The Relentless Tide: Swandro, a Multi-period Settlement Being Lost to the Sea

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Knowe of Swandro, (Orkney Islands, Scotland) was a large settlement occupied from around 800 BCE to CE 1200 and consists of Iron Age roundhouses, Pictish buildings, and a Viking/Norse settlement, much of which has already been lost to the sea. A substantial Iron Age roundhouse that had been occupied for many generations formed the focus of the settlement. Erosion hastened by climate change is the biggest threat to coastal sites such as these, but it also provides a unique opportunity to investigate the roundhouse and surrounding settlement. While over a third of the roundhouse has been lost to coastal erosion, the site remains rich in cultural materials and evidence for past uses of land and sea. This project applies some of the latest techniques of 3D digital recording together with careful excavation, and here we provide new insights into unexpected mechanisms of cultural loss through tidal action. These results will be of crucial value to future management of similar coastal heritage assets. Public engagement, through a number of avenues including site tours, cultural demonstrations, and social media, is also a means of providing identity of place and history to both islanders and visitors alike.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36219.0