwellings projected abov ture eth f before excavation started severad an , thesf o l heavile ear y scored on their exposed edges. From the base of the brae the lower beds of flagstone are covered with a relatively deep deposit of soil washed in from above. Over the area excavated this deposit, constituting the subsoil on which the village was built, slopes down, uninterrupted by rock, west- south-west at a rate of 1 in 5. But this predominantly westward slope is traversed by undulations at right angles to it, accounting for differences in level of little more than 8 feet in 15 feet from north to south (PI. I). Remains of human occupation have been encountered throughout the excavated area immediately above virgin soil wherever this has been reached pottere Th . y foun n suci d h situations comprises, like that from e loweth r level t Skara s a Brae waresB ,d botan . hA But e , savth n ei troug a south-to-nort f o h h undulation, only 'fragment f constructiono s s have yet been found resting on virgin soil; the bulk of the constructions exposed rest upon artificial deposits presumably accumulated before their erection. Soundings have shown that ruins exten a distanc r yard0 5 fo d f so e westward towards the farm buildings across a field covered this summer by a hay-crop. The area excavated during 1938, however, measures only some 30 feet from east to west and 40 feet from north to south. On the sout e excavatiohth n began roughln undulatioe cresa th f o n t yo d nan followe e slopdth e downwar trouga norte th o dt n hho which seeme b o t s connected with a line of vertical fracture in the outcropping rock. On the east the boundary of the area coincided in practice with a series of rock-ledges which for e lowesmth e tfirs th ste t o pt terrace braeth f .o e The ledges are, however, only shallow, and there are traces of occupation 8 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , DECEMBE , 193812 R . Fig. 1. The Environs of Rinyo. STONE-AGE SETTLEMENT, ROUSAY, ORKNEY9 . even above them. East of, and above, the ledge the natural exposures of rock have been accentuate d modifiean d stila o lt d uncertain extent by undateable quarrying. Presumably the Rinyoans themselves initiated these operations, for the immense quantity of stone incorporated in the prehistoric houses cannot have been entirely supplie e productth y b d f o s "weathering. Of course the flagstone breaks so easily along bedding planes and "backs" tha t couli t d easil quarriee yb d with stone lowetoolse Th r. chambe e Taiversth n i r o Tuick burial mound itself provide a supers b example of how skilfully admittedly "Neolithic" people could deal with the Rousay flagstone. To make this area habitable it had to be drained and levelled. During raine th f 193 so foun e 8w d tha drainage th t e from abov t onleno y trickled down over the rocks, but also seeped out through joints in the stone. To carry off such moistur emaia n drai beed nha n dug, running parallee th o t l rock-ledges, nort d south h an trouge r e nort t th leasfa a th , s f s ha ha o t undulation that formed the northern limit of our excavation. The un- evenness of the ground-level was partly counteracted by the construction of terraces formed of midden material or of layers of horizontal slabs. e Ogrounnth d thus prepare have dw e exposed four chambers, provey db the presence of hearths to be occupational units. Not even these four are necessarily contemporary somd an ,theif eo r walls cover fragment otherf so s which mus earliere b tchambere Th . s have beed n an numbere , C , B , dA D, and it will be convenient to describe them in that order, reserving for subsequent discussio questioe nth theif no r chronological relations (PI. II). Chambe s situatei rA d jus te undulation crese nortth th f o f th o e Th . ruins of the older chamber, E, under its north wall, however, reduce the slope across A's floor in this direction to 1 in 30, but from east to'west the floor is inclined as much as 1 in 7! (sections AB and CD). Without annexes chamber A is approximately a rectangle with two corners rounded, 15 feet long north-west to south-east and 11 feet wide. It is entered at its north- western end through a passage-doorway situated west of the centre of the end wal . Stoul1) (PI, IV .t slab edgn o s e for outee mth r jambs. Behind them a thin slab projects edgewise from the left-hand wall to serve as check; no corresponding check survives in the opposite wall and the aperture at this point is 2 feet 3 inches wide. Beyond the check the door cheeks are faced with slabs on edge which are preserved to heights of 1 foot 6 inches and 1 foot 10 inches respectively above the pavement, without, however, showing holes for the bar such as pierce the similar slab doorwayn si typf t Skarso a eI a Brae. In the chamber's side walls are bed enclosures demarcated by slabs on edge precisely as at Skara Brae. That on the left (PI. IV, 2) projects into e chambe th e manneth n i r r normae Mainlanth n o l d thoug s alsi ot i h recessed inte sidoth e dept a walbace foot 1 o Th t f lk ho . wal f thio l s 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, DECEMBER 12, 1938. s formei a singld f be o d e sla f slatebo y stone ove fee2 r inche6 t s high, •which has been pushed forward by the weight of earth behind it so that it's upper edge now overhangs 8 inches. The right-hand bed is recessed into the south-west wall, as in chamber 9 at Skara Brae, and is separated from the main chamber by two slabs in line "with the wall, respectively foo1 incheinche8 8 t d san high. e easth t n I corne a smalr l tank (limpet box), walled, flooredd an , covered with carefully trimmed rectangular "slates, bees t "intha n e le oth actualls wa d li y e founfloorTh position n d.i receptacle th t bu , e contained nothing but earth and midden material that had filtered in under the lid.
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