On the road to understand possible archaeoastronomy around Orkney

On the road to understand possible archaeoastronomy around Orkney

INSAP, Oxford, SEAC: Sep. 18th, 2017

Victor Reijs

[email protected]://www.archaeocosmology.org/maeshowe/

Making my case around

• Hoy hills’ silhouette

• Reappearing Sun behind these hills as seen at:

– Maeshowe

– Ness of Brodgar

– Breckness

• Stories remembered

http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n

ScotlandOrkney

Map from Wikipedia

Three sites of interest

Map from Wikipedia

Hoy hills’ silhouette

Ward Hill Cuilags Kameof Hoy

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Visibility of Hoy hills

Bothvisible

Onevisible

Nonvisible

Land use map: © Davidson&Henshell, 1989

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Maeshowe

Map from Wikipedia

Maeshowe (3100 – 2700 BCE)and its skywindow

Ward Hill

Maeshowe (3100 – 2700 BCE)

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Looking towards Hoy hills

Map from Wikipedia

2900 BCE Sun outside Maeshowe

Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy

around Winter Solstice

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2900 BCE Sun outside Maeshowe

Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy

Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy

around 26 days before/after Winter Solstice

around Winter Solstice

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2900 BCE Sun outside Maeshowe

Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy

Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy

Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy

around 45 days before/after Winter Solstice

around Winter Solstice

around 26 days before/after Winter Solstice

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Reappearing outside Maeshowe20 days before Winter Solstice (1998 CE)

Ward Hill

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© V. Reijs, 1998

Reappearing inside Maeshowe20 days before Winter Solstice (1998 CE)

Reappearing

Sunlight

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© V. Reijs, 1998

Reappearing inside Maeshowe21 days after Winter Solstice (1999 CE)

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© C. Tait, 1999

Reappearing outside Maeshowe41 days after Winter Solstice (2001 CE)

© C. Tait, 2001

Cuilags Kame

of Hoy

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Ness of Brodgar

Map from Wikipedia

Reappearing at Ness of BrodgarWinter Solstice (1999 CE)

Ward Hill

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© V. Reijs, 1999

“Anywhere where you put a spade in Orcadian ground, you will find archaeology.”

Excavations at Ness of Brodgar

© B. Ballin Smith, 2003

© GSB Prospection, 2002

© N. Card, 2017© S. Marshall, 2016

19

99

© V. Reijs, 2012

Breckness

Map from Wikipedia

Reappearing at BrecknessWinter Solstice (1999 CE)

Cuilags Kame of Hoy

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© V. Reijs, 1999

Archaeology at Breckness

© Historic Environment Scotland

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© V. Reijs, 2012

Making my case around

• Hoy hills’ silhouette

• Reappearing Sun behind these hills as seen at:

– Maeshowe

– Ness of Brodgar

– Breckness

• Stories remembered

http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n

Sparkles on top of Ward Hill

• At the west of [Dwarfie Stone] stands an exceeding high mountain

of a steep ascent, called the Ward Hill of Hoy, near the top of

which in the month of May, June and July, about midnight [sic?],

is seen something which shines and sparkles admirably, and which

is often seen a long way off.

Sir Walter Scot in The Pirate (1821)

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Trows leaving Orkney Mainland

• When the preaching of Christianity became too much for the

trows/faries, they decided to abandon Orkney Mainland and head

out to Hoy. To do this, they strung a straw rope from the Black

Craig [near Breckness] to Ward Hill of Hoy and began to climb

across.

Collected by Sigurd Townie

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Summary

• Possible symbolic importance of landscape– Visibility of Hoy hills over Orkney

• Human interaction with the landscape– Hoy hills can be seen from many chambered cairns– Mortuary and ritual practices– Reappearing Sun at several sites– Possible horizon calendar– One could imagine pilgrimage routes between sites

• Folklore could related to the above– Stories– World Heritage Site advertises the Winter Solstice at Maeshowe

• But proof or intend of celestial links?“Anywhere where you put a spade in Orcadian ground, you will find archaeology.”

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Thank you for your attention

Questions? http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n

Selection of resources

Anonymous. 2000.'The death of the mainland trows', Orkneyjar.com, in http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/trows/trowdeath.htm [accessed 15 September 2017].

Ballin Smith, Beverley. 2003. "A new late Neolithic house at Brodgar Farm, Stenness, Orkney." Glasgow: GUARD.

Davidson, J.L., and A.S. Henshall. 1989. The chambered cairns of Orkney: an inventory of the structures and their contents (Edinburgh University Press).

MacKie, Euan W. 1997. 'Maeshowe and the winter solstice ceremonial aspects of the Orkney Grooved Ware culture', Antiquity, Vol 71: pp. 338-59.

Reijs, Victor M.M. 1998. 'Maeshowe's Megalithic Month alignment', 3rd stone: pp. 18-20.Reijs, Victor M.M. 2001.'The reappearing sun at Orkney', in

http://www.archaeocosmology.org/maeshowe/eng/flashing.htm [accessed 4 March 2012].Reijs, Victor M. M. 2012.'The reappearing Sun in Neolithic Orcadian culture', in

http://www.archaeocosmology.org/eng/VictorReijs-ReappearingSun-014-web.pdf [accessed 15 October 2012].

Ruggles, Clive L.N., and Gordon Barclay. 2000. 'Cosmology, calendars and society in Neolithic Orkney: a rejoinder to Euan MacKie', Antiquity, Vol 74: pp. 62-74.

Scott, Walter. 1871. 'The pirate.' in, Waverley novels, Vol 13. (Edinburgh: A. & C. Black).The Ness of Brodgar Trust. 2017.'The site', in http://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/the-site/ [accessed 15

September 2017].

http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n