Excavatio Pictisf no Viking-agd han e farmsteadt a s Buckquoy, Orkney by Anna Ritchie INTRODUCTION The promontory known as the Point of Buckquoy forms the N side of the Bay of Birsay, one of only three sheltered bays on the W coast of the mainland of Orkney (fig 1). The Point was named after a farm, Biggaquoy, which no longer exists, and the name was probably derived from Norsd Ol e bygg-kvt, meaning bere quo r barleyo y enclosure (Marwick 1970, 60-1) lony B . g tradition soile th f Birsa, so consideree yar mose dth t fertil f mainlano e d Orkney,e aideth y db sand from the Bay of Birsay which, as it consists mainly of shell, is rich in calcium carbonate and is still usefertilisea fieldse s da th n .o r Oat bered san speciea , barlef so y which callee useb o dt d 'big', wer mose eth t important crops grown locall medievan yi post-medievad an l l times (Stat Acct 1795, xiv, 320). Until recent times, a fleet of fishing boats operated from the Bay of Birsay, Poine sidth S Buckquof f o e to th n Castro d stil o s yan maii e aGe lth n landing-plac boatsr efo , althoug fishine longeo hth n commerciaa s gi n o r r eveo l nsubsistenca e level.N Skippi(O o eGe skipa-gja) on the N side of the Point may indicate another, formerly useful, landing-place. flae tTh promontor f Buckquoo y y rises some 4-6 m abov foreshoree th e t consistI . f o s Lower Stromness flags of the Middle Old Red Sandstone, which are threaded with igneous dykes (mainly camptonite) and capped with boulder clay (Wilson et al 1935, 57, 63). The bedrock splits naturally into flat rectilinear slabs and consequently the beach below the Point of Buckquoy provides an almost inexhaustible source of superb building stone. Until 1970-1, when an excavation was carried out over a total period of 10 weeks, a long low mound, truncated by the cliff-edge, existed on the S side of the Point of Buckquoy (NGR HY 243282). It had suffered considerable damage from coastal erosion and from traffic along a track leading acros boae sitth e t o s eth causewanaustt e th o shelterr t s o head e y Castrf th an d o t s o a aGe at the tip of the promontory which gives access to the tidal island known as the Brough of Birsay. e continuinTh g threa f thio t s destruction prompte e Departmenth d e Environmenth f o t o t t sponso rescua r e excavatio mounde th f o n . Locally moune th ,knows dwa Sinclair's na s Brae, but this a , s name operated solel oran yi l tradition proposes i t i , calarchaeologicao e dt th l l site Buckquoy, afte promontore rth whicn yo t standshi . Before excavation moune th , d survivea o dt maximua o t d an mm lengt heigh0 2 f approximatelf ho o t y 0-. Usin5m g initiall grie yth d method and finally total area excavation, the mound was excavated down to the level of the natural subsoil wit consequene hth t destructio l archaeologicaal f no l features. Fro layoue e mth th f o t structures which survived until then, it may be estimated that at least half of the original site had previously been destroyed by coastal erosion; of the remaining part, in most cases only the basal wall-courses survived, owing robbinpartle th o yt earlief go r building orden si construco t r w ne t ones and partly to damage caused by modern ploughing. Little will be written in the description of RITCHIE: PICTIS VIKING-AGD HAN E FARMSTEAD BUCKQUOYT SA , ORKNEY 175 the excavation about soil stratigraphy because very little survived; the stratigraphy was essentially one of stonework, and the task was not so much one of distinguishing soil differences but one of disentangling building debris and tumbled stones from the remains of walls and paving, often only the basal wall-course. The crest of the mound, 0-5 m high, covered the superimposed remains of eight stone structures. Sections were recorded but they are not considered useful enough to be worthy of publication. Nevertheless, a process of successive rebuilding on the same spot allowed recognitioe th archaeologican a f no l sequence spannin 10te gperioa hth o centuriet dh fro7t e mth s AD. OJVKNL"Y-| ? ISLANDS _ 7 E N T LA N D ,4, FI R.TH 0 2 kw5 1 0 0 1, , ,$ FI G1 Buckquoy : locatiop nma In summary, the site consisted of a series of farmsteads, one on top of the other, of which werI I phase d e an Pictis sI phased han s III-V were Norse sixt ;a fina d han l phas activitf eo s ywa represente Viking-aga y db e burial inserted lasint e ruine th ot