Orcadia: Land, Sea and Stone in Neolithic Orkney

by Mark Edmonds

The Orcadian archipelago is a museum of archaeological wonders.

Its largest island, Mainland, is home to some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe, the most famous of which are the passage grave of Maeshowe, the megaliths of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar and the village of Skara Brae – evidence of a dynamic society with connections binding Orkney to Ireland, to southern Britain and to the western margins of continental Europe.

Despite 150 years of archaeological investigation, however, there is much that we do not know about the societies that created these sites. What historical background did they emerge from? What social and political interests did their monuments serve? And what was the nature of the links between Neolithic societies in Orkney and elsehwere?

Following a broadly chronological narrative, and highlighting different lines of evidence as they unfold, Mark Edmonds traces the development of the Orcadian Neolithic from its beginnings in the early fourth millennium BC through to the end of the period nearly two thousand years later. Juxtaposing an engaging and accessible narrative with beautifully evocative photographs of Orkney and its monuments, he uses artefacts, architecture and the wider landscape to recreate the lives of Neolithic communities across the region.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Scotland, Archaeology, Prehistory, Historical, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2020

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2017 my wife and I visited the Orkney Islands, just north of the Scottish mainland, known for its remarkable Neolithic monuments. We only had 2 days, so it was limited to the highlights (Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar, Maeshowe). But that was enough to see that this very northern archipelago must have been a special place in Neolithic times: the megalithic monuments are very remarkable both quantitatively and qualitatively, because all built with local stone (and we owe their preservation to that) in the period between about 3200 and 2500 BCE, so all in all in a quite limited period, and well before the better known Stonehenge, and even before the Egyptian pyramids. Archaeologist Mark Edmonds does not limit himself to a dry overview of the finds, but also tries to really empathize with the 'mindset' of the people who built the houses, monuments, and ceremonial places, including what went into it in terms of world view, organizational skills, social interaction, etc. This definitely is an interesting book about a remarkable area. Some more musings on this in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
(rating 3.5 stars)

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent and current overview of the amazing Orkney Neolithic remains, discovery of which is very much ongoing. The book covers a wealth of material in some depth. I liked the inclusion of poetry. Where it didn’t work so well for me was that a lot of the interpretation seemed like it had to be supposition yet stated as fact. Perhaps the supposition was based on something - anthropology? - but there was no explanation given for some of the interpretations placed on the remains or comments about Neolithic culture. Of course this is inevitable, but a more personal tone would have helped me warm to it a bit more.

[GRANT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book and hard to describe. The author is an archaeologist and well-credentialed. Yet it's not really a book about the archaeology of Orkney even if that gives the author the context and information to work with. The book is an attempt to understand the ancient people of the Islands with only a record of the stones and a few other items to go by. There are photos and poetry. Here is a quote to serve as an example:

"When so many flames were guttering out around you, how was it possible to hold on to what really mattered across the generations? That is why we find tombs at all. They were where you went to connect the brief span of life to a more profound and persistent order. These were powerful places, enduring in a way that so much of life was not." (p. 76)

That is as true about graves and cemeteries today as it is about the ancient Orcadians. However, most of us today don't live among our funereal monuments. We sometimes forget except for those anniversaries and special days of remembrance.

The book is about more than just the graves. It is also about lives among the rocks and stones of the Neolithic and beyond. There are connections across the ages.

Spoiler:
Orcadia came first. It predates Stonehenge by a little and seems to have set the standard.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting if you're into this kind of thing. There are a lot of fairly dry architectural details, but the author does a fantastic job of giving the reader a sense of the people and communities of the distant past. The final chapter, which discusses the after life of Neolithic objects and structures into the bronze age and iron age is especially good.

[Sal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neolithic Orkney is a key site in our understanding of the period, and Mark Edmonds moves beyond the facts and figures to explore broader themes of Neolithic society in this fascinating book.

The book is rich with photographs and the occasional poem, which adds to the sense of wonder.
There's plenty of facts to digest, too. The author is a professor of archaeology and has taken part in excavations on Orkney, but he is also interested in the intersection between the facts uncovered and what that might tell us about the society.

The final few pages consider the way these Neolithic sites were regarded by the people who came after. Speculating that these sites passed from history into mythology as early as the Iron Age, the mythological ancestors and their places of importance that still have the ability to inspire and awe many thousands of years later.

Well worth a read.

[Hiccopolit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I grew up on Orkney, so am quite familiar with some of places and slightly less familiar with some of the stories surrounding the sites mentioned.

