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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
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
Visibility of Hoy hills
Bothvisible
Onevisible
Nonvisible
Land use map: © Davidson&Henshell, 1989
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
Maeshowe
Map from Wikipedia
Maeshowe (3100 – 2700 BCE)and its skywindow
Ward Hill
Maeshowe (3100 – 2700 BCE)
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
Looking towards Hoy hills
Map from Wikipedia
2900 BCE Sun outside Maeshowe
Ward Hill Cuilags Kame of Hoy
around Winter Solstice
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
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
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
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
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
Reappearing outside Maeshowe20 days before Winter Solstice (1998 CE)
Ward Hill
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
© V. Reijs, 1998
Reappearing inside Maeshowe20 days before Winter Solstice (1998 CE)
Reappearing
Sunlight
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
© V. Reijs, 1998
Reappearing inside Maeshowe21 days after Winter Solstice (1999 CE)
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
© C. Tait, 1999
Reappearing outside Maeshowe41 days after Winter Solstice (2001 CE)
© C. Tait, 2001
Cuilags Kame
of Hoy
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
Ness of Brodgar
Map from Wikipedia
Reappearing at Ness of BrodgarWinter Solstice (1999 CE)
Ward Hill
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
© 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
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
© V. Reijs, 1999
Archaeology at Breckness
© Historic Environment Scotland
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
© 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)
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
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
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
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.”
http://tinyurl.com/y9dst54n
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