th f farmsteadso . EXCAVATION Phase : earlyI Pictish farmstead (fig 2) ; 9 pi , s8 Phase la, house 6. The earliest surviving structure on the site consisted of part of a house characterised by rectilinear cells opening off a central chamber in which the hearth was situated. The walls showed the use of two building techniques: one employed upright slabs as the internal walle base th facth f , e t o wit ea h loose boulders behin basae th s dla wal lothee fillingth d r usean , d horizontal drystone masonr e inneth s rya wall-face from ground level upwards (pe i 8a)Th . externa walle parbotth n i lf o th case likels si havo yt e been buil turff o t , becaus outeo en r stone facsurvivedd eha ; where externa lhousee pavinth f o , gther N simplexiste s p e ewa th ga yo a dt between the edge of the paving and the back of the inner wall-face of the house. The latter survived heigha o t onlf courseso o t ytw . 176 I PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1976-7 1970-71 -phases t-JL • • i•:•/•... • . - 'outline cf '" .-..' '-; \ lat&r'wtdlinq •'•'• -1'' '-• FIG 2 Buckquoy: Pictish phases RITCHIE: PICTISH AND VIKING-AGE FARMSTEAD BUCKQUOYT SA , 7 ORKNE17 | Y / ^' T •' psi-wka 1, Id' Tntrial- ^^••••^-•••^^^••^K^•v^r^-vvV^iSi^ I -Irurial ^5£"'#,^;V^A - i^^O;^/-:'---^.'/ ! '.'•• ^> am-;3;fe.SftSvv v•••• 1 slS^i.AWWV.; •//;v' •:/.'v .-.-'/ -' ^ ^^-SV*^^s \ ! »l¥ / 1*/ / xf<Mi / / / |)j/ -piikole / / }\> -]mnh> ,,,,,,,,,,f V ? f 5 ^ 7- f 9 .i,< FI G3 Buckquoy : late Pictis Norsd han e phases P 178 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1976-7 One complete slab-lined cell measured 2 m by 1-5 m to 2 m in area; only one upright slab remaine formee d th wallE alon t N rbu s , gexistencit f othereo indicates presencswa e th y db f eo their chocking stones. The total surviving internal length of the house was approximately 8 m. By analogy with a similar cellular house at Gurness in Orkney (the two house-plans are compared in Ritchi likels i t i e y , 1974 tha1) g t,fi housroughls wa e6 y symmetrica eitheo lt centrare sidth f eo l chamber and therefore that its maximum internal width may have been about 9 m. The main hearth was rectilinear with a stone kerb but no formal paving, 0-85 m wide and an incomplete length of 1-25 m at the cliff edge; it contained peat ash and a little charcoal. A subsidiary open hearth lay partly within one of the cells towards the back of the house. onle Th y area withi house nth e wher originae eth l floor deposit remained uncontaminated by Period Ib activities was within the slab-lined cell; this deposit yielded a perforated bone pin or needl ecatalogue (nose , 1 . finds)f eo . halE Phasesubsequentlhousf s S fo e , housewa eIb 6 Th . 5 y dismantle orden di builo t r da smaller versio same th f eno plan-form , hous (pe5 i 9a) curvin.A g portio wall-facef no courseo tw , s high, built across the central chamber of house 6 also belonged to this phase, but it was too fragmentar alloo t y w further interpretation structuree Th . f phaso s , likeIb e thos f laeo , were built directly on the natural clay subsoil, and the stratigraphy of the two periods of building there- fore depends upon the relationship of the stone walls rather than on soil levels. As a result, the artefacts from phases la and Ib must be considered inseparable, with the exception of the per- forate (non mentione) dpi 1 . d above lace soif k.Th o l stratigraphy should also imply tha greao tn t period of time lapsed between phases la and Ib. House 5 was a compact and almost complete building of trefoil form, with three rectilinear cells surrounding a central hearth on the fourth (SE) side of which lay the entrance. Except at the entrance, wher uprigho etw t stone slabs were used survivine th , g walls were buil f horizontao t l drystone masonr f whicyo r hoccasionallo onle yon courseo ytw s remained outen A . r wall-face housee th sidN survivef e o , th but n wits do a earliee , hth r hous wall-fillina , e6 f eartgo r ho turf above the basal course should be inferred. Although the S wall of the house had been robbed entirel latey yb r building activity innes linit e f th ,ero indicatefacs ewa vera y dyb shallow groove rilled with 'split peas'; this is interpreted as the effect of rainwater percolating down the inner face of the wall, part of which, judging by three surviving chocking-stones, may have been lined with upright slabs.