Westray 2004: Introduction

The ongoing excavation at Quoygrew in the island of Westray, Orkney, is becoming one of the most extensive explorations of a Viking Age and medieval settlement in Scotland. The project was first conceived to study social and economic changes associated with the end of the first millennium AD, such as the growth of international trade and the incorporation of the Orkney earldom into Christian Europe. This remains a key focus of the work, but the site has since proved to preserve a sequence of occupation from the 9th or 10th century to the 1930s when it was ultimately abandoned! One sequence of end-on-end building alone was probably in use for approximately 800 years. By studying the surviving buildings, artefacts (pottery, antler combs, soapstone pots, etc.) and ecofacts (seeds, bones, soils, etc.) Quoygrew thus provides an opportunity to explore long-term changes in trade, economy, identity and society over several poorly documented periods of major change. These include both the Viking Age-medieval transition of AD 1000 and the pawning of the islands to Scotland in 1468. Insofar as Quoygrew appears to be a 'greenfield' Norse settlement of the Viking Age it also sheds light on the process of Scandinavian colonisation in Orkney.

The 2004 Season

The 2004 field season at Quoygrew will run for eight weeks from 12 July to 3 September. During this time there are four main excavation goals.

The first of these is to complete the study of a medieval house (structure 1) and its associated middens in Area F. It was occupied in the 14th and 15th centuries, but 0.4m of its earth floors remain to be excavated so its foundation date remains to be established. It may have first been built in the 13th or even 12th centuries. It was a dwelling house in its latest phases and its earlier use may have been as a formal hall with a long bench occupying the entire length of the south side of the building.

The second goal is to finish uncovering another building, structure 3, just to the west (toward the sea) of structure 1 (shown here when excavation started in this area, in 2002). It is probably also medieval, but its date and function remain to be confirmed. It is in line with structure 1, but separated from it by a narrow path.

The third goal is to discover whether structure 3 continues to the wave cut bank at the shore where we recorded the remains of an eroding building during the initial evaluation of the site in 1997. This work will allow us to understand the chronological relationships between what was discovered in 1997 and the buildings of Area F. It will need to be done carefully to avoid contributing to the risk of coastal erosion at the site.

The fourth goal is to locate the earlier buildings on the site for possible future excavation. At present we have excavated earlier Viking Age middens, but not the houses to go with them. There are two sensible places to look for these structures. The first is on the farm mound just a little inland from Area F. Here is where 9th/10th to 12th century middens were found in previous excavation seasons. Moreover, a stone pathway ran through these middens. We will follow the line of the path to see where it leads by digging a 10m evaluation trench called Area G3. The second place to look for earlier buildings is just south of structure 1. Here a suspicious row of stones was noted in the section of the excavation trench in 2002. It may be the start of a paved yard, or just a boundary wall, but it could also be the foundation of another house. We will dig two evaluation trenches in this part of the site, labelled Areas J1 and J2.