{"id":451,"date":"2019-09-17T14:57:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T12:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/?p=451"},"modified":"2020-12-03T16:13:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T15:13:28","slug":"from-boyne-to-brodgar-sacral-landscapes-and-monuments-in-ireland-and-on-the-island-of-rousay-orkney-islands-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/2019\/09\/17\/from-boyne-to-brodgar-sacral-landscapes-and-monuments-in-ireland-and-on-the-island-of-rousay-orkney-islands-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"From Boyne to Brodgar – Sacral landscapes and monuments in Ireland and on the island of Rousay (Orkney Islands\/Scotland)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Campaign 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May and\nJuly this year, researchers of the Unit for Survey and Excavation Methodology carried\nout fieldwork on the Orkney island of Rousay (north Scotland) and in the Boyne\nValley, north of Dublin (Figures 1 and 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1: Orkney Islands (Scotland); right: The island of Rousay with the areas surveyed until 2019 (\u00a9 K. Rassmann); bottom right: the famous Neolithic settlement remains of Skara Brae on the island of Mainland (drone image \u00a9 RGK) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since 2016, the RGK is part of the „From Boyne to\nBrodgar“ initiative, which examines the formation of Neolithic cultural\nlandscapes in North-Western Europe. The starting point of this research is the\nso-called „Atlantic route“ of Neolithisation, which led across the\nIrish Sea to Ireland, the Isle of Man and on to Scotland. The similarities\nbetween the individual regions, which attest to the close links during the\nNeolithic period, are particularly evident in the monumental architecture, such\nas megalithic tombs and earthworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our main goal is to explore the socio-ecological\nrelationships within and between the study areas. In order to better understand\nthis complex interrelationship, we have chosen a broad interdisciplinary\nlandscape-based research approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is based on a combination of remote sensing,\ngeophysical survey, soil analyses, drill-core sampling and GIS modelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2019 season in Ireland and Orkney, we used\nboth our 5-sensor and our 14-sensor magnetic survey system. These allow us to\nstudy large open areas at the same time as places that are harder to reach and\naccess. In addition our drones enable us to take aerial photographs of the\nstudy areas and to create 3D-models of the terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2018, we have been cooperating closely with the German Institute for Aerospace (DLR). As part of this joint effort, our colleague Thomas Busche from the DLR visited us in Ireland. Together with him we evaluate satellite images of our study regions (TerraSAR -X) (https:\/\/www.dlr.de \/hr\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our partner institutions in Ireland are the University College Dublin (UCD) (http:\/\/www.ucd.ie\/archaeology\/<\/a>), Galway National University of Ireland (https:\/\/www.nuigalway.ie\/archaeology\/<\/a>) and the National Monument Service Ireland (https:\/\/www.archaeology.ie\/<\/a>). On the Irish side, the 2019 field season was directed by Stephen Davis of UCD. In Scotland, we work together with the University of the Highlands and Islands (https:\/\/www.uhi.ac.uk\/en\/archaeology-institute\/<\/a>), the National Museum of Scotland at Edinburgh (https:\/\/www.nms.ac.uk\/national-museum-of-scotland\/<\/a>) and Historic Environment Scotland, the leading public body that investigates, cares for and promotes Scotland\u2019s historic environment. Julie Gibson of the University of the Highlands and Islands helpfully and kindly did all the planning for our work on Rousay in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 2: Our team at work: A: Survey with the 5-sensor- system in Ireland (\u00a9 K. Rassmann). B: Survey with the vehicle-supported 14-sensor- system (\u00a9 M. Kohle). C: Set up the GPS base station under the prying eyes of the shepherd lama (view over the Boyne to Dowth in the distance, \u00a9 I Hohle). D: Starting our big drone for aerial photography (Newgrange in the background, \u00a9 K. Rassmann). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both the Boyne Valley and the Orkney Islands are known\nfor their numerous Neolithic monuments, some of them have survived until today\nor were uncovered and reconstructed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Ireland’s best-known archaeological monuments\nis Newgrange (Figure 3, top right), where the RGK conducts fieldwork in its wider\nenvironment. Even though its appearance today is discussed controversially in\nthe professional world, it is undoubtedly one of Europe\u2019s most remarkable Neolithic\nsacred monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the area around Newgrange and the no less\nsignificant monuments of Knowth and Dowth north of the Boyne belong to the\nWorld Heritage Site of the Br\u00fa na B\u00f3\u00ednne, the areas south of the Boyne are only\npartially recorded and documented archaeologically. Standing in the local\nlandscape today, it is still obvious that the individual monuments refer to\neach other spatially and are located on hills that form a visual axis. This\nyear our team from the Unit for Survey and Excavation Methodology conducted a magnetic\nsurvey in the southern periphery of the World Heritage Site. We started on Donore\nHill \u2013 a hill site in line with the monuments mentioned before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 3: The Irish Boyne Valley with the areas surveyed between 2014 and 2019; this year’s areas are highlighted in green (\u00a9 K. Rassmann); top right: drone shot of Newgrange (\u00a9 RGK); bottom right: one of the numerous „carved stones“ that surround the main monument of Knowth (\u00a9 I. Hohle) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here, current property owners pointed out a cairn, popularly referred to as the „famine grave“, located at the highest point of the area. On the basis of the name, it is generally assumed that it is a modern grave dating to the great famine of 1845-1849. Our magnetic survey of the area shows posthole structures and ditches similar to the Neolithic monuments at the heart of the Boyne Valley World Heritage site. In the immediate vicinity clear posthole structures of a large longhouse are visible. We therefore suspect that this actually is a Bronze Age building (Fig. 4). