wideford
Sigurd’s report on the latest doings (including a house contemporary with the Knap of Howar) with twa photos orkneyjar.com/archaeology/knowes2006.htm
C14 dates for burials at the Knowe of Skea (HY44SW 2) on the edge of Berst Ness [HY44SW 3] push back the age of these from Viking to 200BCE-400ACE. Many of them (mostly children) consisted of bagged bodies dropped vertically into spaces created by removing material from the structures’ walls. Article with photo on Sigurd’s site orkneyjar.com/archaeology/knoweskea2006.htm
area where the intact wall stood before the storms
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section to right of where wall stood
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general area of walling after the storms
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Cliff section after the storms
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structure B to left of structure A as seen from coastline. 4.7m across
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4.3m wide across this, the shortest side, picture with back to shore
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4.3m wide across this, the shortest side, picture with back to shore
Image credit: wideford
looking down longer side towards Churchill Barrier No.1
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exposed structure (from above) on top of mound, small slab-lined box in middle could possibly be a cist but RCAHMS agree it is unlikely to be and suggest that it could be collapsed medial walling
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‘pit’ with more structure leading off to left and one of the excavated structures (off picture) from the coastal erosion.
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from mound showing edge of mound, then line of wall, then line of burn
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site location, steep-sided sea inlet to right, Bay of Skaill in background
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mound from downhil
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central excavations looking uphill
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looking across mound
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broch wall section
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Looking at Craw Howe for the other two mounds mentioned in the record. Most obvious are two in the same field to its left. Then there are one or two nearing the road in the field to their left, which closes the gap on the first of my suspicious depressions. Unfortunately modern stones do still occasionally get dumped in them, though the last activity that I observed was a posh gent pulling up alongside one and proceeding to help himself to a heap of them (presumably to get an authentic feel to some garden folly, he was no farmer).
