Social Context of Norse Jarlshof
Social Context of Norse Jarlshof
Social Context of Norse Jarlshof
A Thesis
in
by
Marcie Anne Kimball
B.S., Northwestern State University of Louisiana, 2000
August 2003
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is grateful to her major professor Dr. Rebecca Saunders, Associate
Professor of Anthropology, and her thesis committee members Dr. Paul Farnsworth,
Anthropology, all of Louisiana State University. The author is also grateful to Dr. Gerald
to Mr. Stephen Dockrill, Director of Old Scatness Excavations, and to Dr. Julie Bond,
Assistant Director of Old Scatness Excavations, for their guidance and assistance. The
author would also like to thank The Shetland Amenity Trust for its generous financial
contributions during her stay in Shetland and Robert Paulsell for his assistance with the
graphics.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................ii
LIST OF TABLES..….........................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES..…………………………………………………………………..…vi
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................…viii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1
iii
4.1.1 Archaeological and Literary Evidence of the Presence of the Picts at
Jarlshof at the Time of Norse Arrival…… ………………………...……41
4.1.2 On the Dearth of Shetland Viking Age Sites…………………....…41
4.2 The Interaction of the Picts and the Norse in Shetland..............................…..42
4.2.1 Phases of Settlement…....……………………………………….…43
4.3 Archaeological Evidence for the Interaction Between the Norse and the Picts
in Orkney………………………………………………………………………...46
4.3.1 Skaill, Deerness, Orkney...................................................................47
4.3.2 Buckquoy, Mainland, Orkney...........................................................50
4.3.3 Brough of Birsay, Orkney.................................................................51
4.3.4 Pool, Sandy, Orkney.........................................................................52
4.3.5 Saevar Howe, Birsay, Orkney...........................................................53
4.3.6 Howe, Stromnes, Orkney..................................................................53
4.3.7 Conclusion........................................................................................53
CHAPTER 5. JARLSHOF………………………………………………………………55
5.1 History of Excavations…………….................................................................56
5.2 Hamilton’s Research........................…............................................................57
5.2.1 Phase I……………………………………………………………...59
5.2.2 Phase II……………………………………………………………..63
5.2.3 Phase III……………………………………………………………65
5.2.4 Phase IV…………………………………………………………....67
5.2.5 Phase V…………………………………………………………….68
5.2.6 Phase VI…………………………………………………………....71
5.2.7 Phase VII…………………………………………………………...73
5.2.8 The Medieval Farm………………………………………………...74
5.2.9 The “Jarlshof” Building……………………………………………75
5.3 Subsequent Research.......................................................................................75
5.3.1 The Houses…………………………………………………………76
5.3.2 Outbuilding 1A…………………………………………………….79
5.3.3 Chronology………………………………………………………...80
5.3.4 Underwater Archaeology…………………………………………..81
5.4 Hamilton’s Research as a Beginning...............................................................83
CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS…...……………………………………………….……85
WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………………………94
VITA……………………………………………………………………………………103
iv
LIST OF TABLES
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 5. Orkney sites that evidence interaction between Viking and Picts.....................46
Figure 9. A Type B comb fragment from Phase IV and a high-backed comb fragment
from Phase V, Buckquoy, Orkney……………………………………………………….51
vi
Figure 22. House 6 of Norse Jarlshof …………………………………………………..69
Figure 29. Rock platform underlying the waters of the coast of the Jarlshof site……....82
vii
ABSTRACT
A series of excavations from 1897 to 1951 showed the site of Jarlshof in Shetland
to have been occupied by proto-Pictish, Pictish, and Viking peoples. These inquiries
the years since the writing of the monograph, much new information has come to light
that relates to the time periods found at Jarlshof. The concern of this thesis is how the
new findings relate to Viking Age Jarlshof and how Viking Age Jarlshof relates to this
new information.
In order to set Viking Age Jarlshof into its overall historical context regarding
Jarlshof broadly within the sphere of Viking movements, the history of, and the reasons
for, Viking activity are recounted. Next, specific aspects of Viking Age Shetland are
examined. The evidence for the interaction of the Vikings with the native Picts is then
reviewed. The relevant details of Jarlshof are then presented, along with the findings of
recent studies that have been conducted that specifically relate to Viking Age Jarlshof.
Various studies, especially new archaeological finds, are used to set Viking
Jarlshof into its social context and to hypothesize about the history of the site itself. The
major conclusions of this inquiry are: Vikings raiding was a product of a transitional
stage of economy; the Shetland Norse came from an as yet unspecified region of Norway;
reliance on trade and taxation; the clustering of houses at Jarlshof may be evidence of the
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antiquity of land management of Shetlanders as recorded in more recent centuries; three
stages of Viking colonization that were first hypothesized for Orkney, i.e., pioneering,
consolidation, and establishment, are also applicable to Shetland; sites in Orkney also
demonstrate that Jarlshof is not unique in the ambiguity of evidence for interaction
between the Picts and the Norse; Jarlshof may have been subjected to particularly
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Chapter 1
Introduction
Due to extensive erosion of a nearby shoreline in 1897, the site of Jarlshof in Shetland
was discovered to contain much more than one ruined building dating to the sixteenth century.
A series of excavations over the next 50 years revealed that the site contained architecture of the
proto-Pictish, Pictish, and Viking cultures. These investigations culminated with a series of
excavations conducted by J. R. C. Hamilton from 1949 to 1951. Hamilton ended these inquiries
with the monograph Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland, published in 1956, which is the best
Though Hamilton does give an excellent summation of the work that had been done at
Jarlshof, he does not delve into the placement of the site into the wider social context of Shetland
as a whole or of the Northern Isles. When he does, he notes basic trends and draws conclusions
from them with little input from information outside of Jarlshof; most of these conclusions are
concerned with the proto-Pictish and Pictish occupations of the site, not the occupation of the
Norse. In general, Hamilton suffered from a lack of data to compare with his Jarlshof findings.
Since his time, a great deal of new information on Viking archaeology has become
available. New sites, especially those in the Orkneys, reveal settlement patterns (which correlate
well with medieval literature), the links between these sites and Viking homelands, the
interaction between the Norse and the Picts, and the subsequent history of Viking settlement.
Some of this information can be directly compared to that found at Jarlshof. Indeed, some data
from other sites can supplement gaps in the Jarlshof data; gaps created due to a lack of modern
methods of excavation and analysis at the time Hamilton’s study. Much of this new data
indicates that the Norse occupation of Jarlshof was thoroughly enmeshed in the changes of the
time. All of it reveals the complex strands of culture that met and mingled on the Shetland
Islands.
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This thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter 2 and the first half of Chapter 3 give
necessary background details. Chapter 2 details basic information regarding Shetland, including
its geography, prehistory, and history. Knowledge of Shetland archaeology and history is
important for the placement of Jarlshof in general and Viking Age Jarlshof in particular in the
The first half of Chapter 3 gives a broad description of the series of Viking raids.
Whereas Chapter 2 places Jarlshof in its local timeline, this information places Jarlshof in a
larger regional and extraregional context. It summarizes the theories regarding the reasons for
Viking raids and proposes a new viewpoint based on a combination of viable, complementary
hypotheses. The second half of Chapter 3, as well as Chapter 4, contains the research portions of
this paper. The second half of Chapter 3 discusses Viking Age Shetland and present research
that elucidates Jarlshof’s role in Viking activities. Place name evidence is used to hypothesize
upon the original homeland of those that settled in Shetland. A brief history is given regarding
the role of longhouses in Europe throughout time. Theories concerning the change from
firehouses to longhouses at Jarlshof are then discussed. The increase in residential buildings
through the Viking Age is then explained, as well as the implication of this trend for the
Chapter 4 concerns the interaction of the Vikings and Picts of both Shetland in general
and Jarlshof in particular. Place name and limited archaeological evidence are used to support
the hypothesis that the Picts were still residing in Shetland at the beginning of the Viking Age.
An hypothesized set of phases of settlement is reviewed, and literary, place name, and Shetlandic
archaeological evidence are found to support this theory. Archaeological evidence from sites
outside of Shetland is also shown to support this pattern of invasion by revealing the close social
Chapter 5 begins with a concise summary of the location of Jarlshof and a history of the
excavations performed at this site. It then briefly describes the archaeology of the site prior to
the Viking invasion. Next, it gives a detailed description of the Viking Age buildings of
2
Jarlshof. It concludes with a summary of recent work that directly relates to the site, including
3
Chapter 2
Shetland: Geography, Prehistory, and History
Though sharing a geography similar to that of nearby lands, as well as elements of
history, Shetland’s location provides a unique perspective on the ways in which climate
affects societies and on the ways that migrating peoples affect established societies. In
2.1 Geography
Composed of about 100 islands that extend approximately 100 kilometers from
south to north, Shetland (Figure 1) lies 320 kilometers to the west of Norway and 150
kilometers north of the Scottish mainland; the Atlantic Ocean and the Norwegian sea
encompass its western and northern shores, while the rest is bordered by the North Sea
(Figure 2). One of these bodies of water is almost always visible from every spot on the
islands. Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, is located at 60° 46’ N. 0° 51’ W. At the
winter solstice, the sun is present for only 5 hours 39 minutes. Conversely, at the
summer solstice the day is 18 hours 48 minutes. Even though the sun sets, the sky is
never completely dark at this time of year, creating what is known as ‘simmer dim’
(Small 1983:20-24).
regions of similar latitude. This is due to the persistent westerly and south-westerly
winds that are a result of the Polar front combined with the jet-stream, as well as warm
water provided by the North Atlantic Drift. Though snow can be seen on the ground for
20 days a year on average, the lowest average temperature for any month (3.3° C in
February) is still above freezing. July and August have the warmest average
temperatures at a mean of 11.9° C. The temperature in summer has been known to reach
up to 28° C. Summer also brings fog and humidity with yearly averages that range from
85% to 89%. Though usually not heavy, precipitation occurs on 248 days of the year on
4
Figure 1. The main islands of Shetland and the surrounding waters (redrawn after
Crawford 1984:41).
5
average. The overall wind speed averages 27 kilometers per hour, though the gales that
The total land area of Shetland is 352,319 acres. Only a small percentage of this
favorable, crops are quite productive. Particularly cold and wet summers, however, have
The rolling landscape, which at some points ascends over 300 meters, was formed
prior to the last glaciation, which retreated 10,000 years ago (Butler 1998:3; Small
1983:20). This Ice Age event erased any possible evidence of local glaciation and fine-
tuned the Shetland topography by widening valleys and creating rock basin lakes. Since
its dissipation, peat growth has been practically uninterrupted (Small 1983:21-22), aided
growth in Shetland due to salt spray (B.C.E. - Before Common Era; B.C.E. dates are
equal to B.C. dates). In the Late Holocene (3,000 B.C.E. – Present/5,000 B.P. - Present),
the conditions that supported peat growth caused even these trees to disappear. In the
third millennium, the islands contained large tracts of “podsolised peaty soils, blanket
peats, and species-poor heathland or acid grassland.” In other words, it was becoming
the landscape that it is today (Figure 3). Though this environment was bound to occur
naturally due to Shetland’s moist climate, humans sped up the process by clearing woods
for agriculture, which began in the third millennium B.C.E. In addition, a switch to the
4,200-3,800 B.P.) and Bronze Age (ca. 1,800-800 B.C.E./ca. 3,800-2,800 B.P.). Burning
animals. While the short-term effect on the ecology of the land was positive, the long-
term effect of this burning was to encourage the growth of heather and blanket peat,
6
worsening the already poor quality of soil. Colder winters with increased precipitation
may have occurred ca. 500-750 C.E./1,450-1,200 B.P., giving peat growth another boost
(C.E. – Common Era; C.E. dates are equal to A.D. dates). The manuring and draining of
land, however, may have prevented peat from overgrowing in some areas (Butler 1998:5-
9).
2.2 Prehistory
Stone was the building material of choice in Shetland until recent modernization,
due to its abundance and also due to the lack of trees. The spread of peat and the
accompanying soil acidification caused the removal of many early agriculturists from
their lands, and later people tended to rely on pastoralism more than crops. The use of
building material that does not decay combined with a lack of plowing that would have
destroyed the remains of past peoples gives Shetland a high density of archaeological
If present at all, a Mesolithic population would have been the earliest human
residents of the Shetland Islands. The evidence for such a people, though, is restricted to
7
the fact that the red deer was commonly hunted by Mesolithic peoples in Britain and that
the change in flora in Shetland around 5,500 B.C.E/7,500 B.P. may indicate an
abundance of this grazing animal (Butler 1998:6). Any direct indication of Mesolithic
residences may have been washed away by the rise in global sea level, since the preferred
potentially Mesolithic, stone tools, the origin of which has yet to be identified with any
certainty, have also been found in Shetland (Turner 1998b:140). In brief, a Mesolithic
Shetlands can be seen in domestic architectural styles. However, the earliest definitive
evidence of human habitation yet discovered in the Shetlands is a dike at Shurton Brae
that dates to 3,500 B.C.E./5,500 B.P. (Turner 1998a:2). By the beginning of the
Neolithic (3,000 B.C.E./5,000 B.P.), cairns and oval stone houses were spread throughout
the islands. The cairns date to the third millennium B.C.E./fifth millennium B.P., while
the oval buildings are usually dated to the third and second millennia B.C.E./ fifth and
fourth millennia B.P. (Whittle 1985:1). On the basis of comparative evidence, the
agriculturalists who constructed these buildings island hopped to Shetland from Scotland
(Small 1983:25).
