Orkney and Shetland studies

An aerial survey of the Gannet colony on Westray, Orkney, was made for the first time on 16 August 2016, documenting considerably more birds than an earlier land-based survey. This is due to the aerial photographs showing areas of cliffs that are hidden from land. Future land counts will likely underestimate numbers so would best be combined with an occasional aerial survey to more precisely define colony size.

This report presents the outcomes of side scan sonar surveys and archaeological
diving evaluations of two boom defence vessels located off the north coast of Flotta
within Scapa Flow, Orkney (Canmore ID 102201). The site was initially dived by Rob
Baxandall off the MV Valkyrie in September 2014. He reported that the wreck was a
long narrow vessel that was associated with World War II boom defence debris
(boom netting and buoys) – which overlay and surrounded the site.

This report presents the outcomes of side scan sonar and drop camera survey of four missing aircraft in Scapa Flow; A Fairey Barracuda (DP983), a Miles Martinet (MS630), an Airspeed Oxford (Mk1 BG555) and a Blackburn Skua (L2883). Aircraft are protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act (1986), however, they remain unprotected until the aircraft is found, putting them at risk from accidental or deliberate damage. This project identified the locations of the crash sites of four aircraft and recorded the extent of any surviving remains. This provides baseline data for long term monitoring of the sites and ensures they are protected.

mtDNA, isotopic and archaeozoological analyses of cattle teeth and bones from the Late Neolithic site of Links of Noltland, Orkney, Scotland revealed these animals followed similar grazing regimes but displayed diverse genetic origins and included one cattle skull that carried an aurochs (wild cattle) genetic haplotype. Morphometric analyses indicate the presence of some cattle larger than published dimensions of Neolithic domestic cattle. Several explanations for these finding are possible but may be the evidence of a complex pattern of domestic cattle introductions into Neolithic Orkney and interbreeding between domestic and wild cattle.

"Runes in Orkney: A Millennium of Writing" is a temporary exhibition I am curating as the applied element of my PhD project. It opens on 9 March 2019 in Orkney Museum and remains on display until 30 March 2019, bringing together runic objects which have never been on display before with local artists and designers inspired by Orkney's runic heritage to this day.

This thesis considers the nature of pottery and its wider roles in the Highlands and Northern Isles of
Scotland from 2500-1800 BC. The period under study represents a key moment in British prehistory
with the introduction of metallurgy and wide-ranging changes in society. Since the inception of early
Bronze Age studies pottery has played an important role in examinations of identity and chronology.
As identified by several scholars there has been a recurrent emphasis on a select number of interpretive
themes and regions such as Wessex and Aberdeenshire. This has marginalised certain areas creating an
imbalance in our understanding of the tempo and dynamics of change during the period. Recent reviews
have begun to address this issue, highlighting the importance of regional studies to our overall
understanding of change in the later 3rd millennium.
At present, there is no synthesis of ceramic material from the Highlands and Northern Isles that
considers the diverse array of pot types and the contexts in which they are found. In response, this thesis
aims to characterise the range of ceramic types, their contexts and associations. Through the course of
this thesis a series of detailed regional datasets and interpretations are constructed. This is coupled with
a review of the longer-term ceramic sequence across the study area, situating the advent of novel pot
types within the existing ceramic repertoire.
Secondly, this thesis examines the dynamics of ceramic similarity and difference, and what this reveals
about regional preferences and identities alongside broader intra and supra regional networks. Drawing
on recent relational approaches this thesis explores how ceramic categories came into being, persisted
and dissipated at a range of scales. These approaches highlight the fluid nature of change and the need
to consider pots as elements of wider assemblages. Through this examination it is possible to detect
distinct trends in regional ceramics, allowing for the construction of narratives that extend beyond
defining visual similarities, contributing towards understanding the wider significance of similarity and
difference.

The Journals of Prince Henry Sinclair and his descendants (20 books and a lambskin map) were found by accident in 2005 in a dusty dirty basement in Greeneville, TN. They then lay in a trunk in the back of the closet for almost 9 years before the author realized what she had. Translating the journals from Latin, Old English, and modern English she soon learned the story of her own 17th great-grandfather, Prince Henry Sinclair of Orkney and Scotland. Join the author and her great-grandfathers on a voyage of discovery as you learn about the covenant made between the St. Clair/Sinclair and Wemyss family, the Templars, the Native Americans, and the Freemasons. Travel with us as we search for the artifacts mentioned in the journals and validate the story. Book 1 of 10, tells the story of Henry as a young boy from the age of 8 in 1353 until l395 when he plans a voyage with Captain Nicolo Zeno and his son Antonio Zeno to Greenland and beyond.

In the Orkney landscape, birds are a textural layer - a constant, breathing presence as they move above the ground, settling in pockets of heat and shelter, flocking and dispersing.  This presentation considers how to record birds-in-place; not through our egocentric lens, but as intrinsic to and at home in this landscape.  I reflect on the processes of writing and drawing in situ, and on whether either of these avoid what John Kinsella calls the “centre-edge effect”.  These gestural drawings seem self-contained, referring only to the movement of the bird and its embodiment of three-dimensional space; while even the bare language of the poems import metaphor and quotation, locating them within the culture of our shared language.  But do the drawings still reflect our act of looking in their scale and proportion? 

Perhaps some form of asemic poetry offer a less conditioned, more unselfconscious means of recording the non-human; although, in a sense, all poetry, in its manipulation of form, white space, typeface etc, falls into this category - we ‘read’ the poem before we read it.  Is the only authentic response one that foregrounds, and scrutinises, the viewer?  This presentation explores some recent attempts to remove the ‘human’ in writings and drawings of birds in their landscape.

In Orkney islands, a number of wind energy projects have been established due to its potential for wind energy development especially as cluster developments on hilltop and moorland. This Self-sufficient Orkney Wind Energy (SOWE) project is trying to follow this pattern of development and has designed as a simple linear development of medium-large scale wind turbines which avoids dominating the landscape, while providing diversification required for the energy security, along with strong economic benefits to the local community. The developer completed preliminary designs and landscape assessment, resulting in the detailed design and the development of 27 wind turbine project for the expectation to generated electricity of 549.2 GWh annually. The SOWE project has been designed and selected the use of the Enercon E44-900 kW and Norex N80-2.5 MW wind turbines. These machines represent the maximum scale, respectively, as; • the site layout and all modelling have used a 45m, and 60m turbine tower height; • a rotor diameter of 44 m, and 80 m; and • The blade length is 22 m and 40 m. It has been found that the SOWE project provides a promising contribution towards the Scottish Government renewable energy production and carbon reduction targets.

A mythical island the size of Ireland in the North Atlantic called Hyperborea by Greeks, Atland by Frisians and Frisland by Mercator, disappeared on October 24, 2194 BC, when it partially slid down the Judd Anticline toward the Icelandic Basin. A remnant remained, the Faroe Plateau, topped by the Faroe Islands. The resulting tsunami, about 185m high, terminated life on other islands, plus the Bell Beaker people in Britain and Ireland, plus most farmers in Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Poland, Finland and Estonia. The maximum elevation of plowed farmland on silt from the tsunami decreases with distance from the epicenter. Oera Linda Boek provides a detailed account of the tragedy.