The excavation team on the Brough of Deerness. (Frank Bradford/www.frankbradfordpix.com)
Posted on 10/12/2011 4:10:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
One of the most significant discoveries of this year's dig is conclusive evidence that the earliest viking houses, thought to date from around AD900, were preceded by a Pictish settlement.
Previously -- excavations were carried out in 2008 and 2009 -- a number of Pictish artefacts had been found on the site, but there was no actual proof that the Picts lived there...
One question that has yet to be answered though, is what happened in the transition between the Pict and the viking villages, and, as yet, no evidence has been found of an integration between the two.
"In terms of the contact between the vikings and the Picts, we've got this massive Viking Age settlement dug into a Pictish site, without there being evidence of a horizon of the mixing of the two cultures," said Dr Barrett... "We've seen that the viking settlement replaced what was there before. Having said that, there are a few caveats, and the first is we've found Pictish-style pottery in the Viking remains. We also don't know whether the viking settlement immediately followed the Pictish settlement, or whether the Pictish settlement had been abandoned for some time before the vikings came."
...What is clear, however, is that the foundations of the 30 viking structures, still visible through the grass, were contemporaneous and were well entrenched in the Brough, which points to an enormous investment of labour...
"Some of the things from the site are objects that have to do with its existence as a chiefly settlement and there are others which are just about the people who lived there and the lives they led, and one of these is a viking gaming board," said Dr Barrett.
"It's actually a Hnefatafl board, a viking game which is a cross between draughts and chess.
(Excerpt) Read more at orkneyjar.com ...
The excavation team on the Brough of Deerness. (Frank Bradford/www.frankbradfordpix.com)
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Whew! I’m glad we got THAT settled!
This could only mean one thing: viking housewives were tidy and didn’t keep any dead Picts lying around.
I was expecting to see several species of small furry animals gathered together and grooving the pict. I was happy to Barrett mentioned, of course. Oh...wait...
This thread is useless without Picts
(sorry)
Keep digging!
I have a bone to pict with those Vikings.
Hmmm...sounds suspiciously close to Be a Smurf Day.
The nakedness and the scream manically make all the difference!
Yes. Picts or the chess game never happened.
Cool! Rugged folk.
The Pictish symbol stone was lying prone, under the floor of the property, and appears to have been damaged during the construction of the house, possibly in the 19th century.
Approximately 4ft 6in long, the stone is thought to have been made in the 8th century AD, when Christianity was being brought to Orkney. The carving shows both a Christian cross and a Pictish “sea creature” symbol.
What no Picts?
They call that Super Bowl Sunday.
Thanks! I hadn’t seen that one. What an interesting site. I noted that “Viking” is never capitalized. :’)
The Brough o’ Deerness
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/broughofdeerness/
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