B.C.E./3,800-2,800 B.P.) sites. The Bronze Age culture of Scotland is only apparent at a
distinction between Bronze Age and Neolithic pottery is often difficult to draw, Bronze
In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E., an apparently peaceful migration of Iron
Age people to the islands took place. This is represented by “open settlements and small
Pictish” people (Sutherland 1994:16), who constructed “ring forts,” invaded. By 200
8
B.C.E./2150 B.P., these proto-Picts developed their forts into brochs (Small 1983:27).
Brochs are dry-stone, circular structures, which lack any opening with the exception of a
small doorway. Three feet typically separate the double-skinned walls from each other.
Galleries inside the walls were linked by staircases (Cunliffe 1974:219-221). About
eighty brochs have been discovered in Shetland. Since Shetland is currently a part of
Overlapping in time with the brochs were aisled round houses, circular buildings
with a hearth in the center and radial partitions. Brochs went out of use by the second
century C.E. (1850 B.P.), which is approximately when wheelhouses were beginning to
be produced (Cunliffe 1974:216). Wheelhouses are much like round houses, except that
the partitions butt against the main wall so that no aisle encircles the building. The result
Wheelhouses continued to be in use until the arrival of the Vikings. As the people
of Scotland at this time also shared wheelhouses (as well as artifactual similarities), and
as the people of Scotland at this time were Picts, the people of Shetland at this time are
theory, the Picts were a people of Celtic culture (even if the population mixed with non-
Celtic people when it migrated into “Pictland”) who lived north of the Forth-Clyde valley
in Scotland (including the Scottish isles) from 297 to 843 C.E/1,653 to 1,107 B.P. The
incipience date is taken from the first mention of the Picts as “Picti” by the Roman
historian, Eumenius. However, they were previously known to the Romans by a different
name, and Celts in general may have been in Scotland as early as 500 B.C.E/2,450 B.P.
The terminal date of Pictish occupation marks the date when the Picts on the Scottish
mainland were overrun by a Celtic people from Ireland, which effectively obliterated
B.P. (though some scholars debate the date) (Small 1983:28). Shetland (as well as the
9
Orkneys) would have made an ideal stepping stone for raids on and migrations into Great
Britain (Roesdahl 1991:210-211), reviving these islands from their previous peripheral
status (Small 1983:28). Due to the lack of written records from the Viking period,
nothing regarding the use of these islands in Viking raids can be said unequivocally.
Available evidence does indicate that most of the Pictish culture was either obliterated or
absorbed by the Norse settlers who subsequently took over the islands. Debate rages as
to what extent obliteration or absorption took place (to be discussed in detail below).
2.3 History
The environmental richness of the Orkney Islands enabled it to become the center
of the region under Viking control in north Britain (which also included the Hebrides,
islands on the north-west tip of Britain, and Caithness on the northern tip of Scotland).
Few sources are informative regarding the early centuries of Shetland’s history under the
Norse. Outside sources do state that until 1195 C.E., Shetland was an earldom of
Orkney. In 1195, Shetland came under the direct rule of Norway for purposes of tax and
tribute. It was returned to the earldom of Orkney in 1379 C.E. When Sweden and
Norway were brought under the rule of Denmark in 1397 C.E., the Shetlands also became
part of Denmark (Small 1983:28-29). In 1469 C.E., the Danish princess Margrethe
married the Scottish King James III. Not having enough money for her dowry,
Margrethe’s father pledged the Shetland Islands to Scotland until he was able to obtain
the funds (Roesdahl 1991:214). He was not able to do so. Though attempts have been
made since to reclaim the islands for Denmark, Scotland has refused to cooperate, and the
(Small 1983:29). The official transfer to Scotland, however, opened the way for Scottish
immigrants; later, it allowed individual Scottish “lairds” (lords) to claim large portions of
the country that had previously been owned by those who worked the land. By 1700
C.E., the residents of Shetland who did not belong to the lairds’ families were tenants
10
under them. The rent required by the lairds increased through time. In the 1800’s, large
numbers of people were removed from the land that they had occupied or tilled or grazed
so that the lairds could have these lands for their personal uses. Many Shetlanders were
forced to leave the islands altogether. The complaints of tenants in the 1870’s to the
Scottish government promoted investigations into the current state of life in these islands.
The Liberal government, which was in power at the time, passed an act in 1886 C.E. that
declared that the tenants should have the security of tenure, as well as reimbursement for
improvements that they made to the buildings they occupied. Scottish concern for the
well being of, as well as their curiosity about, Shetlanders continued to increase in part
because of studies done on and books written about the islands. With ships traveling
more frequently to and from mainland Scotland in the later half of the nineteenth century,
however, many inhabitants left the island to find more secure work than could be
provided by fishing and farming (fishing may have begun to replace farming as the
principal subsistence focus during the Norse occupation; see Chapter 4) in a region where
poor weather sometimes too easily created famine. Shetland’s population decreased until
the 1960’s, when the discovery of oil created new, well-paying jobs, encouraging people
to stay on or return to the islands. Inevitably though, a change will occur when the oil is
place historically and culturally. Once the Norse and (pre-laird) Scotsmen had settled
down, though their respective cultures were different, both groups were Shetlanders, who
developed a lifestyle that suited the islands. The subsequent fusion of these two people
was reinforced by their struggles with the lairds. The way of life that developed became
known as crofting. In this system, crops, animal husbandry, and fishing were combined to
create a decent living. Generally, on-shore jobs were the responsibility of the women,
while the more dangerous offshore tasks were that of the men. This was reinforced by
the amount of fish required by the lairds as part of their tenants’ rent. By this time, fish
11
were the most important commodity produced in Shetland (Nicolson 1990:21, 50-52,
102-123).
Crofters were organized into townships in which cropland was divided through
the system of “runrig”. Under its rules, arable land was divided into rigs or strips, with
alternating strips worked by different people. This was done to give each family more or
less equal access to all the different qualities of land in the country—no single family or
group of families, then, could control the best land. The result was a complicated system
in which each family had land dispersed throughout the farm or township. Though
complex, it was seen as fair, especially since one piece of land was seen as equal to
another only when it could produce an amount equal to the other. While requiring much
cooperation, this system was not a cooperative (Nicolson 1990:51, 53; Thomson 1998).
extraordinary in its preservation of Viking Age remains and for the wealth of remains in
general, and it therefore embodies a long portion of Shetland’s human occupation. This
history also gives an indication of the unique way in which the culture of the islands
developed. Though greatly influenced by the Scottish lairds, much of this development
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Chapter 3
The Vikings
The term “Viking” may be derived from “Vik,” which may have been a harbor in
southern Norway that became central to raiding expeditions. Vik was definitely a word
in Old Norse that meant bay or harbor; in Old English, it also meant “refuge.” From this
Technically, the term Norse refers to those people who spoke Old Norse (the Germanic
people of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark). While Viking refers to those Norse who
traveled abroad as marauders of foreign lands and often as conquerors of them, the term
is only applied when the land was previously inhabited. In recent times, the term has
been used in a much broader sense to refer to all the speakers of Old Norse during the
stage of the Iron Age. Historians, on the other hand, see it as the beginning of the high
Middle Age (Myhre 1998:3-4). The Viking Age is typically viewed as starting in 793
beginning date for the Viking Age, however, is complicated by a several factors. Some
raiding recorded slightly prior to 793 may or may not have been caused by Vikings; and
eastward expansion of Scandinavians began prior to this date. In addition, some types of
artifacts associated with the Viking Age date to the mid-eighth century or perhaps earlier
(Myhre 1998:5; Roesdahl 1991:9-10). Concerning this last objection, some scholars state
that “Viking activity,” i.e., raiding and settling, should define the Age and that the C.E.
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3.1.1 Finland and Russia
The Norse traveled eastward into Finland and Russia, beginning at least as early
as the mid-seventh century. In this expansion, they were probably more interested in
wealth from trade and tribute, rather than from raiding. The inland waterways allowed
them to travel as far as the Byzantine Empire, though sometimes this required a portage
to the next river. These eastward-traveling Vikings also came to rule the Eastern Slavs
and founded the kingdom of Kiev (Edgren 2000:103-106; Roesdahl 1991:277-282). The
3.1.2 England
The first definitive Viking raid was that on the English Lindisfarne monastery in
793. The initial raid on Ireland came two years after this. The next few decades brought
many more raids on both west Britain and Ireland. The focus shifted to England in the
830s. Monasteries were the typical targets, with some monasteries raided multiple times.
One result of this was the recording of these occurrences by the monks who witnessed
Vikings overwintered in England for the first time in 850. It was not until 865,
however, that their goals changed from looting to occupation (Batey and Sheehan
2000:130). From this year until 876, an army of perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 men marched
across England in a zigzagging line, conquering it piece by piece. This campaign finally
ended when many of the Vikings settled in Northumbria and began to set up a permanent
community. Place name evidence testifies that the colonizers were a mixture of Danes
and Norwegians (Roesdahl 1991:247, 334-336). One more attack was attempted not long
after Northumbria was settled, but the counterattack was successful enough to draw it to a
In 885, “Danelaw,” the area under Norse control, was officially established over
much of England. Over the years, battles that weakened Danelaw over particular regions
continued to take place between the Norse and the Anglo-Saxons. In 954, the death of
14
the Viking King, Erik Bloodaxe, finally caused its demise (Batey and Sheehan
2000:131).
When silver ceased to flow from the east around 980, Vikings turned their
attention back to Britain. In 1016, however, Cnut of Denmark managed to become the
king of all of England, after which he put an end to the raiding and attempted to atone for
the grievances of the English caused by Viking violence and domination. Cnut’s son,
Edward, who had been ruling England, died in 1066. Shortly afterwards, William the
Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, became king of England after Norman victory at the
Battle of Hastings. This victory was the last of the attacks that the Norse perpetrated on
2000:99,102).
3.1.3 Ireland
The Vikings first overwintered in Ireland in the 840s. The Irish military
responded, often victoriously. Beginning about 915, the Vikings established several
trading towns along the east coast of Ireland. The urban character of this particular type
of settlement pattern is unique for the Norse (Batey and Sheehan 2000:129-131, 134-
135).
Like England, Ireland was influenced by both the Danish and the Norwegians,
and both of these countries became involved in local politics. Though they were not able
to dominate a large portion of the land as they did in England, the Vikings in Ireland took
part in inter-tribal warfare. Sometime, they even found themselves on opposing sides
1991:211). When the Vikings arrived, these two countries were inhabited by tribal Celts
(Sutherland 1994:26). Thus, no towns existed prior to their arrival, and the Vikings did
not create any; their settlements were rural in nature. They took control of the entirety of
15
Man, resulting in the most complete merging of Norse and Celtic populations of the era.
with the exception of the Isle of Man, where a few buildings have been excavated. There
is also little evidence of Viking settlement on the coastal areas of mainland Scotland
(Batey and Sheehan 2000:131, 138; Roesdahl 1991:218). Outside of the Manx kingdom
and mainland Scotland, linguistic and place name evidence demonstrate the complete
concentrated on Frisia, a province of the empire “that stretched from southern Denmark
to the western Netherlands” (Price 2000:116). This aggression came as a shock because,
previously, the Norse had been peaceful traders. In the 830s, when the focus of raiding
shifted away from Ireland, forces previously in Ireland also moved to Frisia. From 834 to
837, Danes raided and burned the Frankish town of Dorestad once a year. In 837, an
army led by Emperor Louis the Pious put an end to this raiding, along with a brewing
local rebellion. His death in 840, however, plunged Frankia into a civil war that lasted
for three years. Not only did the Viking attack as never before, but their involvement in
local politics sometimes led to different groups of Viking assaulting each other (again).
By the time the war ended, the Vikings were in an even stronger position to raid the
territory. Except for when paid not to attack, the raids continued in full force until the
Frankish emperor, Charles the Bald, put into action a full-scale response in 862 by
blocking rivers and making alliances with Vikings so that they would attack other
Vikings. In 865, the Vikings transferred their focus to England until 879 (see above for
intervening events in England). The Frankish Empire split in 887 when Charles was
dethroned. The new leaders, Odo in the west and Arnulf in the east, lead military
campaigns and established fortifications to drive away the Vikings (Price 2000:116-121).
