Orkney College Archaeologists

Three international students talk about the incredible archaeology on Orkney, finding gold discs and getting their hands dirty…

We are approaching a group of people gathered around a mound of dirt in a field, these are archaeologists from Orkney College. Ronnie Johnston from the college has a bag of cake to offer them. His wife says this is a lucky thing to do.

The land is at the back of a farm in an area called the Knowes of Trotty. The area is well-known amongst archaeologists and has already produced some remarkable finds from earlier excavations.

Historical Treasures of Orkney 

Jane Downes, originally from England, teaching on the MA course in Archaeological Practice greets us smiling. She is happy to point out some of the important features of the landscape around us and explain what the students are doing that day.

The students, shovels and trowels in hand are uncovering the remains of a four- thousand-year-old house. Jane explains how they found the house:

"This area is quite famous. There are burial mounds in a linear formation on this site, which are easy to see. We used geophysics equipment all round here to allow us to identify areas that have experienced great heat, for example during the cremation of human remains or in a household hearth.

"The house we have uncovered here is about four thousand years old and you can plainly see the hearth and the foundations are all quite intact. Orkney has been well populated since the Neolithic time. Farmers built the earliest buildings at about 3600 BC.

"They arrived on Orkney from the sea with domesticated animals and crops. When you think that they could travel such long distances bringing livestock it’s very impressive. They must have really loved it here too because they populated it almost to today's levels."

Gold and Amber

Jane points to a grassy mound about 50-feet away:

"That burial mound was excavated in the 1850s. They found a number of artefacts, including gold discs that are now prominently displayed in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

"We excavated the site again last year and found cremated bone, raw amber beads, and a spacer plate which spreads beads out in a necklace, and found some gold, it was fantastic, so unexpected and so bright.

"Also last year we found a 'kist' at the bottom of the mound. A 'kist' is a stone box that people were buried inside. All of these things give us important clues about the way people lived on Orkney. We know when these sites were in use through carbon dating the gold and amber we find."

When asked how the people who own the land in Orkney feel about archaeology she replies enthusiastically:

"People who own the land on Orkney have a really good knowledge of the past and are really proud of it.

"The farmer here has always been interested and wanted to know what was here. In fact since we've been working here he has gone into a management agreement with Historic Scotland.

"He used to have cattle grazing all over this land and the mound had been badly damaged, he doesn't keep cattle at all now just sheep and he's put signs up so that people can visit and he's put in gates and mown a little path, it great really."

Getting Your Hands Dirty

The students digging here are mainly doing the MA in Archaeological Practice. The aim of the course is to bring together theoretical approaches with the practice. Jane explains:

"We do geophysical and other surveys and we very much teach them about the profession and professional practice. We try to make them 'thinking archaeologists'.

"The students get practical knowledge of running a dig as well as learning about archaeology as a profession.  We've had great success with our students. They're all working in archaeology around the world and one student is continuing their research at Oxford University.

"This is an intensive course though and we like to make sure our students can see what Orkney is like and what the course is about before they commit to it.

"If a student is interested we might give them the chance to come out and be part of a dig before they take on the full course. We begin in February and have three terms back to back, so people have to be dedicated."

Jakob Kainz

Jakob, originally from Vienna, is studying for his MA in Archaeological Practice. He found out about the course just by searching on the internet:

"I heard about the course and then enquired about coming up to Orkney to take part in the dig. After that I decided to do the course up here. I’ve always been interested in history though archaeology is much more exciting than just reading about things in books."

Although he is from Vienna he says he is used to both town and country, and has studied in England. He feels Orkney has something totally unique to offer:

"This place is like no other. The people are the friendliest I've met in the UK. The landscape is great too it's so dramatic and rugged. I'm staying in Kirkwall sharing a house with some other students on this course, there's a really nice community feeling here and it’s a great opportunity for my future as a professional archaeologist."

Sarah Morris

The kind of archaeology that Sarah Morris was used to studying in Kansas couldn't be more different than that in Orkney. She laughs:

"The only place more different than Orkney and Kansas would be Orkney and a desert!

"The landscape here is so different, we are surrounded by water for a start and there is so much stone. The Native Americans did not build in stone if at all and they were nomadic. I love the fact that the stones we are working on uncovering here were part of a dwelling four thousand years ago.

"I came to Orkney as a tourist and met with Julie Gibson at the college and realised this is where I needed to be. I had studied archaeology before in Kansas but I had also moved into microbiology and run my own business for a while and I really wanted to get back to archaeology."

Six months after visiting as a tourist Sarah began her studies at Orkney College, she is hoping to continue on to do a PhD which may take three or four years. But she has plenty of ideas about what’s next after that:

"I'm really fascinated by fresh water archaeology and I'd like to set up a preservation company. There are lots of lochs on Orkney where you can literally look into the water and see fragments or pottery and artefacts.

"Also some of the Viking rituals included casting objects into the water." She smiles: "There might even be Viking swords there just waiting to be found."

Related Links:

• Archaeology at Orkney College