Excavation of a Neolithic Farmstead at Knap of Ho War, Papa Westray
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Proc Antiqc So Scot, (1983)3 11 , 40-121 Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Ho war, Papa Westray, Orkney - Anna Ritchie* with contribution BramwellD y sb CollinsH G , DicksonC , , J G Evans, A S Henshall, R Inskeep, H Kenward, B A Noddle, M Vaughan Wheeler,A Whittingto,G WilliamF D d nan s ABSTRACT Re-excavation of two stone-built houses and associated midden deposits identified a farming community of the later fourth millennium BC, attributable to the makers of Unstan ware, and yielded extensive information abou contemporare tth y natural environment. INTRODUCTION The island of Papa Westray is one of the northernmost islands of the Orkney group, with the open Atlantic to the NW and Fair Isle and the Shetlands to the NE. The island is almost 7 km wherd riset en widei maximu a m ed N k o s t ther e 2 an ,lon th d et gma an heighD O onlf m o t 8 y4 are steep cliffs; elsewhere it consists of gently rolling and very fertile fields. A visitor at the begin- ning of the 19th century described Papa Westray as a beautiful little island... Never did our eyes behold richer tracts of natural clover, red and white, tha thin i s t thiislanda s soi e timgoodwa s li Th . d e an clothe, d with abundant cropf so oats, bear [bere, six-row barley] and potatoes... We left with regret, as we believe every visitant must do (Neill 1806, 41, 44). The bedrock of the island belongs to the Rousay Flags group of Middle Old Red Sandstone rocks and provides excellent building material. The presence on the Holm of Papa Westray, a tiny islancoasE f Pape do t th jusf a of Westrayt f threo , e Neolithic chambered tomb eloquens i s t witnes attractioe th fertile o st th f eno loam yaree soilearlth o a t f so y settlers. Knap of Howar lies on the W coast of Papa Westray (NGR HY 483 518), among the modern pastureland f Hollano s d farm (fig islan1e coas,E th p N Westraif f do o 2a)e t Th . onls yi y 1-m 9k away, across Papa Sound wher sea-bee eth d rise mordepta o n o st f eho tha topographme n7 ;th y of Orkney is characterized by its drowned appearance (Miller 1976, 29), and it is possible that Papa Sound hide submergesa d beach-flat linking Papa Westray with Westray. name Th e Kna Howaf po r (sometimes spelled Hower fore th ;mmap S useO her s si n do e preferred) is derived from ON howe or mound and ON knapp-r, knob or cap. This somewhat tautologous name describe site sth e prio excavationo t r , whe housee nth s were buried beneath 2-5 m of windblown sand. Preserved in this way, the walls of the houses have survived to a * 112 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH14 IDA RITCHIE: EXCAVATIO NEOLITHIF NO C FARMSTEAD, PAPA WESTRAY 41 links of Nol< WE5fRAy fcwp,,,,5 1,0 15 20 FIG 1 Location map remarkable heigh f 1-6o t maximum2m lintee th ld slaban , s roofing bot entrance hth e passages and the side passage joining the two houses were still in position at the time of the first excavation. PREVIOUS EXCAVATION The entrance into house 1 was first uncovered in 1929 (pi 2b), but the presence of an extensive midden, revealed by coastal erosion, had been known for some years. Excavation of the two houses was carried out in the early 1930s by the landowner, William Traill, and by William Kirkness (Traill & Kirkness 1937); their report to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1937 was illustrated by a 16 mm silent film, shot afte completioe th r excavatione th f no somn I . e respects accoune th , t publishee th n di Inventory Ancient e oth f Monuments f Orkneyo Shetlandd an (RCAMS 1946 mors 524o i n ,) e detailen di its description of the houses than the Traill and Kirkness excavation report. The method adopted in the early excavation was to clear out the sand filling the interior of the two house thed follosan o n t exterioe wth walle r facth f se o wit hnarroa w trench t penetrat whicno d hdi e below the base of the walls, although the presence of underlying midden was noted. A large number of photograph takes swa n durin excavatione gth negativee ,th whicf so h have been deposite Nationae th dn i l Monuments Recor Scotlandf do ; these wer considerablf eo e hel re-excavatinn