16
Norse interest in the region was renewed in 896, particularly around the Seine
River. They were granted land around Rouen in 911 on the condition that they would
stop raiding and protect the vicinity from other raiders. They did not, however, follow
this agreement, and their leader, Rollo, led more raids around the Seine. William
Longsword, Rollo’s son, expanded Viking territory. In 933, a treaty that created the
province of Normandy solidified the borders of this territory. By this time, the Norse
were protecting the area, as they were supposed to do originally. The archaeological
evidence points to a quick assimilation of the Normans into Frankish culture (Price
2000:122-124).
were uninhabited before their arrival. The Faeroe Islands were colonized, probably by
Norwegians, around the same time as the Shetlands were invaded by the Vikings (see
Chapter 2). Changes in native vegetation of the kind that result from human activities
indicate that people were present in the seventh century. No artifacts have been found
from this period though, and medieval literature states that the islands were first occupied
about 825 (Arge 2000:154). Also according to medieval literature, the Norse began
colonizing Iceland in 870, which had been empty up to that point with the exception of a
few Irish hermits (Miller 1990:13-14). Geology shows that this date is approximately
correct. About 871, a volcanic explosion covered the island in ash; layer of debris can
still be found in most parts of Iceland, a foot or two under the current ground surface.
The oldest sites are found to have been established not long after the eruption
(Vésteinsson 2000:164).
when it came under Norwegian rule in 1262 (Thorláksson 2000:175). Though Norse
people are still in Iceland today, other colonies did not meet with success. At the
beginning of the second millennia, Icelanders began a colony in Greenland. The reasons
17
for its failure in the mid-fifteenth century are not completely understood. Worsening
weather conditions in Greenland’s already harsh climate may have combined with a
Greenland emigrated back to Iceland (Lynnerup 2000:292-294). The Norse also reached
North America proper from Greenland. Though one Norse encampment has been found
that a North American colony was not successful for any length of time. The sagas (see
below) attest that conflicts with skraelings, i.e., the previous inhabitants of the land, had
period. This work is the result of the recording of Icelandic oral literature (Sigurdsson
2000:186). This body of work and Norse archaeology are the sources for most of our
knowledge of the culture history of the Norse in the Viking Age. While some of its
accounts of bishops were recorded when the events happened, all other narratives were
recorded at a significant time after they are supposed to have occurred (Fridriksson
1994:2-3), and thus are not necessarily reliable. Because of this, the Viking era inhabits a
liminal stage between prehistory and history that has been dubbed proto-history (Miller
1990:44-46). The conditions that created this transitional stage in Norse chronology also
marauders and conquerors. Throughout the Viking Age, some Norse probably continued
trading with Europe, as attested by the sagas. One person could even easily change his
role as needed (Postan 1973:148-149). Why did anyone risk his good relations and even
his life by raiding? The simple and immediate answer is that that it was lucrative (Price
2000:117). The conditions that existed in Norse and other European societies that
18
contributed to raiding, however, are much more complex, and the picture is still not
entirely clear.
pressure as the primary cause. Some scholars still argue for this, at least concerning
Norway (Sawyer 2000:29). The warming trends that started before and extended into the
Viking Age and increased cereal production may have promoted an increase in
population throughout the Norse world. Botanical evidence exists for this increase.
Population pressure may be especially significant with respect to Norway. Prior to the
Viking period, Denmark and Sweden may have been somewhat politically centralized,
while Norway was still controlled by chieftains. As such, redistribution was still an
integral part of its economy; redistribution included the giving of precious gifts to loyal
underlings. Also prior to the Viking period proper, wealth was flowing into Norse
regions from trade, mercenary expeditions, and possibly from pirate activities. An
abundance of native resources due to beneficial weather conditions may have provided
wealth to purchase foreign treasure. Such conditions would have resulted in an increase
in the number of competing chieftains. Those who were not successful, as well as their
underlings, may have sought fame and fortune elsewhere (McGovern 1980-81:288-290).
that settlement expansion took place immediately prior to or during the early Viking Age
(before 1000). Even areas in Norway that had been abandoned in the sixth and seventh
centuries were not resettled. Neither were non-agrarian resources, such as iron,
soapstone, slate, reindeer, and elk, exploited more at this time than in previous eras.
have been a contributing factor. While the Norse did not practice primogeniture, the
eldest son did have more inheritance rites than other sons did. Rather than breaking up
farms and risk ruining their own farms and the farms of their relatives, some younger
19
sons may have decided to seek status by exploiting regions away from home (Loyn
1995:16).
3.2.2 Religion
Some monks of the day blamed the fact that the Norse (for the most part) still
practiced their indigenous (“heathen”) religion for Norse assaults on British monasteries
(Batey and Sheehan 2000:127). The Norse, however, were not the only aggressive
people in Great Britain at this time. The Irish tribes also fiercely fought each other.
Sources that were not so blatantly biased as those left by the monks demonstrate that no
clear separation of Norse and Irish aggression during the Viking Age can be made
(Sawyer 1982:361). The more biased accounts demonstrate that the destructive power of
the Viking was exaggerated for “literary reasons or because of nationalistic fervour”
(Roesdahl 1991:191-192). The main reason that monasteries were targeted for plunder is
probably that much easily portable wealth was stored in these building (Batey and
Sheehan 2000:128). Whether or not the Viking ever ransacked monasteries with the
intention of desecrating religious buildings cannot be said for certain. If this is so, they
probably did this to revolt against social changes that would be brought about if the
northern Europe and western Asia at the beginning of the period. However, many of
these towns were in politically unstable areas (with the exception of the Byzantine
Empire). This made the trading towns relatively easy to plunder (Roesdahl 1991:189).
One “item” that the Viking took by force was probably much easier to obtain by
raiding than by negotiation, because of the lack of people selling the item. This item was
slaves. Even after the Vikings settled in a conquered territory, the settlers needed slaves
20
3.2.4 Creating Alliances and Status
The driving forces behind Viking raiding were probably buried deep in Norse
society itself. As noted above, at the beginning of the Viking period, Norway was
maintaining alliances. Though more politically centralized, the situation was not much
different in Denmark and Sweden. Important areas of all three countries were unified at
different times through the Viking age. As long as the regions of a kingdom remained
independent (i.e., maintained regional laws), they were able to overthrow unpopular
rulers and cause the disintegration of kingdoms. The aristocracy, however, was
accumulating more power with the passage of time. By the end of the Viking period, the
Roesdahl 1991:64-65). Alliances of the upper class through much of this period,
however, were still held together by the giving of gifts. Rings were an especially
common gift. The wearing of such a gift displayed one’s loyalty. Raiders often stole
items that were such appropriate gifts, for instance swords, jewelry, or other items that
could be made into jewelry or cut up for dispersal. Therefore, a major reason behind the
Viking raids was to obtain items to build or maintain political alliances (Batey and
Sheehan 2000:130; Jorgensen 2000:72). The emphasis on status is reflected in poetry and
rune stones (carvings written in the native script that commemorate the lives of
individuals), which speak of people who directly acquired higher rank through raiding or
of powerful people who sent others to raid for them (Roesdahl 1991:188-189).
Another hypothesis for the development of Viking raiding states that it may have
been a simple extension of a pre-existing local pattern; in other words, prior to the
“Viking Age,” instead of invading foreign lands, the Norse assaulted each other. The
exhibited by the sagas, in this society that forthrightness of one’s intentions and actions
21
(e.g., plundering) was much more honorable than manipulation (e.g., stealing secretively)
(Dubois 1999:137).
3.2.5 Conclusion
Ultimately, a combination of the above theories probably explains the scenario
better than any single theory. The circumstances (already mentioned) at the turn of the
addition to this, consolidation of power was taking place in the Norse homelands
(Jorgensen 2000:75). If the Norse had been raiding each other, this would no longer have
been permitted, and the attacks may have been turned outward.
ranking people (a particular problem if, as stated previously, more wealth was being
created through the warming trend of the time) and generally created grudges because of
the strictness of the new hierarchy. This would have given people a reason to find a new
home. One saga (discussed below) indicates that this shift was the reason that Iceland
With the organization of various European powers came the strength necessary to
impede the Vikings to a point at which their activities were no longer profitable. In the
case of Frankia, this occurred in the first half of the tenth century. In the case of England,
Denmark itself halted raiding in the first half of the eleventh century. In both cases, the
Vikings either then dispersed or settled. Norse society also became more integrated into
the rest of European affairs. The conversion to Christianity played no small role in this
(Loyn 21:1994). The most important internal factor that brought the Viking Age to an
end, however, is undoubtedly the change in economy. The power once maintained
through gift giving was now held through relatively anonymous regulation and taxation
Denmark. Not only was violence no longer beneficial to the economy, it was detrimental
(Hedeager 1994:138-139).
22
3.3 Shetland Viking Homeland
From where did the Norse immigrants to Shetland emigrate? As mentioned
earlier, most of the texts concerning the Viking Era were written after the fact. Though
Shetland has no saga of its own, its settlement is mentioned in Egil Skallagrimsson’s
Saga. According to this saga, residents of Norway fled when King Harold Fairhair was
in the process of consolidating power. Among their stopping places was Shetland
(Fenton 1978:12). Swedish Vikings tended to travel eastward, while Danes did not
become widely involved in Viking activities until after the settlement of Shetland
encompasses a wide region. On the other, Sweden and Denmark did produced Vikings,
This language survived until the eighteenth century (Roesdahl 1991:214). At the end of
the nineteenth century, Jakob Jakobsen found that more than 10,000 Norn words survived
in the Shetland vocabulary. On the basis of comparison, Jakobsen pronounced that the
settlers’ homeland was southwest Norway (Figure 4, regions I, II, III). Jakobsen also
noted that Shetland had healthy trade links with Norway until the early nineteenth
century, and this was the reason why Norn was closer to Norwegian than was Icelandic or
Faeroese (Nicolson 1990:40). That recent interactions and linguistics studies based on
current languages may have given the false appearance of Norse migration from
Place names tend to change less with time that does the rest of language. Thus,
one might look for Danish or Swedish linguist elements in place names for evidence of
Norse migration from those countries. In Shetland, the Danish element –thorpe does
rarely occur. The name itself refers to a “secondary, outlying settlement” (Crawford
1987:115). Several names, such as Dainaberg, may make reference to the Danes. Such
place names, though, were most likely given by non-Danes who saw Danish settlers in
23
Shetland as unusual. All other available place name evidence confirms that the Norse in
from physical anthropology. The contents of 50 graves on St. Ninian’s Isle from a
cemetery in use from the Viking Age to the eighteenth century were used in a comparison
of skulls from Shetland and Norway (Berry 1974). The study found that the Shetlanders
compared only with fifty skulls recovered from the district of Jaeren, the divergence
shrinks greatly. The Jaeren skulls, which come from medieval ossuaries, may themselves
represent an older Norwegian population that was pushed inland by later Iron Age
people. Jaeren is located in the district of Rogaland (Figure 4, region II), which is within
24
the same region Jakobsen believed the Norse settlers to have come (Berry 1974:346-347,
355). Without skulls from elsewhere in Shetland to compare with those of St. Ninian’s
Isle and of Norway, whether all Viking Shetlanders emigrated from Jaeren is unknown.
place. One is the clustering of residential building (discussed below); the other is a
The Icelandic sagas commonly refer to the Viking dwelling as a skáli or firehouse
or fire-hall. This building was almost uniform throughout the Norse realm at the
beginning of the Viking period (though debate continues to this day concerning whether
the longer walls of the buildings in some regions were actually curved or whether this
Jarlshof, a skáli consisted of one elongated rectangular room. A long rectangular hearth
—a longfire— ran through the middle. Along the two extended sides of the building
were benches, used for sitting during the day and sleeping at night as told in Grettir’s
Saga. Two rows of posts placed along the inside edges of the benches supported the roof.
In regions such as Norway and Iceland, turf was the common building material (Simpson
The symbolic importance of certain elements of the skáli is indicated in sagas that
recount the removal of the “high seat pillars” to a new home. Though no saga gives a
description of these pillars that were a part of the most important seat in the house, they
do state that the pillars were often thrown overboard by early settlers to Iceland. The
immigrants would then colonize the spot where the pillars landed. Thus, a portion of the
settler’s old home was used in an omen for the building of a new home.
continued use in areas where they were not economical. One such region is Greenland,
25
which did not have the trees (or an alternative fuel source, such as peat) to feed the large
hearth. Such persistence is not unique to the Norse, as immigrants in all times and places
may be comforted by the familiarity not just of the construction but also of the symbolic
meanings that inform how one should act (Stoklund 1984:98, 100). The uniformity of
dwellings at the beginning of the Viking period is also indicative of “cultural integration,
a harmony regarding the goals, norms and values of life” (Stoklund 1980:122).
conditions. Yet, the separate settlements continued to influence each other. Longfires
went out of use by Phase V of Jarlshof (as will be seen). This change in hearths may be
taken as evidence for the influence of the European Stube or stofa (Bigelow 1987:34), a
room whose original use is uncertain (Stoklund 1984:101). What is known is that it
spread through the Norse regions as an adjunct to the house that functioned as a “daily
longhouse is a building that houses both humans and livestock, and inhabitants can move
from one part to the other without stepping outside (Fenton 1982:231). The change at
outbuildings. The name “longhouse” is a literal translation of the Welsh term (ty hir) for
The late Viking Age Norse were not the first to build longhouses. The Iron-Age
(Pre-Viking) Norwegians also used them. By the Viking Age though, the byre (where
cows were housed) was separate from the human dwellings, with the exception of a few
houses in northern Norway (Myhre 1998:13). Longhouses may be much older than this,
though. There are long rectangular buildings of timber, wattle, and daub, on the
continent in the Rhineland and in the Alpine region from the Neolithic. They were first
thought to be simply barns that were divided into two parts but are now thought to be
26
Common Age Denmark. All the houses considered are indeed long in length, compared
to their width. One such house was divided in two by a clay partition. One other does
not evidence a partition, but one end contained the remains on animals killed in the fire
that destroyed the house. In yet another, however, the animals and humans may have
lived together. At two others, there is nothing to indicate the presence of animals
(Roussell 1934:40-43). Examples have also been found in Germany in the seventh and
eighth centuries (Beresford 1979:125). Given this tantalizing but slim evidence of
diffused into Scandinavia in the Iron Age (Fenton 1978:114; Ingstad 1977:157).
