Prehistoric Orkney II

Carrying on from yesterdays' post about my trip to prehistoric Orkney, our third and final day was spent at the sites we mainly came to see. Two of them needed to be booked in advance due to them being of world importance and thus visited more frequently.

Today was a day for extremely windy weather. Where I am from in the south of England we get the occasional storm where the wind speed reaches gusts of around 50mph (80kmh). Today we had constant wind speed of 50mph with gusts of an even higher velocity. What a difference constant wind speed makes! The easterly winds coming in from the Atlantic battered the western shores of Orkney with rollers that looked to be around 20-30 feet (10m) high!

Our first place to visit was Skara Brae. This was one of the sites we had to book in advance. Unfortunately, after coming all this way to specifically see this site (my main priority) it was closed due to the weather. I was a bit disappointed, but safety first. There was a visitor centre to look around and a mock up of one of the houses on site, so the trip wasn't completely wasted.

Skara Brae is a Neolithic site that was uncovered from the local sand dunes during a storm, probably not too dissimilar to what we experienced when we got there. There are several "houses" built of stone that appear to have been linked by stone-lined passageways. As mentioned in the previous post, I will not go into too much detail here as there is far more information available online.

I was able to purchase a bunch of guide books here for all the sites that I was going to visit plus some that I would not be getting around to this time, so I will have plenty to read in the coming weeks.

After the disappointment at Skara Brae, we headed on south to the Ring of Brodgar, the third largest stone circle in the UK after Avebury and Stanton Drew. As an aside, I have visited Avebury on several occasions, a well as dozens of other monuments around the UK including Stonehenge (I was privileged to be able to go within the circle as part of my Prehistoric Archaeology Diploma studies, as well as do some night photography under strict supervision with a friend of mine - alas, since his passing I no longer have access to those beautifully enigmatic shots), Castlerigg, Arbor Low and many stone monuments in Europe like Carnac, but I have never been to Stanton Drew - I have put it back on my list of places to visit.

The Comet Stone

View of the stone circle from the Comet Stone

A barrow mound

The narrow isthmus at Brodgar plays host to several prehistoric monuments, with this stone circle being the most prominent. Only about 27 of the original 60 stones remain, but they are still an amazing sight. The site has spectacular views over the two lochs (one either side) and the surrounding countryside - it is obvious that it was a special place back in the day (and it still is).

After spending quite a while walking around the stone circle we headed down to the Ness of Brodgar, but it was closed due to the new archaeological discoveries found there. So, we drove directly to our next port of call - another stone circle, but on a much smaller scale than the Ring of Brodgar.

The Stones of Stenness is a much smaller ring of stones, of which only four of the original 12 remain standing, but the monument is no less impressive for being diminished. Closely linked to the nearby Watchstone and Barnhouse Village, it is a site located within the Neolithic landscape alongside all the other stone circles, cairns, barrows and so on. It is most likely the oldest henge site in the UK.

The four remaining Stones of Stenness

The Watchstone in the distance

To bring all these sites together, I have attached a photograph of a signpost from the site. I do not own copyright to this so if the owners are not happy with me posting it, let me know and I will take it down.

A sign post at the site

A little to the southeast of here lies the final destination of the day; Maes Howe - a Neolithic chambered cairn. This was the second site that needed a ticket to visit as it can only be approached by official means. From the nearby visitor centre (with a small museum that we looked around whilst waiting for our transportation) a coach is laid on to the site with a guide. The site had to be unlocked when we got there and no internal photography was allowed. However, the guide was able to talk to us all about the site and answer all of our questions.

Inside the tomb, there is a fair bit of graffiti from down the years, the most prominent being from the time of the Vikings. The most talked about image is one of what is purported to be a dragon or wolf.

The Maes Howe graffiti - modern interpretation

The actual graffiti is open to interpretation, but it does look like a beast being stabbed. However, and I can see why the conclusion that it was a wolf was made, just below it and to one side are two other pieces of graffiti; one that looks like Jormungandr (the World Snake) and the other of a form that Loki often took. So, it could be assumed that the "dragon" is actually a representation of Fenrir, as both Fenrir and Jormungandr are children of Loki. There are also other pictures of Fenrir and wolves from the same period found elsewhere in the Viking world that look very similar.

So, that was the end of my wonderful trip to Orkney. I missed a few things and would like to return someday to complete my story. The people at the B&B we stayed in and everywhere else we went were so friendly and welcoming. It is a lovely part of the world to be in whether you want to immerse yourself in the archaeology and myths, or just partake in the wonderful pace of life that is the Orkneys.