Orkney

Inspired by Felix Guattari's Three Ecologies ([1989] 2000), this article explores recent Orkney literature with an environmental focus (Working the Map-ed. J & F Cumming and M. MacInnes; Ebban an' Flowan-Finlay, A., Watts, L. and Peebles, A.; The Outrun-A. Liptrot; Swimming With Seals-V. Whitworth) in terms of Orkney ecologies-which are always personal, environmental and cultural. Informed by fieldwork carried out in Orkney, looking at discourse around the development of marine renewable energy in the islands, it argues for the use of ecological dialogism, an approach to language and communication which recognises meaning-making as embodied and emergent within a meshwork (Ingold 2011) of lived experience. It explores the texts as part of an ecology of meaning-making within the naturalcultural (Haraway 2007) world, in which environment, social relations and human subjectivity are inextricably entangled. In this view, literary texts can be approached, not as isolated examples of individual creative expression, but as moments of emergent meaning-making in the dialogue between individual, cultural and environmental ecologies, reaching beyond the page into a living meshwork, where we can think in terms of 'Ecology as Text, Text as Ecology' (Morton 2010). These Orkney ecologies entangle the natural, personal, cultural and technological, through and as, stories, emphasising interdependence and care for both human and more-than-human relationships. Such moments of connection offer hope of new narrative possibilities with which to face the uncertainty of an Anthropocene future.

Review article:  Jim Mackintosh and Paul S. Phillipou (eds), Beyond the Swelkie. A Collection of Poems and Writings Celebrating the Centenary of George Mackay Brown (1921 – 1996). Tippermuir Books. 260 pp., £12.

https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2021/10/15/bold-on-beyond-the-swelkie/

The topic of this paper is a whole complex of intertwined notions of soul, spirits, forerunners / premonitions and other types of long-distance influence from a person’s mind. I will try to lead you into this ‘jungle’ by looking at some terms from the Shetlandic dialect of English. The noun gander, inherited from Old Norse gandr, has some interesting meanings that have never before been discussed by scholars:
- ‘a high, roaring wind; strong gust of wind.’
- ‘a sudden feeling of powerlessness, nausea, sickness at heart’

For no less than 300 years, c. 1550-1860 the Dutch way of fishing was the envy of neighbours in the North Sea area and looked upon as the undisputed best practice. This was a lasting consequence of the Dutch Golden Age in fishing outliving the reality of best practice with at least 150 years. This paper explores the consequences of the image of Dutch dominance, as seen through 41 different attempts to build a fleet and run fishing operations similar to the Dutch. Most of them were short lived, and some never made it to the fishing grounds before going bankrupt. When reviewed one by one, they all have unique reasons for lacklustre performances. Privateering, warfare, bankruptcy, bad fishing luck are all valid explanations at the level of politics and short term events. However, when looked upon in connection to each other, some recurrent features of more or less sound policies appear, as well as structural social and natural conditions for varying degrees of success and failure. Two waves of imitation emerge from this comparison. In the mid-17th century and during the 1760s-70s there was a particularly strong European wide interest in emulating Dutch fisheries.

In the summer of 2018 two artefacts that appeared to be aircraft remains were trawled up from the seabed in Scapa Flow, Orkney.  The first, an engine, was photographed and returned to the seabed.  The second, an aluminium tank, was retained.  SULA Diving was commissioned by HES to undertake investigations of both objects.  Side scan sonar, remote video and diving surveys were carried out in spring 2019.  The engine was found to be a badly degraded Rolls Royce Merlin engine.  Serial numbers recorded during the dive survey showed that the engine belonged to a Hawker Hurricane aircraft (AF963) lost from the escort carrier HMS Biter when operating in Scapa Flow in October 1942.  The fuel tank was of an aluminium construction but of a design that did not match that of known aircraft loses in the Scapa Flow area.  Examination of the seabed where these objects were found identified several man-made objects but none appeared to be aircraft related.  Aircraft remains are likely to be affected by fishing and anchoring activity in Scapa Flow but coincidental discoveries like those detailed here may be the only way to learn more about these sites.