In both Shetland and the Orkneys, archaeological evidence shows Norse usage of
longhouses to be after that of firehouses (Fenton 1978:114). The same is true of Iceland
and Greenland, where longhouses appeared in late medieval times (Fenton 1982:231;
Fenton 1985:171). The practice of housing livestock with humans carried on unaltered in
Shetland and the Orkneys (with regional variations) until the nineteenth centuries (Fenton
1978:114-115). In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the longhouse also became
widespread in mainland Britain (Beresford 1978:125). With the evidence that the earliest
longhouses were built in the eleventh century or twelfth century during Phase V, those at
Jarlshof are among the first in British Isles (Beresford 1979:125). Interestingly, buildings
at Underhoull (on Unst, Shetland) exhibit a pattern opposite that of Jarlshof and of
Britain, Iceland, and Greenland. First, a longhouse was built. Later, the same structure
was used for human occupancy only, with outhouses nearby (Fenton 1982:231; Small
site.
27
forces that instigated the change at Jarlshof, however, as well as in the more northerly
possible causes for the change from firehouses to longhouses. The longhouse appears
originating with a particular group(s). The possibility exists that it was brought from
mainland Britain, as noted above. At present, however, lack of data renders this
One of the most widely accepted environmental explanations for the inception of
longhouses is the cooling trend that began in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. In
longhouses, humans benefited from the warmth of livestock. This explanation, however,
is problematic because not only are the first longhouses estimated to have appeared 100
to 200 years prior to “The Little Ice Age” (a widespread cooling in this region of the
world), but people in Iceland and Greenland did not begin constructing buildings with
humans and cattle under the same roof until sometime after the beginning of climatic
change. Even then, direct communication between human and livestock regions of the
shortages of fuel forced the change in housing. The immigrants to Iceland and Greenland
quickly used the wood supplies of these islands; after this, they had no readily obtainable
fuel source for fires. With respect to these regions, no reason exists to reject the theory
that housing changed in order to keep the inhabitants warm. Shetland had no supply of
wood, other than driftwood, to decimate. The source of fuel that it proffered was peat.
Peat is abundant in Shetland, and it is still sometimes used as fuel today. No fuel crisis is
known to have occurred in Viking times to facilitate the change in architecture in these
28
Another theory explaining the adoption of the longhouse appeals to status.
Bigelow (1987:33) states that, because cows were prestigious items, they were subject to
special treatment, such as having the privilege of living with and being warmed by their
keepers. On the other hand, the Orkneyinga Saga refers to skáli (firehouses) in
association with high status. By the modern era, no such connotation exists; the modern
Norwegian word skåle means “a shed, hut or shack” (Lamb 1997:14). Whatever high
status longhouses may once have had, it had disappeared in more recent times. In the
eighteenth century, a minister who was visiting Shetland remarked that cohabitation with
cattle in longhouses was a mark of the lower class (Fenton 1978:114; Fenton 1985:170).
colonies, there may be a simplification of ranking as the new society organizes itself.
This new egalitarianism may be result of several forces, one of which is that colonists
may come as a group from a particular social class. With reference to Shetland, many of
those that led the move to these islands had to have had some wealth, as they necessarily
owned ships (Fenton 1978:19). If the sagas are to be believed, they would have also had
a stake in protecting the previous social structure, which was less hierarchical than the
one that was evolving in Scandinavia. Other social classes, however, especially slaves,
small initial population, which required less hierarchy to regulate it. With the
accompanying social reorganization of new colonies, old roles may become obsolete as
new opportunities arise; that is, new positions may have become available within the new
society. The nature of the migration also affects the social outcome—the less ordered the
move, the more likely the possibility that people can change their ranks. Will and skill
also come into play in these more fluid circumstances as they could not in a longer
established society.
29
Inequality will return, however. Assuming the colony is successful, the
population will grow. The larger the population, the greater the resulting social
upper and lower classes. As noted earlier, similarity in architecture tends to signify
similarity of goals. In the case of Shetland, the change in architecture from firehouses to
Both of the cultural theories may have been correct for different regions. They
are, however, mutually exclusive, so only one should apply to Jarlshof. According to the
the second, it is characteristic of a lower status. The former, though, is based on literary
evidence much closer to the time in question than the linguistic observation and the
Few other pieces of evidence give any clues, and may only serve to complicate
the argument. As discussed earlier, Viking Jarlshof may have had relatively high status in
the region because it may have been a favorable resting point for travelers from Norway
to mainland Britain and vice versa. Ships stopping at this point could leave either east or
west in order to avoid the tide-race. Therefore, it was potentially a good trading site.
One the other hand, Crawford (1984:40) claims that the Dynrost region would generally
have been avoided due to the danger of the tide-race. Perhaps the most paradoxical
evidence with regards to class, however, is the archaeological material itself. Few
artifacts found at the site were “exotic imported material” (Morris 1985:215). The only
other indication of status at the site was the presence of pig remains. Bigelow (1985:120)
hypothesized that pigs may have been high status domesticates because pigs are an
animal that produces nothing useful to humans besides meat and are often destructive to
crops.
The explanation with the most evidence for the architectural change concerns the
economy (Bigelow 1987:33). The faunal evidence at Sandwick demonstrates that cattle
30
bones became increasingly common in the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries. Most
of these bones are from young calves. The scant faunal evidence available from Jarlshof
indicates much the same thing. This suggests that cattle were used more for milk
production than for meat. Keeping cows warm greatly increases their milk production.
Thus, longhouses may be correlated with increased milk production in the twelfth
century. This increase not only coincides with the estimated introduction of longhouses
(late eleventh century to early twelfth century during Phase V at Jarlshof) but is
contemporaneous with the introduction of taxes and tithing in the late eleventh and early
Subsistence studies were not of much concern at the time Jarlshof was excavated.
Only the species of the bones found and the general location in which they were found
The site can only be compared with sites that have undergone more thorough
Orkney and Shetland at the beginning of the Viking Era (Donaldson, Morris, and
Rackham 1981:77). Another controversy also exists regarding the possibility of a greater
frequency of fishing during the Viking Era. Evidence from Jarlshof gave the first clues
regarding these issues—primarily that larger fish were caught at the beginning of the era
and that the number of steatite line sinkers recovered increased from Phase V onward
(Donaldson, Morris, and Rackham 1981; Hamilton 1956:157). Other Scottish sites (Old
1997:245], Freswick Links, Scotland [Morris, Batey, and Rackham 1995:190-191], and
31
Robert’s Haven [Barrett 1997:634]) have since been excavated, but give contradictory
evidence if these sites are to be viewed as part of one system. Moreover, the arguments,
not the least of which includes recovery methods and survival of remains (Morris
1985:228), surrounding this issue deserve an essay to themselves. Only a brief summary
One explanation of why fishing may have increased in the middle of Norse
occupation simply relies on the scarceness of arable land and the onset of “The Little Ice
Age” (Bigelow 1992:19). Another, much more involved conjecture, posits that the
increase was due to the transition of Shetland from a subsistence economy to one that
created surpluses that allowed for increased interaction with regions outside of Shetland,
namely in the form of trade, taxes, and tithes (Bigelow 1985:116, 119, 123;1992:17-19).
In this theory, Bigelow relies heavily on evidence from the site of Sandwick and its
comparison to Jarlshof. In the 11th century, fish and line sinkers were deposited with a
greater frequency at Sandwick than previously. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
line sinkers for a specialized form of fishing were created. Many small fish (saithe) that
were used for local consumption were recovered. Larger fish (cod) were also deposited
at the site. This type of fish could have been utilized in trade or taxes. As discussed
above, an apparent increase in milk production also took place at Sandwick, as evidenced
by the increase in calf bones. An increase in imported objects or artifacts that copy
objects that could have been imported also contribute to the idea of interaction with those
outside of Shetland.
Norse regions outside of the Northern Isles are known to have increased their
participation in the fish trade during the Middle Ages (11th through the 15th centuries).
Norway and Iceland could only grow limited amounts of cereals even in good years, so
fish was often traded for grain. As is hypothesized for Shetland, the proceeds from trade
in Norway also came to support the government through taxes (Barrett 1997:616;
Perdikaris 1999:388-391, 395). Interestingly, this accords with the supposition (Chapter
32
2) that the Viking Age ended with the transition from a gift economy to a one based on
wealth through trade and taxation. Britain and continental Europe also had a demand for
fish for reasons ranging from military use to Lenten food (Barrett 1997:616).
Jarlshof. Hamilton recognized this as the result of the division of land through
inheritance according to odal or udal law (1956:136). This aspect of the site deserves
ancestral Germanic law (Larson 1935a:vii). One version of this system was incorporated
into the Gulathing laws, which were written down in the eleventh and twelfth centuries
and which applied to western Norway and later to Shetland. According to these laws,
odallers were a distinct class with rank above that of non-land holding freemen and below
that of nobility. The odaller had “complete ownership of the land” (Robberstad 1983:49-
51); i.e., no one else of higher rank had control over the use of the land. One became an
odaller when he managed to use a piece of land for three to five generations, keeping all
other people who might want the land away from it by force. Once under the domain of
an odaller, land was passed down through inheritance. If present, land was passed to the
children. The heid-bule or main house passed to the eldest son. Other sons received
outland, i.e., land beyond the immediate area of the heid-bule, so as not to break up the
region belonging to the heid-bule. Daughters also received outland, but only half as
much as the sons (Fenton 1978:22, 30). (The complete order of inheritance is complex,
was “complete,” the odaller and his extended family were the ones considered to own the
land. If the odaller sold it, steps could be taken by the extended family to “redeem” the
33
These laws would have naturally followed the Norse to new colonies. Whether
odallers assumed that their old rights applied to their new estates immediately and
whether previous non-land holders could become odallers immediately is not known
(Fenton 1978:22).
The clustering of houses at Jarlshof and elsewhere in Shetland in later times (see
next subsection) has been seen as “peculiarly Scottish.” (Small 1968b:9); this
Faeroes, Iceland, and Greenland. While a Scottish influence is not without possibility at
this early date, no reason exists to assume that this is the reason for the clustering.
Rather, similar conditions in mainland Scotland and Shetland could have led to similar
settlement patterns. Both regions have small patches of arable land. The rest is only
suitable for pastoralism (and hunting in the cases of mainland Scotland). Farmers would
want to settle near the arable land but not on that land itself. Thus, if a separate patch of
arable land did not exist for every nuclear family, then families had to live close to each
whether by immigration or through the native birth rate. This growth is also testified by
place names, which indicate that the islands were fully settled by 900-1000 (Phase III)
that developed in Shetland, and provides a basis for understanding the antiquity of
settlement patterning in the area from the Viking Age to the Industrial Revolution. The
period from 1750 to 1830 demonstrates pattern of land use that appears to have
developed unimpeded since the beginning of the Viking age. This pattern is more of a
system of rules than a consistent method through which each region was organized.
Three levels of organization occurred: the tenant or household, the house or farm, and the
34
township. A township was all the farms in a particular region. The farm itself may have
been made up by one or more households. The households of one farm lived close
together and shared the land that belonged to their farm though the method of runrig. In
this system, most arable land (and possible grazing land exclusive of hill pasture) was
divided into a series of strips. Potentially, every other strip could be worked by a
different household. Runrig was not convenient but was seen as fair, since one piece of
land could only be equal to another when it could produce an equal amount of crop. Just
as households were runrig with neighboring households, farms could become runrig with
other farms in their township (Leask, Bradley, and Bradley 1998:85; Thomson 1998).
Like the multiplication of houses at Jarlshof, the runrig of farms and township is
believed to have developed through inheritance. In 1790, Rev. John Morison observed
that the splitting of farms was the result of the Lairds efforts to keep as many people on
their properties as possible, so that the tenants could fish for them. Initially, Lairds did
not dictate the manner in which households were to share the land amongst themselves.
