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A rare Iron Age belt-hook and comb are among the artefacts recovered by University of Bradford archaeologists and students during this summer’s excavations at the Knowe of Swandro on Rousay, Orkney.
The team have been investigating the site since 2017 as part of a partnership with Swandro-Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust and Historic Environment Scotland, working to document significant but swiftly eroding remains spanning the Neolithic to Norse periods of Orkney’s past (see CA 275 and 396; the project also won CA’s Rescue Project of the Year Award for 2024).
This year’s excavations have been focused on the site’s central roundhouse, a third of which has already been lost to coastal erosion, to unpick clues about how the building developed. The team have now established a secondary rebuild of the structure, creating a wheelhouse layout characterised by some evidence for aisled piers. It was within this building, too, that the team found a whalebone comb and a brass belt-hook. The latter represents the first example of its kind to have been discovered in Orkney, and one of only a few known from wider Scotland (mostly located in the country’s east and centre). Analysis of its metal has revealed an intriguing Roman link: the amount of zinc within the brass was strikingly low, indicating that some had been lost during melting. It has therefore been suggested that this piece was made from recycled Roman brass that was melted down and reused by the Iron Age community.
The whalebone comb, meanwhile, is more characteristic of local traditions, with other examples known from sites across Orkney. It was most likely used in textile-working, and the object’s stylish design, with a flared end imitating a fish tail, suggests that this could have been a favoured possession.
Other finds from the site reflect a wide variety of crafts being plied there, including iron- smelting and -smithing, copper-alloy casting, and the working of bone, antler, and possibly glass. It appears that this was an important Iron Age industrial settlement, sitting on a key trading route formed by the Eynhallow Sound, which would have given access to the other islands of Orkney and down to the western sea lanes. See http://www.swandro.co.uk to follow the progress of the excavations.
Text: Rebecca Preedy / Images: Dr Stephen Dockrill
