This book provides the exciting results of a long-term project examining Bronze Age round barrow construction and burial practices in Orkney, Scotland. A main focus of this research is on the act of cremation; a technology of bodily metamorphosis as articulated through complex mortuary practices, which produced a distinctive form of funerary architecture. This, and other topical themes, are explored through the results of extensive excavations at several barrow cemeteries including Linga Fiold, Gitterpitten, Varme Dale, Vestrafiold and the Knowes of Trotty, the latter being famous for rich grave goods including gold discs and amber beads. In this context, in being built on the ruins of an early Neolithic settlement, Knowes of Trotty provides an intersection of relational fields, fusing local tradition with faraway places.
At Linga Fiold, the barrow cemetery was almost entirely excavated, and by employing sophisticated recovery techniques and analyses, unique evidence is presented for a complex sequence of barrow building and mortuary practices. This enables the reconstruction of an extraordinary ritual journey of the deceased from cremation pyre to final interment.
Additionally, several cist excavations are published here for the first time. This evidence allows an appraisal of the developing cist burial tradition in Orkney through the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age, from the insertion of remains into chambered tombs and large re-enterable unobtrusive cists, to the development of imposing linear barrow cemeteries, to the drawing in of the dead closer to home.
Overall, the new findings presented here allow a reconsideration of the chronology and specifics of changing Orcadian burial technologies and traditions: clearly, such results have significance beyond Orkney for understanding the complexities of Bronze Age cremation and burial practices across Britain and north-west Europe.
AUTHOR: Colin Richards is Professor of Archaeology at the University of the Highlands and Islands. His research covers Neolithic Britain and north-west Europe, and Polynesian archaeology. His books include Monuments in the Making: Raising the Great Dolmens in Early Neolithic Northern Europe (Windgather Press, 2021), and Stone Circles: A Field Guide (2024), both with Vicki Cummings.
300 colour and b/w illustrations
By:
Jane Downes,
Colin Richards
Imprint: Casemate Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 279mm,
Width: 218mm,
ISBN: 9798888571439
Pages: 480
Publication Date: 01 March 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified
1. Introduction to Orkney funerary traditions in the Orcadian Chalcolithic and Bronze Age 2. Animating the Orcadian Chalcolithic and Bronze Age 3. The burial cist in 3rd and 2nd millennium BC Orkney 4. Of fabulous wealth: Knowes of Trotty, Mainland, Orkney 5. Clustering the dead: Linga Fiold, Mainland, Orkney 6. Of place and tradition: Gitterpitten, Varme Dales and Vestra Fiold, Mainland, Orkney 7. The possibilities of cremation 8. Re-assembling the dead of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Orkney
Jane Downes is Professor of Archaeology and Heritage at the University of the Highlands and Islands. Her research interests are Bronze Age and burial archaeology, with a specialism in cremation practice. She focuses also on island archaeology and sustainability, and she is a recognised expert in climate change and heritage. Colin Richards is Professor of Archaeology at the University of the Highlands and Islands. His research covers Neolithic Britain and north-west Europe, and Polynesian archaeology. His books include Monuments in the Making: Raising the Great Dolmens in Early Neolithic Northern Europe (Windgather Press, 2021), and Stone Circles: A Field Guide (2024), both with Vicki Cummings.