Thus, a system originated from the tenants in order to cope with many people on one
piece of land, i.e., runrig. Lairds eventually attempted to break up the system because
they could not keep track of it (Thomson 1998:112, 123). Just as with the layout of
houses at Jarlshof, the households that shared one farm or township in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries were clustered together on one piece of land. Given that this
clustering in both Viking and more modern times are related and given that the system of
land management is a folk custom, older than that which the Scottish Lairds wished to
impose, then runrig may have it roots in the days of Jarlshof. Thus, the clustering of
houses at Jarlshof, which exists on no other Viking sites found in Shetland thus far, takes
above, the Gulathing laws outline a rather complicated order of inheritance. The folk
35
rules for inheritance were so complex that the transcriber of the law states at one point
that “the kinship of men can take so many forms that no one can draw up a complete
3.7 Summary
The Viking Age occurred during a liminal time period. At the beginning, Norse
society was becoming more organized and was expanding its influence beyond previous
limits. The economy at this time was such that it led the Norse to attempt to take
advantage of the rest of Europe; the political situation in the rest of Europe made it
relatively easy for the Vikings to do so. By the end of the period, however, the growth
experienced by the European powers completed the organizational shift that had begun
centuries before. With this, all European societies became more integrated. This
included the Norse, whose society moved into a mutually beneficial relationship with
Shetland is an integral part of the Viking story. In it own unique way, it was
subject to all the goings-on and changes in the Viking Era. It was invaded (mostly) by
of dwellings changed over time from firehouses to longhouses. The exact cause(s) for
this may never be known, but it may be part and parcel of the end of the Viking Era, the
very thing that brought the Norse to Shetland. The evidence at Jarlshof that an increase
in fishing took place through the Viking Era, though far from conclusive, accords well
Clustering of buildings also occurred early in the Norse history of Shetland. This
is due to an increase in population, the scarcity of arable land, and the need to reside next
to it. In historical times, odal law, Germanic inheritance laws, seems responsible for the
breaking up of arable land into strips that were worked by different people. This system
36
of land management, known as runrig, possibly stretched back to the very beginning of
Norse Shetland.
37
Chapter 4
The Picts and the Norse
One of the major issues of the Vikings’ social role in Shetland is whether or not
(and, in the event, to what extent) they interacted with an earlier population on Shetland.
Some scholars have theorized that no Picts were in the islands at the time of Norse
arrival, partly because the Vikings took over so thoroughly. Unfortunately, the Norse
did not write about themselves during times of settlement. Therefore, the longer and the
more widespread Scandinavian influence was in a region, the less likely historical
documents were created concerning Viking times. For instance, in England and Ireland,
historians recorded Viking raids, and these accounts have survived partly because the
Norse did not decimate the native people or destroy their culture. Norse culture, however,
apparently came to pervade the Shetland Islands once the Viking invaded. Since the
Norse did not leave behind historical documents from this time period, there is no written
record addressing the presence or absence of an indigenous population. Even if there had
been a Pictish population present, the Pictish methods of recording contemporary events
would not have been as technologically advanced as those of British historians (Bigelow
1992:13; Morris 1985:210). So, the scant literary, place name, and archaeological
evidence that are available regarding Shetland must be scrutinized in order to determine
what it can show about the possible interactions between the Norse and the Picts.
First, the archaeological and literary evidence for the presence of a Pictish
population at the time of Norse arrival will be reviewed. Then, the nature of the
interactions of the two peoples will be examined. This examination will include place
name, literary, and archaeological evidence for the stages of Norse settlement. It will
conclude with a discussion of other sites that contain evidence for interaction between the
38
4. 1 Archaeological and Literary Evidence for the Presence of the Picts in Shetland
at the Time of Norse Arrival
fled when King Harold Fairhair was in the process of consolidating power. Among their
stopping places was Shetland. In this account, all of the departing Norwegians settled
areas that were deserted (Fenton 1978:12). The Historia Norvegiae, however, states that
the newcomers had to defeat the native population (Roesdahl 1991:211-212). If this were
the case, the superior sea power of the Norse combined with the land focus defense of the
Picts and their probable “loose tribal nature” mostly likely contributed to the victory of
Also in favor of the absence of the Picts (or their decimation) are the observations
recognizable portion of their culture does survive. Place names, for instance, are
commonly not replaced by the dominant culture. The one case in which almost no native
linguistics remained was in Tasmania, where the indigenous population was obliterated
(Richards 2001:72).
Some place name evidence does exist for a Pictish presence about the time that
the Vikings arrived. The island names of Unst, Fetlar, and Yell are not Norse, and they
may even be pre-Celtic. The name for a Celtic priest, papar, is present in some island
names such as Papa Stour, as well as in names for features of the landscape (Crawford
1987:104, 211; Brøgger 1929:61). The component of petta that appears as part of the
names for features of the landscape probably refers to the Picts (Crawford 1987:211).
Such places are particularly prone to having “tales of supernatural things” attached to
39
previous population, as happened in Orkney. In contrast to the Shetlands, however, in
Orkney, fanciful stories about these people survived to be recorded. For instance, the
Historia Norvegiae states that the Picts in Orkney became weak at noon. This
though a general dearth of information regarding original Pictish culture exists (Richards
2001:72). What is known regarding their culture indicates many similarities with the
Norse. For instance, both had writing, and burial practices were often similar (Ritchie
1974:31). They may have had other similarities that eased Pictish assimilation and hid
their previous presence, though all evidence indicates that artifacts are typically
diagnostically distinct. (Note that the identification of Pictish artifacts and architecture is
often a process of elimination. The approximate time frame and regions that Picts
occupied is generally known. Archaeological evidence from this time and region, when
it cannot be attributed to other people, is credited to the Picts.) Another possible reason
for the lack of recognizable Pictish culture, besides the theory that no Pictish population
was on the island ca. C.E. 800, is that the population of the islands was small compared
evidence for an abundant population in earlier times, the complete absence of people at
later times seems (at least to some scholars) extreme (Bigelow 1992:13-14).
Some archaeological evidence not associated with habitation sites also points to
the presence of the Picts. On St. Ninian’s island, a hoard of Pictish treasure was hidden
40
Viking activity (Roesdahl 1991:213). More importantly, a stone on the island of Bressay
has writing both in runes (Norse script) and ogham (Celtic script) (Richards 2001:73).
4.1.1 Archaeological Evidence of the Presence for the Picts at Jarlshof at the Time of
Norse Arrival
The evidence for interaction between the Picts and Norse at Jarlshof is slim but
present. One type of artifact may represent this. Small stone disks of similar size, which
are considered pot lids, were found in the Wheelhouse Phase and continued into the
Viking Phases. These pot lids have also been found at other Pictish sites. The Norse had
similar artifacts in Norway and in other parts of Shetland that were over twenty
centimeters in diameter and that may have been used as baking griddles. Those found at
Jarlshof and at Pictish sites, however, are for the most part consistently smaller than all
In the case of the rectangular structure built next to Huts 1 and 2 (see Chapter 5),
Hamilton interpreted the mixture of pre-Norse and Norse features to be evidence of the
mingling of the indigenous people with the newcomers (Hamilton 1956:88). In the case
Building 1D, he took the mixture of pre-Norse and Norse artifacts as a sign of the
There is a severe dearth of Viking Age sites in Shetland. Only three or four sites
other than Jarlshof contain Viking structures (at Underhoull on Unst [Small 1964-66;
Small 1968a]; Sandwick on Unst [Bigelow 1985]; Da Biggins on Papa Stour [Crawford
1979; Crawford 1984]; and possibly Old Scatness [Dockrill 1998:75]). Only one of these
sites is from the Early Viking period (Bigelow 1992:10). None show interaction between
the Picts and the Norse (Bond et al., in press). This lack of sites continues to be a
41
mystery. Construction work of the past two centuries should have accidentally
uncovered some structures. Except for Old Scatness, it has not. Also, in Iceland,
middens associated with long vanished structures have often been found. In Shetland, no
such middens have been uncovered. Pagan graves, which are archaeologically valuable
because of their grave goods, are likewise only rarely identified (Bigelow 1992:10, 12).
Typically, the lack of Viking remains is blamed on the reuse of buildings (such as will be
seen at Jarlshof), the reuse of the stones themselves for new buildings, and the reuse of
land for new buildings. These destructive processes, plus the fact that current
populations are located on the same plots of land as past peoples, makes Norse sites, and
particularly early Norse sites, elusive (Small 1967-8:155). Future investigation will
disclose whether this is a result of poor recognition and reporting or whether Viking
4.2 The Interactions Between the Norse and the Picts in Shetland
commonly accepted, though sometimes still debated. A more complex (and more
interesting) question is the nature of the interaction of the indigenous and incoming
populations.
All Viking Age settlements (with the exception of those in the Faroes, which had
not been settled previously) in Britain are located on top of earlier sites. The Norse may
have been utilizing the productive man-made soils that had been created in times past
(Bond et al., forthcoming). In Shetland, where so little of the land is arable, all farming
inhabitants would have settled near such land (but not necessarily on the best parts)
(Small 1968b: 10). In the case of an aggressive incoming population, this would
42
naturally lead to old areas of occupation being claimed by the immigrants. This seems to
be born out by the archaeological evidence. However, the literary and linguistic evidence
After studying the evidence in Orkney and concluding that the Picts were present
when the Norse arrived, Buteux (1997:262) modeled three stages of interaction between
the Picts and the Norse. The first is the “pioneer stage,” which would consist mainly of
raiding and trading and perhaps winter camps. Orkney, like Shetland, is also often
thought to have been a convenient stopping place for raiders on their way to mainland
Britain. This first stage would leave few archaeological remains. The second is the
“consolidation stage,” in which the Norse would have begun to make permanent
settlements but not to encroach greatly on Pictish ways of life. The third stage is the
“establishment stage,” in which the Norse would have dominated, abolished, and/or
absorbed the Pictish people and culture (Buteux 1997:262). When applying this model to
Shetland, the story told in Egil Skallagrimsson’s Saga may be referring to the parts of the
islands that were uninhabited at the time the Norse first settled, i.e., at the consolidation
stage (Fenton 1978:12). This saga also mentions that Orkney is one of the supposedly
deserted areas that was settled. As will be seen in detail below, the natives were not only
present on these islands but also had some kind of established relationship with the
newcomers. Historia Norvegiae, on the other hand, may refer to the later establishment
Relevant to proving the existence of these three stages in Shetland is place name
evidence. Place name evidence was being used even before the discovery of Jarlshof in
43
an attempt to establish the chronology of settlement over all of the Northern Isles.
Difficulties with this include determining when a name first came into use and the
possibility of names being “recycled,” even though periods of popularity for names can
experiences a change in dialect. Place name analysis as utilized today tends to focus on
relatively small regions, such as farms and townships. Data from smaller areas may one
day be useful in generalizing over larger areas (Bigelow 1992:10-11; Nicolaisen 1983:73-
74).
Despite these difficulties, place names may be useful, especially when used as
corroborating evidence. (The data concerning the following theory will not be analyzed,
as the author is not a linguist.) One theory, which has been proposed by Nicolaisen
(1969), simply states that by C.E. 900-1000 all land suitable for growing or grazing had
been taken (and renamed) by the Norse (Bigelow 1989:185). Nicolaisen’s theory is
based on the idea that the distribution of place names correlates with the history of
settlements. Place names with the element -sta- were common at the beginning of the
Viking Age, and such names can be found throughout Shetland and nearby areas of
Viking settlement, such as Orkney, mainland Scotland, and the Hebrides (islands to the
west of Scotland). These names reflect the earliest settlements in these areas. The next
chronologically significant place name element is -set-. Lack of this element in Icelandic
place names means that it probably came into use before C.E. 870. Since the name was
probably also used for some decades after its initial incipience, Nicolaisen (1969:12)
estimates that it was most commonly used from C.E. 880 to 900. Names with this
element saturate the Shetland Islands. Thus, they may represent “consolidation and
44
expansion” (Nicolaisen 1969:12,17). Assuming that the date of greatest popularity is
correct and that the name element would still be in use for some time after popularity
began to wane, then it may also be estimated that the settlement of Shetland was
includes archaeology with place names to broaden the database. According to Small, all
broch sites correlate with “good land,” i.e., land that can be farmed. The oldest place
names (those with the element -sta-, which are approximately forty in number) are
generally not located on the good land. When they are, they are located away from
brochs. Only two exceptions exists, one of which is on Unst and one of which is on
Fetlar, and no archaeological proof is present to support early Norse settlements at either
of these places. Jarlshof, whether it had been taken over from the Picts by the Norse or
had been abandoned prior to Norse arrival, contains the only substantial evidence for an
early Norse settlement established on a site that had also been inhabited by the natives.
Additional place name studies show that, towards the end of the ninth century,
Norse settlement had expanded and apparently outnumbered brochs by three to one.
Generally, though, the two types of settlements remained separate. From this evidence,
Small (1982:242-246) concluded that natives still lived around the brochs at this time.
Small’s evidence does seem to indicate that Shetland did experience separable
consolidation and establishment stages. The settlements of the consolidation stage seem
to have proliferated in the ninth century. In the late ninth century, the Norse
outnumbered the Picts, though they did not yet encroach upon Pictish regions. The
establishment stage came later, wiping out Pictish culture beyond recognition. The major
45
exception to this pattern of settlement is Jarlshof, which was a Pictish site that was used
by the Norse in the ninth century. Perhaps Jarlshof was subject to particularly aggressive
early settlers.