pi sitesurvivine e gth Th . g finds fro originae mth l excavation, non provenancee f whicb eo n hca d exactly withi site e listee nth ar , d 42 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1983 separately in the catalogue, along with artefacts found before and after that excavation (nos E-I (pottery catalogue), 228-54). artefactNone th f sufficientls eo swa y diagnosti provido ct e secure dating evidence Iron e a nd Ag ,an contex suggestes groundwa te th n d o similaritief so architecturn si artefactd ean s with Orcadian brochs (Trail Kirknes& l s 1937, 314), althoug cleas i t hi r fro survivine mth g correspondence thar Traill'M t s private opinion favoure Neolithida c date. (The attributio rotarf no y quern site eth whico st h crept into subsequent literatur myta s ei h which appear havo st e originate Marwicn di k 1952, takes sit30.e ewa )Th n into State guardianship in 1937, when a sea-wall was built to prevent further erosion and minor consoli- dation of the house-walls was carried out. Re-excavation of a site partially dug more than 40 years previously involves a certain amount of detective work thin i , s case facilitate existence th y photographia db f eo c record unusualls yit r fulfo l time; less happily, re-excavation also means the frustration of questions for which there can never be answers. In terms of artefacts, it is likely that most of the small finds and other domestic refuse found in the early excavation belong to Period II, because Traill and Kirkness did not, to any extent, explore either the underlying midden or the material forming the wall-core of the surviving houses. DESCRIPTIO BUILDINGF NO S For convenience, the two buildings are here labelled house 1 and house 2, but the term 'house t usestrictla no n di s i ' y functional sense likels i t i ; y that neither building fulfille singla d e function, although house 1 may have been predominantly a dwelling-house while house 2 was probably used as a workshop and for storage. As the superstructure of both these buildings was uncovered durin previoue gth s excavatio subsequentld nan y conserved, their basic form wile b l described before an account is given of the recent excavations. HOUSE 1 large e buildingsThi o th southerld tw s si an r e th f ,y o which , bettea eve n i 1929n i s r statwa , f eo preservation than rectilinea s housi t I . e2 plan-forn ri m with rounded cornersqualite th d drystonf yo an , e walling is very good; the wall is faced with stone both internally and externally, with a core of midden material, and it survives to a maximum height of 1-62 m along the N side. The average width of the wall is mait widene i th t nt bu a 1- o entranc1-s, t 75m m orden ei creato rt elona g draught-proof passage-way, 0-75 m wide. The entrance passage is paved with two and roofed with three large stone slabs, and the paving is overlapped on either side by the drystone walls of the passage-way. The roofing-slabs were lai abu o danothet e on t heigha t ra f 1- abovo t3 m floore eth , flush wit outee hth r wall-fac witd e ean hth door-checks at the inner end. This inner doorway is furnished with long upright slabs forming checks and jambs, and with a low sill-stone between the checks (pi 3a). The door itself was presumably portable, mad woof eo animar do l skins stretche woodea n do n framet wouli d dan , have been closed againse tth checking slabs, held by a bar. The jambs are now broken at a low level, but in the 1930s they were com- plet 'notched admio ean t f i s td a smal l bars' (RCAMS 1946,182-3). A smaller passage-wa throug) ywal(B N e l hth lead s into houspoina t a et2 wher e walle th e th f so two buildings abut one another. Its roof has been reconstructed at a height of 1-03 m with three lintel slabs t ther,bu e must originally have been four, allowin collapse housth e r th g fo t eendepassaga 2 e .Th e is 0-7 m wide between drystone walls which, at the house 1 end, were faced on either side by a large upright stone jamb. The door appears to have been at the N end of the passage in house 2, where there are slab checks and jambs. The passage was only roughly paved and there were no sill-stones. interioe Th housf ro divides i e1 d introomso stona otw y b 4- e4-d , ,y 5partition6 5-b m an 5- y 03b m .