The author can write, and the insertion of GMB quotes helped enhance the narrative. I liked, but ultimately struggled to share is enthusiasm for different scratches on flagstones.

He repeatedly says, how complex the societies and how sophisticated the knowledge of the early Orcadians were, and doesn't really provide much concrete to back that up.

Like other reviewers, I also struggled with the rather speculative nature of most of the narrative. It strikes me that we really don't know very much at all, and styles of dwelling and types of carving differences between sights - might not have very much meaning at all.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I fell in love with Orkney's Neolithic sites when I first visited in 2004, and reveled in them when I had the opportunity to visit again in 2012 and then lived there briefly in 2013. I desperately wanted to enjoy this book. Unfortunately, Mark Edmonds receives credit for having somehow managed to write five or six sentences of rephrased, speculative filler for every sentence of actual historical or archaeological fact. I managed to listen through to the end (thanks, Audible), but doubt that I could have managed my way through the hard copy. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book for anything other than treating insomnia.

[Pete Castleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written in a style that is contemplative and also at times repetitive with well placed poetic recitations and abundant black and white photographs. The book attempts to explain the significance of a period 4000-3000 BC while also giving a sense of what life must have been like in those days where no written record exists.
Can't wait to visit the Orkneys!

[Anna C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in this odd way where it's like the author is personally there on the spot in Neolithic Orkney witnessing everything. I get that's probably the exact effect he's going for, making the deep past feel close and familiar, but surely that's just as fallacious as making the deep past exotically unknowable.

[Sanjay Prabhakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable but often the archaeological basis for statements was unclear in the text and not provided in the endnotes.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real nice overview of Neolithic Orkney

[Lucas Bertholdi-Saad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't really grip me, and seemed to say very little.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable crash course in the Neolithic archaeology of the Orkney Isles. Very readable, and I am looking forwards to now visiting the islands soon.

[Christine Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the sites of Orkney, though sometimes a bit speculative. The book has many black and white illustrations.

[Benedict · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book about the archaeology on Orkney, and what this tells us about how neolithic peoples lived on the island.

I found this tough to enjoy. I was expecting a book about the history and ruins, and instead I got a lot of conjecture about historical society that didn't seem to have much backing. I would've liked to know how we knew the things we were being told in this book, but it has a vibe of "trust me, bro" that I didn't gel with.

A lot of this seems like speculation, which isn't the sort of history I go in for, and if it isn't, I would've appreciated a bit more citing of sources. Maybe this is an unfair take, but either way, I didn't find the interpretation very convincing.

[Sense of History]

This is a great book because it is concentrated on a very limited area and a relatively limited period: the megalithic monuments, built between 3200 and 2500 BCE on the Orkney Islands, a small group of islands north of the Scottish mainland. Edmonds knows what he is talking about as he is involved in some major archaeological projects there. But the great merit of the author is above all that he tries to empathize with the human communities that built it. There is of course a bit of theorizing and some speculation involved, but the author does this in a very balanced and thoughtful way, with a lot of room for uncertainty. It was a pleasant change after reading Lewis-Williams' Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos, and the Realm of the Gods, which is rather obstinately trying to sell us a well-defined, rather narrowly based theory.

Anyway, Edmonds's book lingers on how remarkable it is that such relatively imposing structures have been built, and partly preserved, in such a small and marginal area. This is largely due to the use of local stone, and Edmonds links the interaction between man and stone in a somewhat poetic way (he also uses the poems of a local poet for this). That seems a bit woolly, but anyone who has read the work of anthropologist Tim Ingold, for example, knows that human interaction with matter (earth, stone, water, wood, or whatever) is a basic fact that shapes the concrete life of people; it is not only man who bends nature to his will, but also vice versa. In that sense, Edmond's book offers a welcome change from the dry, factual archaeological works I've read over the past year.

My only criticism is that Edmonds barely uses the information that recent paleogenetic research is beginning to provide, and that modifies or complements our view of the major shifts in the Neolithic in Europe in a fundamental way. For example, he has no real explanation for the profound cultural changes in the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE, while paleogenetics shows that a large part of the population of Europe during that period was almost completely replaced by gradually inflowing nomads, originally from the steppe region above the Black Sea. Due to the marginal location of the Orkneys, this shift happened much later and probably much more moderate than elsewhere in Europe, but it also remains striking on the Scottish archipelago. And so our knowledge of that deep past continues to increase. Fascinating!
rating 3.5 stars

[Elly Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastically engaging and well written book. I visitrd many of the sites in Orkney, the book adds real richness. Strongly recommend.

[David Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of Orkney archaeology