Prehistoric Shetland

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The preserved ruins of a wheelhouse and broch at Jarlshof, described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles".[1]

Prehistoric Shetland refers to the

the Early Medieval Period in Scotland, around AD 600. More than 5,000 archaeological sites have been recorded in the Shetland Islands.[2]

Mesolithic and Neolithic

A midden site at West Voe on the south coast of Mainland, dated to 4320-4030 BC, has provided the first evidence of Mesolithic human activity in Shetland.[3][4] The same site provides dates for early Neolithic activity and finds at Scord of Brouster in Walls have been dated to 3400 BC. This site includes a cluster of six or seven walled fields and three stone circular houses that contains the earliest hoe-blades found so far in Scotland.[5] "Shetland knives" are stone tools that date from this period made from felsite from Northmavine.[6]

Staneydale Temple

Funzie Girt is a remarkable dividing wall that ran for 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) across the island of Fetlar. The level of organisation involved suggest a relatively high population for Shetland in the Neolithic, perhaps as much as 10,000.[9][10]

Bronze Age and early Iron Age

Broch of Mousa

Pottery shards found at the important site of

Viking times.[1][12]

Numerous brochs were erected during the

World Heritage Sites.[15][16]

Travelers in antiquity

In AD 43 and 77 the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder referred to the seven islands they call Haemodae and Acmodae respectively, both of which are assumed to be Shetland. Thule is first mentioned by Pytheas of Massilia when he visited Britain sometime between 322 and 285 BC, but it is unlikely he meant Shetland as he believed it was six days sail north of Britain and one day from the frozen sea (a description that seems to refer, more or less, to Iceland). However, another early written reference to the Shetland islands may have been when Tacitus reported that the Roman fleet had seen "Thule" on a voyage that included Orkney in AD 98.[17] Watson (1926) states that Tacitus was referring to Shetland, although Breeze (2002) and D. Ellis Evans (1975) are more skeptical (because they think that Tacitus included Shetland in the "Orcades islands", as the northernmost area of the Orkney archipelago).[18][19][20] The Roman presence in Scotland was little more than a series of relatively brief interludes of partial military occupation "within a longer continuum of indigenous development"[21] and there is no evidence of any direct contact between Shetland and Roman forces. But for Orkney there are some significant archeological evidences: according to scholars like Montesanti, "Orkney might have been one of those areas that suggest direct administration by Imperial Roman procurators, at least for a very short span of time".[22]

Later Iron Age

Cliffs on St Ninian's Isle

The later Iron Age inhabitants of the

Bridei I of the Picts in the sixth century AD: "As for Shetland, Orkney, Skye and the Western Isles, their inhabitants, most of whom appear to have been Pictish in culture and speech at this time, are likely to have regarded Bridei as a fairly distant presence."[23]

The St Ninian's Isle Treasure was discovered in 1958 by a local schoolboy, Douglas Coutts. Coutts was helping visiting archaeologists led by A. C. O'Dell of Aberdeen University at a dig on the island. The silver bowls, jewellery and other pieces are believed to date from approximately AD 800. O'Dell stated that "The treasure is the best survival of Scottish silver metalwork from the period" and that "the brooches show a variety of typical Pictish forms, with both animal-head and lobed geometrical forms of terminal".[24][25][26]

Viking era

Shetland was colonised by

Magnus Barelegs. Nonetheless, as the Viking era developed Shetland emerged from the prehistoric period and into the era of written history.[28]

References

Notes
Footnotes
  1. ^ a b " Jarlshof & Scatness" shetland-heritage.co.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  2. ^ Turner (1998) p. 18
  3. ^ Melton, Nigel D. "West Voe: A Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition Site in Shetland" in Noble et al (2008) pp. 23, 33
  4. ^ Melton, N. D. & Nicholson R. A. (March 2004) "The Mesolithic in the Northern Isles: the preliminary evaluation of an oyster midden at West Voe, Sumburgh, Shetland, U.K." Archived 28 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Antiquity 78 No 299.
  5. ^ Fleming (2005) p. 47 quoting Clarke, P.A. (1995) Observations of Social Change in Prehistoric Orkney and Shetland based on a Study of the Types and Context of Coarse Stone Artefacts. M. Litt. thesis. University of Glasgow.
  6. ^ a b Schei (2006) p. 10
  7. ^ "Fetlar, Gravins, 'Haltadans'". Canmore Site Records. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  8. ^ Turner (1998) p. 47
  9. ^ Turner (1998) p. 26
  10. ^ "Feltlar, Funziegirt" Archived 6 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine ScotlandsPlaces. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  11. ^ Nicolson (1972) pp. 33–35
  12. ^ Kirk, William "Prehistoric Scotland: The Regional Dimension" in Clapperton (1983) p. 106
  13. ^ Fojut, Noel (1981) "Is Mousa a broch?" Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 111 pp. 220-228
  14. ^ Armit (2003) pp. 24-26
  15. ^ "From Chatham to Chester and Lincoln to the Lake District - 38 UK places put themselves forward for World Heritage status" (7 July 2010) Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Retrieved 7 Mar 2011
  16. ^ "Sites make Unesco world heritage status bid shortlist" (22 Mar 2011) BBC Scotland. Retrieved 22 Mar 2011.
  17. ^ "The fleet must have sailed on to the Shetlands since ... the only land likely to be visible from ... the Orkney coast would be Fair Isle" -- Ogilvie and Richmond, 1967
  18. ^ Breeze, David J. "The ancient geography of Scotland" in Smith and Banks (2002) pp. 11-13
  19. ^ Watson (1994) p. 7
  20. ^ D. Ellis Evans. "Cofiant Agricola: Llywodraethwr Prydain" (Wales University Press)
  21. ^ Hanson (2003) pp. 195, 198, 216. The military presence of Rome lasted for little more than 40 years for most of Scotland and only as much as 80 years in total anywhere. At no time was even half of Scotland's land mass under Roman control (if we do not consider Agricola's conquest years)
  22. ^ Orcades/Orkney: the 6th roman province in Britannia
  23. ^ Hunter (2000) pp. 44, 49
  24. ^ O'Dell, A. et al (December 1959) "The St Ninian's Isle Silver Hoard". Antiquity 33 No 132.
  25. ^ O'Dell, A. St. Ninian's Isle Treasure. A Silver Hoard Discovered on St. Ninian's Isle, Zetland on 4th July, 1958. Aberdeen University Studies. No. 141.
  26. ^ Youngs (1989) pp. 108-112
  27. ^ Schei (2006) pp. 11-12
  28. ^ Thomson (2008) p. 24-27
General references
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