4.3 Archaeological Evidence for Interaction Between the Norse and Picts in Orkney
For further information concerning the interactions of the Norse and the Picts,
sites other than those on Shetland must be examined. This, of course, assumes that the
This assumption (examined above) is made on the basis that, in both Shetland and
Orkney, the preceding Pictish culture was effectively obliterated by Viking newcomers.
The Orkney sites (Figure 5) that evidence interactions between Viking invaders and the
Figure 5. Orkney sites that evidence interaction between Viking and Picts (redrawn after
Hunter 1986:14).
46
4.3.1 Skaill, Deerness, Mainland Orkney
This complex is actually composed of six different sites. Though they are distant
from one another, these components can be considered in combination because together
they were continuously occupied from the early Iron Age to the sixteenth century. Sites 5
and 6 are pre-Viking. Sites 1, 3, and 4 are Viking and Medieval. Site 2 may show a
continuation from the Picts to the Norse (and later to the Medieval era). Hair combs
(Figure 6) associated with the earliest structure at Site 2 are Pictish. The architecture is
most probably not Norse (Figure 7, left), as it is not rectangular and no benches were
found along the walls. Therefore, the architecture may be assumed to be Pictish. If this
is so, then the establishment of House 1 may be concurrent with the abandonment of one
of the other Skaill sites. Based on the artifacts, the house may have been constructed in
the eighth or ninth century (Edwards 1997:76-77; Gelling 1984:12-17). The possibility
exists, however, that House 1 was a specialized form of Norse dwelling (Edwards
Figure 6. Examples of combs associated with House1, Site 2, Skaill, Orkney (redrawn
after Gelling 1984:29).
At a later point, the dwelling was remodeled to form House 2 (Figure 7, right).
featured benches and a hearth, which suggests that it was a residence for some time.
47
Figure 7. House 1 (left) and House 2 (right) of Site 2 at Skaill, Orkney (redrawn after
Gelling 1984:14, 18).
Finds were “few and undiagnostic,” though the benches may indicate that the Vikings
House 3 (Figure 8) was built on the remains of House 2 some time after it was
along the longer walls, and had a long hearth. (If the previous house was meant as a
temporary dwelling, then the permanent one that was built while House 2 was in use has
yet to be found.) The most interesting aspect of House 3 is that Norse artifacts are
48
embedded in its walls. The presence of these artifacts is most probably due to residents
of House 1 or 2 or another that has not yet been found (Gelling 1984:19).
The ambivalence that accompanies the early levels at Skaill is interesting in itself
as regards the Pictish-Norse interface. Colonization is a “process and not an event.” This
The hair combs from Skaill present some potentially less ambiguous information
concerning this interface. Half of all that were found were made from reindeer antler.
Reindeer do not seem to have survived in Scotland and England after 8300 BP.
49
Therefore, the antler would have been brought by the Norse. While some of the combs
were made in the Norse fashion, some were carved in a native style. Most significantly, a
native comb made of antler was found at Site 6. No Norse habitation is known to have
occurred at this site, but Site 6 may have been occupied while the Norse were in
Though about half this site has eroded away, the extant remnants contain evidence
of a sequence of buildings occupied from the seventh to the tenth centuries. This
construction took place in a restricted area and sometimes used the remains of older
buildings as the basis for new ones. Phases I-II are Pictish. The building from these
phases, which are each composed of several cells or compartments, are unusual but not
unique, and the artifacts are characteristically Pictish. Phases III-V are Norse. The Norse
buildings include a dwelling house, a byre, and a barn. Most of the artifacts are
characteristically Norse. The Viking Age Norse, however, used steatite instead of
pottery, and pottery identical to that found in the Pictish levels was found in all the Norse
Phases. One such sherd was found in Phase III, though this may be due to commingling
between earlier and later layers. Phase IV, however, contained three Pictish sherds, and
Also in the Norse layers were found a Pictish high-backed comb and several
backed refers to a comb that is “single sided with tooth segments extending above the
connecting plate” (Curle 1982:21). Type B combs resemble a Pictish type of comb
dubbed Type A, except that “they are longer; the teeth are not graduated and do not
50
usually extended to the end of the comb, where there is a narrow vertical band; their
connecting plates are not beveled and are semi-elliptical in form; their decoration is less
ornate” (Curle 1982:56-57). Type-B combs do not seem to be Pictish or Norse. Though
combination of Pictish and English styles (Curle 1982:57-58). The high-backed comb
was analyzed as “probably” being made of reindeer antler, as were some of the Type B
Figure 9. A Type B comb fragment (top) from Phase IV and a high-backed comb
fragment (bottom) from Phase V, Buckquoy, Orkney (Ritchie 1977:196).
The Brough of Birsay is a relatively tiny island off the coast of mainland Orkney,
not far from the Point (i.e., peninsula) of Buckquoy. A series of habitations occurred at
one area of the island stretching from Pictish times, through Norse, and into the 12th
The Norse layers were clearly defined into lower, middle, and upper horizons.
For the most part, they were also clearly distinguishable from the Pictish horizon (Curle
1982:15). The earliest of the Norse buildings (16a) may have utilized previous Pictish
constructions. This is surmised from the fact that it was “directly aligned...on pre-Norse
51
features,” and it adopted a former ditch as an outflow drain. What is so significant about
this building is that no perceptible lapse of time took place between the two occupations,
“even to the extent of continuing active working function” (Hunter 1986:89, 112).
In the Pictish horizon, two combs of reindeer antler were recovered (Weber
1993:165). Four native high-backed combs were also recovered (Curle 1982:50), as well
as two double-sided Type-B combs that were manufactured of reindeer antler (Weber
1993:165). Many other Pictish artifacts were located in the Norse layers: nineteen small,
bone hipped pins; four bone pins with iron shanks; a bronze pin; a bronze penannular
brooch; and an iron bell. Most of these artifacts came from the lower Norse horizon
(Curle 1982:50). Native pottery occurred in both early and later Norse periods (Hunter
1986:113).
This site was first occupied from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the late third or
early second millennium B.C.E. After a period of abandonment, this site was reoccupied
by the Picts in the fifth century. The first indication of a Norse presence is a sub-
rectangular (10 x 5 m) structure, which was built utilizing pre-existing ruins. The
dimensions and lack of remaining internal features do not show it to be a Viking house
proper. The artifacts (which are not specifically described by Hunter [1990:189])
associated with its occupation are a mixture of native and Norse types. No date can be
been leveled in the eleventh century and integrated into a Viking dwelling (Hunter
1990:178-179, 189-190).
52
4.3.5 Saevar Howe, Birsay, Mainland Orkney
This site has clearly distinguishable Pictish and Norse horizons (i.e., time passed
before the site’s reoccupation), so the associated structures do not demonstrate the way in
which the Pictish and Norse interacted. Many of artifacts recovered from Saevar Howe
are unprovenienced because of the unrefined techniques used to excavate the site. The
artifacts, however, still contribute to the present argument. Two (possibly three) combs
are high-backed combs of reindeer antler. One other (possibly two) of reindeer antler is a
Pictish phase that is dated from the fourth to seventh (possibly as late as the ninth)
century, one native comb of reindeer antler was found. Two other combs were also
possibly of reindeer antler (Weber 1993:170). The presence of reindeer antler in a Pictish
context with no possibility of later Viking disturbance indicates that the Picts were
4.3.7 Summary
All the above sites give reasonable indications of interactions between the native
and incoming populations. While the Pictish influence inevitably disappeared at each
over time, a relationship of some type did seem to typically take place (i.e., the
relationship between them was not only of raiders and victims). The indeterminable
nature of the buildings of the Pict-Norse interface some of these sites (Skaill, Pool)
demonstrates that the ambiguity of those at Jarlshof is not unique. Structure 16a at the
53
Brough of Birsay potentially demonstrates the dominant relationship of the Norse, in that
they appear to have seized the building while it was still in use by the Picts.
As stated above, colonization is a process and not an event. This process may be
said to be one of “directed contact”, i.e. the Norse imposed changes on the Picts in their
interactions with them (Spicer 1961:520). This imposition caused the Pictish culture in
the Orkneys and Shetland to gradually disappear altogether. This process is similar to
that which has been proposed for some Native American groups in their interactions with
(Spicer 1961:532).
Pictish artifacts found in Norse layers and Pictish combs made of reindeer antler
(no matter where they are found) are the best indicators of close social interactions
between the two. (The preference for reindeer antler may be due to the decline in red
deer [Weber 1993:172].) For the most part, they (even Type-B combs) do not indicate
whether the Picts ever lived in the same areas as the Norse or whether they were
however, which are “the most typically Pictish of all the finds on the Brough” of Birsay,
may offer another clue. These pins have a “swellings” beneath their “ball-heads” that is
designed to prevent slipping of clothing (Curle 1982:19). Such pins are not believed to
have been of any use to the Norse. Therefore, their presence in Norse levels at the
Brough of Birsay indicates that at this site that the Picts and Norse were living together
(Weber 1993:171).
54
Chapter 5
Jarlshof
The site of Jarlshof (Figure 10) is located on the east side of the West Voe of
Sumburgh, a bay opening to the south in southern Sumburgh. One of the most fertile
11). The regional name for the ruin that was the only building visible at the site until the
late nineteenth century was “de Laird’s Hoose.” Sir Walter Scott translated this into Old
Norse as “Yarlshof” for his book The Pirate (later written “Jarlshof,” but pronounced the
Figure 10. Jarlshof (photograph taken by Steven Dockrill; used with permission)
55
Figure 11. Jarlshof location (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:2)
the west side of the site for centuries was hastened by a sequence of storms, exposing
previously hidden structures. From 1897 to 1905, the owner of land, Mr. Bruce,
undertook excavations in order to investigate them. His efforts exposed a broch, two
wheelhouses, and a courtyard wall. Recognizing the importance of the site, the Bruce
Further investigations by the Office of Works revealed that the site was quite
extensive. This lead Dr. A. O. Curle to make a series of excavations from 1931 to 1935
in which he uncovered much of the Late Bronze Age portion of the site, as well as
excavated an area next to the Bronze Age settlement in order to obtain a complete
sequence of events at the site. After the Ministry of Works acquired an additional portion
56
of the site from the Sumburgh Estate Co., Dr. J. S. Richardson revealed further Norse
remains. His investigations were stopped short in September 1939 by war (Hamilton
1956:7-8).
end of these, he published Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland. This book collated all the
information available to him into one comprehensive volume (Fojut 1998:19; Hamilton
1956:7).
The resulting “village” was a sequence of circular structures, the earlier of which have an
amoeba-like shape to their inner dwellings (Figure 12). Two major occupations took
place during the Late Bronze Age. Buildings I – IVa were built during the first; after
enough time had passed for these to be covered by sand, Buildings IVb - IV, along with
34).
Iron Age 200 B.C.E. – 300 Broch, with courtyard; a later Buildings IVb- IV and the
C.E. aisled round-house souterrains
57
Figure 12. Jarlshof master plan (redrawn after Hamilton 1956).
After this village was abandoned, it became covered with wind-blown sand.
Later, Iron Age people from mainland Scotland migrated to Shetland and built a broch
with a courtyard next to the earlier remains (Figure 12, the wall to the north of W1, W2,
and A). Only half of this broch remains today; the other half has been eroded by the sea
(Hamilton 1956:44-46).
Not long after the erection of the broch, an aisled round house and a byre (later
overlain by a wheelhouse) were constructed. This round-house was not completely free-
standing, as one section followed the broch wall (Hamilton 1956:48, 54-55). This was
Scotland. While these people continued to use a portion of the round-house, they
constructed Wheelhouse 1 (Figure 12), which experienced two levels of repavement over
its lifetime (Hamilton 1956:58-60). The new-comers also reduced the broch in height.
Shortly after the construction of Wheelhouse 1 and this reduction, several other
58
wheelhouses were built. Of these, Wheelhouse 2 holds the most information. Five
periods of occupation were uncovered, each of which was separated by sand blows. At a
later time, Wheelhouse 3 was constructed inside the broch. The presence of Wheelhouse
At a later point, Passage House I (Figure 12), a subterranean dwelling with a stone
revetment, was built to the northwest of Wheelhouse 2 and provided the entrance into this
wheelhouse. Wheelhouse 1 was also occupied when this passage house was in use. A
similar building, Passage House II, was built to the east of the Wheelhouse 4 and
subterranean structure, was built at the far western edge of the site. After it was deserted,
Hut 2 was constructed to the southeast. The western entrance into this structure was later
Norse structures that were to follow. The partial remains of this building, however, show
that it was constructed in the fashion of pre-Norse buildings, i.e., “with a basal course of
uprights carrying horizontal masonry.” It also had a rectangular Viking hearth inside of
it. Unfortunately, if any artifacts were recovered from this structure, Hamilton did not
If the site had been deserted at the time of Viking arrival, then it had not been
abandoned for long (Hamilton 1956:129). Norse occupation of Jarlshof went through
seven distinguishable phases (Figure 12, Table 2). On the basis of evidence from graves
in the Orkneys and the Hebrides, Hamilton (1956:93, 106) dated the beginning of Viking
5.2.1 Phase I
Five buildings were constructed during the first phase (Figure 13). The main
building is dubbed the Parent Farmstead House 1 (Figure 14) because this was the first of
the Norse residential structures to be built. This was a typical house of the Viking Period.
