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Broch (Destroyed)
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Walking to the Mine Howe area I suddenly had this idea of the place as a bath-house of the soul, with analogy to frigidarium and tepidarium and plunge pool in mind. Looking from the last dyke wall Round Howe (a landscaped natural knoll) runs almost imperceptibly up into Long Howe. Mine Howe is hidden from view and from the top of the latter would have been yer actual revelation. It would be nice to have authoritative relative dating for the three sites - perhaps we think of affairs revolving on Mine Howe when it could have been an afterthought rather (explaining the possibility of objects from Round Howe being taken wholesale to Mine Howe at some stage).
Last night, afterwards, I tried again to find out why the present county archaeologist referred to the site as a "pseudo-broch". Found a relevant clipping from "The Orcadian" of September 12th 2002. Nick Card talks of its being "meant to be a broch site" but that in the excavation "what we found...quite bizarre...a mound..surrounded by quite a large ditch...and outside of the ditch..an encircling bank". Sounds more like a barrow or henge (similarity with Ring of Bookan??). Regarding the paucity of finds he speculated that the many finds from Mine Howe were deposited there after being removed from here. As later Bronze Age pottery turned up at Round Howe could it be regarded as being more in the nature of the capturing of a shrine than a plain transference of sanctity to the later site ?
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Posted by wideford
14th April 2004ce
Edited 30th August 2006ce
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