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 4: Section of the magnetometry plot of Staleen, south of the Boyne. In addition to a probable tomb monument, the posts of a large building stand out clearly. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, we came across a Neolithic monument of circular tombs, posts, and possibly stone structures not far from Newgrange. This year we were able to complete our survey of this area (Figure 3, red area A). The evaluation and interpretation of these structures in view of the new data is still ongoing. This process can be followed in Figure 5, which shows a possible interpretation of anomalies based on nT values, shape and size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 5: Redrawing of a magnetometry plot with interpretation of the structures (\u00a9 M. Kohle\/ K. Rassmann); Graphic: \u00a9 Jonas Fischer <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boyne Valley is still one of the most fertile areas of Ireland. Its rich and diverse landscape is certainly one of the reasons why so many traces of intense human activity can be found here that date back all the way to Neolithic. On the other hand, it is all the more astonishing that similarly intensive construction activities can be documented on the more remote Orkney Islands of Scotland, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a small part of the island of Rousay can be used for\nagriculture. As such it seems hardly surprising that few Neolithic settlements\nare found here. In stark contrast, however, numerous megalithic tombs have been\ndocumented here: monumental tombs with one or more corridor and chamber\nsystems. The Taversoe Tuick on Rousay is very special (Fig. 6): Here the\nchambers are actually spread across two levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 6 Taversoe Tuick on Rousay; overlooking the coast and Wyre Island. Right: View from the upper chamber to the lower one (\u00a9 I. Hohle). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the Boyne Valley in Eastern Ireland and on Orkney\nin Scotland\u2019s north, the World Heritage sites extend beyond the extraordinary\nmonuments themselves and include their archaeological hinterland. Consequently,\nthe research of the RGK and our Irish and Scottish partners focuses on large\nareas in these landscapes, in order to place these monuments in a wide\narchaeological context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of our project, we investigate the\nrelationship between settlements and (grave) monuments. In the case of Rousay, we\nmust now ask ourselves whether it is only owed to the current state of research\nthat grave monuments dominate the finds from the Neolithic period or whether\nthe island was used primarily as a place for the dead. With our vehicle-based\n14-sensor system (Fig. 2), we are able to magnetically survey very large areas\nand hereby document the surroundings of the well-known monuments. Using this\napproach we have been able to identify settlement remains in the Rinyo Valley\n(Fig. 1, in eastern Rousay) that are similar to those of the famous site of Skara\nBrae on the island of Mainland (Fig. 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 7: The island of Rousay. View of the northeast coast with the Loch Wasbister in the background. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

During the 2019 season, we concentrated on a large\narea around Loch Wasbister (Fig. 1 and 7) and came across lightning strikes and\nold field systems in several places. But we were also able to identify\nstructures that are probably traces of Neolithic or Bronze Age monuments whose\nremains are no longer visible on the surface (see Fig. 8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 8: Island of Rousay, section of the magnetometry plot, showing several other structures and a large and circular structure with conspicuous anomalies in the interior (\u00a9 I. Hohle) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last but not least, we were rewarded with good weather\nand even sunshine (Figure 9) on our last day of this year\u2019s campaign on Rousay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our heartfelt thanks go to our Scottish and Irish colleagues for the excellent cooperation! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 9 The 2019 team on Rousay (\u00a9 RGK) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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(illustration: Jonas Fischer)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00f2ran taing and go raibh maith agat! <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campaign 2019 In May and July this year, researchers of the Unit for Survey and Excavation Methodology carried out fieldwork on the Orkney island of Rousay (north Scotland) and in the Boyne Valley, north of Dublin (Figures 1 and 3). Since 2016, the RGK is part of the „From Boyne to Brodgar“ initiative, which examines the formation of Neolithic cultural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,52,51,46,42,49,47,53],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein","tag-ireland","tag-monuments","tag-neolithic","tag-orkney","tag-rgk","tag-romano-germanic-commission","tag-rousay","tag-sacred-landscapes"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3046,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/3046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/crossing-borders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}