Two finds in one at Harray chamber

A prehistoric underground structure has been rediscovered in Harray – rediscovered in that the archaeologists found it to be full of Victorian rubbish!

But although it had obviously been opened,  entered and used in the 19th century, the chamber appears to have gone unrecorded.

Martin Carruthers, of the Archaeology Institute UHI, and county archaeologist Julie Gibson made their way out to the site, near the Harray Manse, last weekend.

Martin explained: “It’s either a souterrain or a ‘well’ and, given similar examples elsewhere in the county, probably dates to the Iron Age.

“The site was discovered by the landowner Clive Chaddock, who, happily, also happens to be a colleague at Orkney College UHI!

“Peering inside the entirely roofed, pristine structure, we could see that, although the site was hitherto unknown to officialdom, it had been discovered previously, in the Victorian period, as the whole of the interior is covered in 19th century rubbish – iron kettles, pots, glass bottles, marmalade jars and imported French mustard jars!”

But while we might think of the Victorian material as just rubbish, Martin stressed that there is so much that it represents quite an academically interesting collection in its own right.

“We might be tempted to think that later periods of history are so well-understood and documented that it isn’t worth thinking about this detritus archaeologically, but, actually, it’s often the case that the domestic habits of later periods are often overlooked in many mainstream histories and documents.

“The Victorian rubbish is potentially a neat snapshot of someone’s – perhaps one of the Manse’s ministers – domestic waste and may be full of insight about the habits, tastes and practices of a 19th century Orkney house – with a real social history value.

“What’s more, it’s also an interesting insight into a recent intervention in an Orcadian prehistoric structure that we had no previous knowledge of. Here we have a fine example of another prehistoric underground building that was clearly known to locals, for a time, but didn’t make its way on to the official archives.

“That helps make the point that there are likely to be so many more of these sorts of structures.”

Julie Gibson added: “The site is in good hands, has been closed up for now and will be monitored.”