Trial excavations on Pictish and Viking settlements at Saevar Howe, Birsay, Orkney

Abstract

SUMMARY This mound was excavated by James Farrer in 1862 and 1867 and, although many finds were recovered, the primitive methods employed did not allow a satisfactory interpretation of the site to be formed. A long cist cemetery was discovered, and an iron bell recovered from it. Fresh excavations took place in 1977 and, although not completed, showed, with the help of stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates, that a Viking settlement overlay a Pictish one. The cemetery found in the 19th century is assigned to the Viking period. The finds from all the excavations are catalogued and described, and analyses of the faunal, floral and mineral remains presented.