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| The Knap could not have been built by primitive hunter-gatherers.
They were 'the products of a confident farming society' according to Anna
Ritchie. What were they like, these confident farmers? Evidence from the
chambered cairns shows them to have been similar to modern Orcadians (inhabitants
of Orkney). But, on average, they were slightly shorter and few lived into
their fifties. They were probably descendants of mesolithic (middle stone
age) people who followed the retreating ice caps through north-east Scotland,
Caithness and across the Pentland Firth. Modern humans may favour a Mediterranean-type
climate but Orkney provided ideal conditions for neolithic civilisation:
'land suitable for mixed farming, building materials for permanent settlements,
natural food resources and a reasonable climate' (Ritchie). The inhabitants
of the Knap farmed cattle and sheep in addition to their fishing. The pottery
found at the Knap of Howar is known as Unstan ware - Unstan being the site
where such pottery was first found.
Source:adapted from Anna Ritchie, 'The first settlers' in Renfrew, Colin (1990), The Prehistory of Orkney: BC4000-1000AD, Edinburgh University Press. |
|
Welcome to Papay
- photographs and information about Papa Westray, how to get
here and where to stay.
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