59
Table 2. The seven phases of Viking Jarlshof and successive constructions.
Phase Period in Time Structures Built Structures That Went
Out of Use
III From either the end of Addition to House 2; Barn south Building 1E
the ninth century or of Building 1B; House 3, Period I
beginning of the tenth
century to the first half
of the eleventh century
VII Thirteenth century and House 1, Period III; House 5; House 8; Building 1C;
possibly fourteenth House 6, Period III; House 7, East building of House
century Period III 1G
60
Figure 13. Phase I of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:Figure 51).
Figure 14. The Norse area of Jarlshof. Building in the foreground is the Parent
Farmstead House 1.
All walls but the north were manufactured with an earth core and stone facing on both
sides; the north wall was made from alternating layers of earth and stone for protection
against wind and cold. Almost all walls of the subsequent Norse buildings at Jarlshof
were constructed with an earth core and stone facing on both sides (Hamilton 1956:107).
61
Figure 15. House 1 (same as Building 1 in Figure 13) of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after
Hamilton 1956:108).
House 1 has ample evidence of postholes for the support of a roof; these are
typical features of Norse houses (Figure 15, Period I). The structure was altered twice
during its use-life. The northwest room was used as a kitchen during its first period, as
evidenced by an oven and a hearth that heated stones to be put in the oven. In the living
room and running next to the north wall, a stone curb testifies to the bench that ran along
this wall. Along the opposite wall is a single slab that is a similar distance from the south
wall, which indicates that another bench occupied that space. In-between these benches
Again, such benches and hearths are typical of Viking houses of the time (Hamilton
1956:107-109).
To the west of House 1 are the remains of a small, square structure, Building 1A.
structure to have been a bathhouse or hof (a heathen temple). The bathhouse theory is
opted for the hof theory (see Section 4.3.2 for further discussion).
62
Building 1B was constructed northwest of Building 1A (Figure 13). This
structure had a central hearth, as indicated by four large stones in the center of the
structure. Among these was a smaller stone that exhibited pockmarks two inches in
diameter, indicating that it had been used as an anvil. Fifty-two fragments of iron slag
associated with the hearth were also found. On this evidence, 1B is presumed to have
been a smithy.
lack of features in Building 1C and the presence of a stamped floor led to the conclusion
Building 1D overlay the pre-Viking huts described above. Though only a langedr and
portions of two walls remain, the building is significant because it was constructed in the
same manner as the buildings constructed prior to the Viking arrival. A mixture of pre-
Viking (“bone pins, numerous slate implements and stone pounders”) and Viking (“Norse
loomweights, spindle whorls and bone pins”) artifacts were also recovered from this
The artifacts recovered for the whole of Phase I include, steatite loomweights,
pebble loomweights, steatite vessels, line sinkers, sandstone and slate discs or pot lids,
claystone and steatite spindle whorls, claystone and steatite beads, stones with drawings
(including people, ships, and an animal), and bone awls, needle cases, combs, and pins,
5.2.2 Phase II
Phase II (Figure 16) is dated to the mid-ninth century on the basis of artifacts in
the earliest deposits (Hamilton 1956:137). During this phase, Building 1A, the hof,
originally constructed in the first Norse phase of Jarlshof, was torn down. Three new
building were also constructed. One of these was another house, House 2, though not
much remains of this feature (Figure 17, Period I). Only a few postholes (the locations of
63
which are not given in the original map) could be detected. Paving does seem in evidence
in the northern portion of the north room and in the central region of the north room,
indicating that this room was a byre (housing for cows and sheep) (Hamilton 1956:130-
132).
Figure 16. Phase II of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:Figure 61).
Figure 17. House 2 of Norse Jarlshof. Location of postholes for House 2 not indicated in
original map (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:131).
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To the northwest of House 1, Building 1E was constructed (Figure 16). Building
1E consisted of two rooms that were both paved with stones (Figure 16). For this reason
and because of the “black and greasy” soil in between the layers of paving, this structure
is believed to have been a stable, i.e., housing for horses (Hamilton 1956:132-133).
To the south of the western end of House 1, Building 1F was constructed (Figure
16). Only the west wall and parts of the interior of Building 1F survive, and even these
sections of the structure were not in good condition. The diminutive size of the structure
and the possible presence of benches may indicate that this was a latrine (Hamilton
1956:133).
The artifacts recovered for Phase II include pebble loomweights, steatite vessels,
stone discs or pot lids, sandstone and steatite spindle whorls, bone pins, and steatite
asserted that Phase II was relatively brief, and that Phase III (Figure 18) began in either
Figure 18. Phase III of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:63).
65
the last decades of the ninth century or the first decades of the tenth century. During
Phase III, Building 1E went out of use, two structures were built, and an addition was
made to House 2. The augmentation to House 2 was cobbled (and so was used for
sheltering livestock) and was divided into two compartments later in its life (Hamilton
1956:140).
One of the new structures was built to the west of House 1 and south of the
smithy (1B). In the vicinity of this structure was a “rectangular stone setting” that bears a
House 3 (Figure 19, Period I), the other building constructed during Phase III,
66
underwent extensive renovations during its lifetime, which accounts for at least some of
its disjointed look. The internal features are difficult to determine, but during its first
period, it was divided in two like House 2. Peat ash, suggesting the presence of a hearth,
indicates that the southern portion was the living area, and paving in the northern portion
The artifacts recovered for Phase III include pebble loomweights, steatite vessels,
steatite line sinkers, stone discs or pot lids, steatite spindle whorls, a bone spindle whorl,
a sandstone spindle whorl steatite and glass beads, stone with line markings, bone needle
cases, bone awls, bone pins, bone combs, a bronze pin, and an iron fishing hook
(Hamilton 1956:142-153)
5.2.4 Phase IV
Phase IV (Figure 20) was a minor stage that saw the abandonment of Building 1F
and the erection of Outhouse 4 to the west of House 3. Outhouse 4 was paved and was
not built before the first of half the eleventh century, based on associated artifacts. No
Figure 20. Phase IV of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:Figure 71).
67
The artifacts recovered for Phase IV were few. They consisted of two pebble
5.2.5 Phase V
The dates for Phase V (Figure 21) range from the late eleventh or twelfth century
to the twelfth or thirteenth century (Hamilton 1956:168). This phase saw extensive
changes to the site, including the end of the use of the langeldr. Building 1B was torn
Figure 21. Phase V of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:Figure 72).
down, several other buildings were altered, and several new buildings were constructed.
The first major alteration of House 1 occurred in this phase. The east end was extended
by about 23 feet. and paved in order to turn it into a byre. It was also furnished with a
paved cattle road or féta-gata. The west end of House 1 was expanded. The living room
was contracted in order to enlarge the kitchen, which may have also begun to serve as a
sleeping room (stofa). House 2 was altered to form two compartments, which Hamilton
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conjectured were used as compounds for livestock. House 3 was contracted in length.
Like House 1, it was furnished with a paved cattle road and was paved inside, indicating
that it became a byre. Outhouse 4 was abandoned and shortly thereafter altered and
paved, and also became a byre. It was not used as a byre for very long (as shown by the
thin layer of refuse on the paving) and was modified to become a smithy (as shown by
the insertion of a hearth and recovered iron slag). The older smithy was abandoned
Three other buildings, Houses 6, 7, and 8, were also erected in Phase V. On the
basis of their size and the artifacts found within them, they are known to be houses. Not
much of the original walls of House 6 Period I (Figure 22) remain, as they were rebuilt in
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later Phases. This house had a central hearth and traces of benches (only a portion of the
west bench was large enough to be indicated on original map [Figure 22]) along the walls
that ran beside the hearth. A cooking pit (not indicated on original map [Figure 22]),
with burnt stones in situ, was found near the northeast corner of the hearth. This house
may have been divided into two rooms; the interior projection from the west room 15 feet
The features of House 7 (Figure 23, Period I) are difficult to reconstruct owing to
later alterations (Periods II and III). However, peat from a central fireplace and benches
(not indicated on original map [Figure 23]) along the walls could be detected (Hamilton
1956:164).
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Only partial remains of the walls of House 8 indicate its presence. No internal
features (Figure 24 Period II) can be reconstructed because of later construction. This
house only experienced one Period. On the map (Figure 24), Period I refers to the
previously constructed building 1C. Period II refers to House 8. Period III refers to the
extension of House 7 over the area of House 8, after this house went out of use in Phase
The artifacts recovered for Phase V include line sinkers, stone discs or pot lids,
steatite vessels, clay pottery sherds, steatite spindle whorl, a bones spindle whorl, glass
beads, stone with line markings, bone pins, and bone combs (Hamilton 1956:164-168).
5.2.6 Phase VI
Phase VI either lasted from the twelfth to thirteenth century or was restricted to
the thirteenth century. In this Phase (Figure 25), Houses 2 and 3 went out of use, House
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1G was created, Houses 7 and 8 experienced alterations, and House 1 gained a minor
addition. Two buildings to the north of House 1 were constructed using the partial
remains of Houses 3 and 4. The eastern building is connected to House 1; the western
building is divided into two rooms. Together they make up House 1G. Based on analogy
with Icelandic farms, a platform on the south side of the western half of the west building
may have supported a structure that held hay. This room may have housed sheep or pigs.
The small size of the east building and its lack of a doorway may mean that it was used as
Figure 25. Phase VI of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:Fig. 79).
As noted, House 6 and 7 both underwent alterations. House 6 was extended to the
north (Figure 22, Period II). The partitions of this addition, along with the greasy feel
and black color of the artifacts found therein, suggest that it contained stalls for livestock.
The older area was still for human use, with new paving being set around the hearth. The
west bench was also refurbished. House 7 (Figure 23, Period II) underwent drastic
alterations. It was widened, connected to the building to the south, and had an extra room
attached to the northern end of the west wall. The building was comprised of a total of
three rooms. The northeastern room, being paved and having evidence for fireplaces,
72
was presumably a living room. There was, however, no well-defined hearth (Hamilton
1956:169-173).
The artifacts recovered from Phase VI include steatite lamps, a steatite vessel, a
possibly into the fourteenth centuries (Hamilton 1956:189). In this phase, House 8,
Building 1C, and the eastern portion of House 1G went out of use. Several other
buildings experienced alterations. House 5 (Figure 27) was constructed in this phase. It
had an annex on the north half of its east wall; the main portion had three divisions. The
north division had a floor of compacted earth. The middle section was partially paved.
House 1 entered its third distinct phase. A new building was constructed on top of the
old, using portions of the old wall for building material. The new construction is peculiar
in that it does not have an earth core. The south portion of House 6 was slightly
contracted, and a compartment in the southwest corner was constructed. This may have
been a storeroom. Cobbling was placed between this storeroom and the east wall; the
cobbling runs along the length of the east living room wall. Similar to House 5, House 6
had an annex attached to it on the east side of the north half. House 7 underwent major
alterations. A room was added to the north side. A byre with two cubicles, which may
have taken the place of the south room, was added to the east side. That this was a byre
is indicated by the presence of a drain (used to divert urine from livestock). The byre
The artifacts recovered in Phase VII include pebble loomweights, stone discs or
pot lids, steatite vessels, steatite line sinkers, slates with line markings, a sandstone lamp,
a bone spindle whorl, a steatite spindle whorl, bone pins, numerous pottery sherds, a
73
Figure 26. Phase VII of Norse Jarlshof (redrawn after Hamilton 1956:Fig. 80)
thirteenth or early fourteenth century. Whatever its exact date, it has been shown
stratigraphically to come after Phase VII. This is when the buildings called The
74
Medieval Farmstead appeared (Figure 12). Hamilton does not include this as a Norse
phase, though the construction is that of stone faces with an earth core. These buildings
went through three periods. For the first, Hamilton asserted that the larger structure (the
eastern one) probably was the dwelling house because of the presence of red peat and
stamped clay on the floor. In the second period, the northern portion of this was rebuilt,
and the building was turned into an outhouse or byre. The internal entrance into the
eastern annex was possibly blocked for a time. The western building appears to have
been a place for drying corn throughout its life, as shown by the presence of kilns
(Hamilton 1956:190-193).
was built in the sixteenth century by the Earls Robert and Patrick Steward. The building
was in a state of ruin by the end of the next century (Hamilton 1956:194-196).
excavation. These investigations have been limited, as only so much can be done without
having to reevaluate the entire site (Forster 1998:24). The data presented in Hamilton’s
Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland, which is part summary of previous work and part
monograph, may be cleaner than the actual data that he had on hand. In other words, the
data were simplified to present a coherent picture of the site (Fojut 1998:23). No
complete reevaluation of the site, however, may be possible. Not only is Hamilton’s
Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland the most publicly accessible work that summarizes the
site, it also contains the most information available anywhere regarding the site. When
the Jarlshof artifacts were given to a museum for storage, only the best preserved were
kept. Unfortunately, the small finds numbers (which are used to record the provenience
of each artifact) for these were lost (Forster 1998:3, 24). The primary records of the
excavations are available. Without Hamilton’s input (which is not possible due to the
75
fact that he is deceased) however, extracting useful information from these records is
difficult (Fojut 1998:23). The possibility of destroyed buildings in the region of the
eroded western portion of the site adds to the complexity that a complete reevaluation
would entail.
