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Burray, North Links

Midden (Period Unassigned), Settlement (Period Unassigned), Amulet, Mount(S) (Antler), Quern, Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)

Site Name Burray, North Links

Classification Midden (Period Unassigned), Settlement (Period Unassigned), Amulet, Mount(S) (Antler), Quern, Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)

Alternative Name(s) The Bu, Burray

Canmore ID 9575

Site Number ND49NE 18

NGR ND 485 975

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/9575

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Orkney Islands
  • Parish South Ronaldsay
  • Former Region Orkney Islands Area
  • Former District Orkney
  • Former County Orkney

Archaeology Notes

ND49NE 18 485 975

Copious surface finds of animal bone (cattle, sheep, red deer, pig, bird and cetacean), worked stone tools, an upper rotary quern stone with a handle slot, iron and glassy slag, sherds of pottery from early to late Iron Age, and a fragment of a double-sided composite hair comb, indicate extensive settlement in the Links.

Scattered finds, extensive horizons of organic midden deposits, broken-off orthostats and scant wall foundations have been noted over several acres. This is the result of past and present sand extraction.

B Smith, W Budge and K Budge 1988.

ND 487 975. Four decorated antler mounts were discovered by tourists among midden material on this settlement site which is being quarried away by the landowner.

The mounts (one large rectangular one and three small squares) are decorated with geometric motifs and ring and dot patterns which are best paralleled in late Roman and early Germanic objects from southern Britain and the Continent.

Following a Treasure Trove enquiry the objects have been disposed to Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall.

Daybook no: DB 1991/43.

National Museum of Scotland (NMS) 1992.

A stone 'egg' amulet was found in 1989, and is now in Tankerness House Museum (accession no. 1989.38.1).

F Hunter 1993

Activities

Desk Based Assessment (August 1997)

The landowner withheld permission to visit this site: the following account is based on previous reports. Copious surface finds of animal bone, worked stone tools, an upper rotary quern stone, iron and glassy slag, sherds of pottery dating to the early Iron Age and Later Iron Age, and a fragment of a double-sided composite hair comb indicate extensive settlement in the Links.

Scattered finds, extensive horizons of organic midden deposits, broken-off orthostats and scant wall foundations have been noted over several acres. This is the result of past and present sand extraction.

Four decorated antler mounts were discovered by tourists among midden material on the settlement site which is being quarried away by the landowner. The mounts are decorated with geometric motifs and ring and dot patterns which are best paralleled in late Roman and early Germanic objects from Britain and the Continent. Following a Treasure Trove enquiry, these objects have been disposed to Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall. A stone 'egg' amulet was found in 1989 and is now also at the Museum in Kirkwall (acc.#1989.38.1), (Hunter, 1993).

An inspection of aerial photographs shows increasing and widespread disturbance to the N end of the bay, presumably the result of sand extraction. While no damage is apparent on AP's from 1948, localised damage was visible on the 1975 survey. The latest APs (taken in 1987) show the damage to be widespread, and, by all accounts, sand extraction has continued apace up to the present time.

Moore and Wilson, 1997

Coastal Zone Assessment Survey

Field Visit (9 May 2015)

Coast edge walked, nothing visible in exposed faces of dunes. The storm beach has been deliberately re-graded to form a defence of the low-lying areas along the dune front. The area of dunes behind the coast was not walked over, but sand extraction and use of the area for motorsports is ongoing.

Visited by Scotland's Coastal Heritage at Risk (SCHARP) 9 May 2015

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