This paper presents the outcomes of sidescan sonar and archaeological diving surveys in 2015 of two wrecked vessels located off Flotta Island, Orkney, North Scotland. Archival research indicates these are the remains of Anti-Torpedo Close Protection Pontoons (ATCPP), an experimental protection device used for close protection of naval vessels at anchor in Scapa Flow from attack by aircraft-launch torpedoes. The pontoons were only in operation in Scapa Flow for 13 months (March 1941-April 1942) and few were brought into service. As such they represent a rare heritage resource, for which very little is known about their operation.

This paper attempts to answer the question if the skyline phenomenon of the reappearing Sun can be seen from several monuments as part of an Neolithic Orcadian culture? Several sites are evaluated.
Within Maeshowe (a chambered cairn) one can experience the Winter Solstice Sun, but also the reappearing setting Sun some 20 days before/after Winter Solstice day behind Ward Hill and reappearing for a few minutes at the right slope of Ward Hill. This phenomenon looks not to have been witnessed in historic past.
As this reappearing Sun is a phenomenon of the skyline (fore sight) due the steep slope of the two hills; it can also be witnessed at other locations (back sights) on Orkney. Based on visual 4D computer simulations; the Sun‟s reappearance has been recorded at Ness of Brodgar and Breckness settlements in 1999. At that time Historic Environment Scotland was informed about the possible archaeological importance of the Ness of Brodgar and Breckness. Chance artefacts and recent excavations at Ness of Brodgar show that there is indeed significant archaeology in the form of a large likely ceremonial centre.
Interviews were broadcasted in 1997, 2000 and 2012 by Radio Orkney and BBC Scotland to ask listeners/viewers for experiences around the reappearing Sun. This provided a link to a contemporary sighting of
light reflections on Ward Hill.
Several interpretations of the landscape with its built environment are provided: from the possible conscious perception of the reappearing Sun; through a symbolic link with the possibly sacred Hoy hills; to the incorporation of such foci into humanised space that links sky, land and humans with an annual rhythm: a possible pilgrim route.

This is a result of my fascination with Nordic history and mourning that the rest of the world at large does not give this culture the revere it deserves. Given the opportunity to study the Northern Isles through the libraries of Oxford University, I conclude that a nation's identity does not lie within its geographical location but rather lies within the heart of its people. The people of the Northern Isles proudly draw their lineage from the Nordic peoples as is seen throughout their history and modern practices.

Clearly the pattern of space in buildings can be expected to relate to the way that buildings are used to structure and reproduce social relations. As an archaeologist, wishing to infer social structure by its reflection in the building pattern, one may hope the relation may be reasonably direct. Here the formal geometrical method of spatial analysis is used to elucidate the pattern in a distinctive kind of prehistoric settlement form, and thence to elucidate the social structure which both produced it and was structured by it.

The fertile islands of Orkney, an archipelago off the north-eastern tip of Scotland, have been continuously occupied since the Neolithic period.  The scarcity of trees and the prevalence of stone have meant that the monumental remains of the past are remarkably tangible and omnipresent.  The UNESCO World Heritage Listed ‘Heart of Neolithic Orkney’ includes the standing stone circles of the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar; the chambered burial cairn of Maeshowe; and the domestic buildings at Skara Brae, complete with their 5000-year-old furnishings.  Later stone monuments include  the Iron Age Broch of Gurness,  and, after the ninth-century Norse settlement and later Christianisation, the Romanesque Cathedral of St Magnus in Kirkwall, and the remains of numerous medieval churches, residences and fortified buildings.
This chapter considers the way that the medieval Orcadians understood and interacted with the preserved past through the medium of stone.  In particular the Norse runic inscriptions on Maeshowe and other monuments will be analysed, together with evidence from Orkneyingasaga, to gain insight into the ways in which stone could both produce and record emotions and identity.

hear about an extraordinary place where the world’s renewable energy future has already been realized, where wind, wave and tidal power provide over 100% of the archipelago’s electricity--hear a poetic primer on marine renewable energy and learn about The Electric Nemesis, Victor Frankenstein’s Orcadian bride.