Hamilton has come under attack because the methods of archaeology were not as
well developed at the time Jarlshof was excavated as they are today. Hamilton’s work
itself, however, is highly detailed but also clear and concise. Any problems that exist are
strictly due to the methodology of the time, though Hamilton made the most of the
the absence rather than the presence of certain features. Given this, and in light of new
data from sites excavated since Hamilton’s report was written, a reexamination of
the basis of ethnographic analogy with eighteenth and nineteenth century Shetlandic
architecture. Like the byres of this time period, the sections of the houses in question had
paved floors with stone-lined drains down the middle. They also did not contain hearths
and had fewer artifacts than those structures for human occupation or use. Archaeology
has since corroborated the argument that these were byres. Structures uncovered in
Iceland and Faroe since 1950 demonstrate that byres, which were identified by stone stall
dividers, had central stone-lined drains (Bigelow 1985:111-112). The byre interpretation
of House 6 has also been bolstered by comparison of the Late Norse phase of the house at
Sandwick. At the byre end of that house, “gable wall blocks of the Sandwick house were
unbounded and inset from the ends of the longwalls” (Bigelow 1987:29). This would
76
have made the gable easy to take apart and rebuild as needed to remove dung and to place
or remove straw bedding. The arrangement of the gable of the Sandwick house is much
The northernmost rooms of House 5 and House 7 Period III were not assigned a
function by Hamilton. Bigelow (1985:111-112; 1987:28) makes the case that they were
byres also (though he also states that Hamilton originally said that these rooms were
byres). Bigelow relies on reasoning similar to that of the interpretation for the byres of
House 1 and House 6 —ethnographic analogy with eighteenth and nineteenth century
Hamilton also ascribed a byre function for House 2 and House 3, but this has been
called into question. Hamilton called them byres because of their partial paving, which
would have been convenient for cleaning dung off of byre floors (Small 1968a:65).
Though byres in Iceland and the Faroes were found to have stone-lined drains, they did
not necessary have paved floors. Often, they had hard-packed earth floors instead. House
2 and House 3 did not have drains, the diagnostic characteristic for byres. Therefore,
In addition to using features like hearths, benches, drains, and paving to identify
identify the human living areas of House 5, 6, and 7. Doubt may be cast upon this
interpretation as this difference could be due to careful cleaning of byre ends. Hamilton’s
view is supported, however, by the finds from the Late Norse (twelfth to thirteenth
centuries) site of Sandwick. The majority (over 90%) of the artifacts that were recovered
were taken from the section of the site interpreted as containing human dwellings on the
basis of the presence of hearths and benches. This suggests that a customary “spatial
organization” dictated the behaviors that took place in various sections of the dwellings.
In other words, the continued human use of these areas (which have similar features) in
77
each of these buildings caused a large number of deposits, not a lack of cleaning
(Bigelow 1987:28-29).
Certain exterior rooms (Figure 28, a) attached to House 5, House 6 Period III,
House 7, and House 1 Phase II, that were (at least partially) paved, were not assigned a
function by Hamilton. However, one room in House 1G (Figure 28, a) was hypothesized
to be a stable or byre. In contrast, Icelandic sagas indicate that these rooms may have
been indoor privies, as they were easily accessible and had drains (indicated on Figure 28
by the small gaps in the southern portions of the walls of these rooms). Further
excavations may shed light on the interpretation of such rooms. The other exterior rooms
of House 1 and House 7 (Figure 258, b) were originally interpreted as a lambing pen or
sty and a byre, respectively. Hamilton’s hypothesis, however, relied on little evidence.
In fact, these rooms lacked the kind of features that would be useful in interpreting them.
They may have been multi-use rooms or may have simply been areas of storage for food
Figure 28. Houses 1, 5, 6, and 7 of Jarlshof. The uses of the rooms labeled a and b are
under question (redrawn after Bigelow 1987: 26).
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5.3.2 Outbuilding 1A
Hamilton interpreted Outbuilding 1A as a hof (a type of temple according to the
Icelandic sagas) or a bathhouse. Norse archaeology of recent decades has shown that
or statues identified with deities (Gräslund 2000:58-60), are, at best, good hypotheses and
at worse random guesses, due to the lack of written material that directly confirms these
identifications. Such potentially religious artifacts were not found anywhere at Jarlshof.
Indeed, “religious” artifacts are absent from all structures previously identified as
temples. During a time that Icelandic archaeologists were enamored with the idea of
This was partially on the basis of the sagas. They stated that hofs consisted of two
rooms. The smaller was used for the placement of idols, and a larger one was utilized for
sacrifices. These former “hofs” are now simply viewed as farmhouses (Fridriksson
1994:48, 74).
Building 1A as a possible hof suspect. Even more puzzling is that other saga references
hörgur are given, though the term itself is thought to refer to a pile of stones or a stony
hill. Despite this, various hörgur were identified in Iceland during the same time that
hofs were being recognized. Structures designated as hörgur were square shaped (at
least more so than the “hofs”) and one roomed, just as Building 1A is.
The terms hof and hörgur were recognized among Icelandic archaeologists as
associated with certain types of architecture at least by the late 1800’s (Fridriksson
1994:59-62). Yet, Hamilton was evidently unaware of the other archaeology on religious
structures, even though he briefly compared Building 1A with the hofs of Iceland
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(1956:110). Ultimately, no matter what the original designation was or what it should
have been, Building1A cannot be said to have any connections with religion.
Because of its square shape, Hamilton also put forward the possibility that
construction, not the mere presence, of the hearth must what he was referring to, as
bathhouses needed an open hearth or stone oven to heat up stones on which water was
The only artifacts that were reported to be associated with Building1A were two
bone-combs and an iron spear head (Hamilton 1956:110). Combs seem a likely artifact
5.3.3 Chronology
Jarlshof contains the longest building sequence in the Northern Isles. Its artifacts
are potentially valuable in creating a timeline. Steatite, which was commonly used by the
Norse instead of clay and other materials, is particularly important in this respect, as the
stone is present in all seven phases of Norse Jarlshof. Hamilton (1956:188) briefly
discusses the chronology of steatite in terms of the vessels of steatite. The change in the
size and shape of these vessels throughout Norse Phases is still seen as the most
important factor in the steatite chronology. The placement of other steatite items in this
Phase I (soon replaced by beach pebbles), the increase of line sinkers in Phase V, the
appearance of lamps in Phase VI, and the appearance of bakestones in Phase VII.
studies had been undertaken previously on the stone elsewhere in Britain. He produced
his own classifications of vessels, as others were inappropriate. The general doubt,
80
however, about the integrity of Hamilton’s data has also cast doubt on the validity of any
from other Norse sites in Shetland, Orkney, and mainland Scotland has been undertaken.
In this study, the distance of Shetland sites from steatite quarries was taken into account.
Also, such stone in Orkney and Scotland is presumed to have come from Shetland. In the
case of Orkney, this is because Shetland is the closest source. In the case of Scotland,
this is because regions further south do not posses related steatite artifacts (Forster
1998:37-50,68, 72). While a chronology for the Northern Isles was not produced, the
study did reconfirm (as much as possible) the validity of the steatite chronology from
Jarlshof. The dates proposed by Hamilton for the seven phases have yet to be confirmed.
They may soon be, at least in part, by comparison with the dating of Scatness, a site
Generally, due to lack of additional data, the only major change made to
Hamilton’s timeline is that the period of the Medieval Farmstead has been incorporated
into the Norse period. This is because no major change in lifestyle from that which was
practiced in the previous period can be detected. Thus, the Norse occupation lasted from
was in the summer of 1972. A team directed by Ian Morrison of the University of
of the truth of a portion of the Orkneyinga Saga (Morrison 1973:14). The relevant
section of this saga tells of the shipwrecks of Rognvald and Earl Harald on the Shetland
coast. It also tells of a shore from which boats would launch to fish near the dangerous
tide-race (whirlpool) of Dynrost. The location of this tide-race, which is also a good
81
fishing area, is known. Thus Jarlshof was a likely spot (as shown below) from which to
artifacts would have survived the centuries in the water, where rough seas and a stony
substrate likely ground most artifacts into indistinguishable bits. Stones from
disintegrated buildings would not be recognizable either, because they were not altered
when used. In addition, no evidence of boat shelters was found at Jarlshof (Morrison
1973:120-121).
However, the evidence was not entirely negative. Since part of the site was
already known to be eroded, the researchers already knew that the peninsula where
Jarlshof was constructed once extended further than it does today. How far it once
extended, however, was something that was not known. A rock platform underlies the
sandy surface of the site (Figure 29). This rock platform more than likely had the shape
Figure 20. Rock platform underlying the waters of the coast of the Jarlshof site (redrawn
after Morrison 1973:120).
82
one thousand years ago that it has now. This platform also sets a maximum limit for the
extent of the shoreline. The minimum estimate for the land was obtained using the well
in the broch. The water table, which makes an upward arch from the shore to the inland,
does not at present reach the well. In order for water table to supply the well, the land
would have to have extended further towards the sea, so that underneath the broch the
arch of the water table would be high enough to reach the well. Based on the current sea
level, the minimum extent of the site at the time of the building of the broch is the edge
formed by the seaward edge of the rock platform. (This would be incorrect if the previous
sea level was higher than at present. However, peat beds and man-made structures that
are now submerged show that the sea level was probably lower in the past.) Therefore, at
the time of Norse occupation, the shore was probably further away from the settlement
shoreline from the time of occupation into the present (Morrison 1973:122-124).
After studying the other bays in the Dynrost region, Morrison also concluded that
the configuration (as shown in Figure 11) has not changed much since the Viking Era and
that Jarlshof would have been important to the local community because it “offered a
also have been important in trade because a short portage would have made it easy to
depart on the east or west coast in order to catch a good wind or avoid the tide-race.
has been done at Jarlshof, he does not delve into the placement of the site into a wider
social context of Shetland as a whole or of the Northern Isles. When he does, he notes
basic trends and draws conclusions from them with little input from information outside
of Jarlshof, and many of these theories concern occupations other than Norse. Though
the theories were partially a product of capricious imagination (Fojut 1998:22), Hamilton
83
also suffered from a lack of data to compare with his findings. Since his time, an
abundance of information has become available. Some of this can be compared with data
from Jarlshof, and some can be used to supplement the gaps in the Jarlshof data that were
created due to a lack of more sophisticated methods at the time of excavations. Much of
this data (reviewed in Chapters two through five) indicates that the Norse were
thoroughly enmeshed in the changes of the time. All of the new data reveal the complex
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Chapter 6
Conclusions
This thesis has explored a number of topics relevant to the Viking settlement of
Britain and specifically of Jarlshof. As discussed in Chapter 2, the prehistory and history
architectural styles. Shetland has been inhabited at least since 3,000 B.C.E./5,000 B.P.
The islands have experienced periodic waves of immigrants thereafter, including a proto-
Pictish people around 200 B.C.E./2150 B.P. These peoples built brochs. The Picts that
invaded later constructed their own buildings, including the distinctive wheelhouses. The
Vikings arrived around 790-810 C.E/1,160-1,140 B.P. Shetland also later received
Certain Scotsmen claimed large portions of the islands, demanding exorbitant rents from
their tenants. These tenants adapted to these demands, and to the demands of the climate,
by developing the system of crofting, in which women farmed and men fished. Relief
came to the crofters in the latter half of the nineteenth century through laws passed in
Shetland has increased in recent decades because of jobs brought about by oil production.
Shetland is still under the rule of Scotland, though even today a romantic hope remains
As discussed in Chapter 3, “liminal” and “transitional” are words that describe the
Viking periods. At the beginning of the era, the peoples of the Norse homelands were
turning their attentions outwards to search for wealth in order to forge alliances. This
search for wealth may have been caused, at least in part, by overpopulation in certain
85
classes. Younger sons may not have wanted to break up larger farms through inheritance
or may not have been satisfied with their inheritance, so they sought fame and fortune
through other means. Ironically, at the same time, one of the primary forces that pushed
the Norse outwards, i.e., a growing consolidation of political power within the region,
was also producing changes in the economy that would make alliances through the
economy that relied on redistribution to one that relied on supply and demand.
Europe itself was going through transitions that made it susceptible and attractive
to attack (even though the Norse had already established trade links with the continent).
Two of the major attractions for the Vikings were the growing trade centers within
Europe and monasteries; both of which had great accumulations of wealth. Europe was
not sufficiently politically organized until the eleventh century to put an end to Viking
raids.
Place name and modern linguistic evidence indicate that the Norse settlers came
from Norway, as told by the sagas. Place name, linguistic, and biological evidence give
The shape and features of the first house built by the Norse at Jarlshof, a
rectangular building with a long central hearth, two rows of posts, and benches along the
sides, was typical of the Norse in other regions at the time. The building materials,
however, stone walls with an earth middle, were different than those used in other areas,
but were suited to the Shetland environment. The general uniformity of houses at the
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homogeneity at the time. The persistence of these houses in regions where they were
However, this history is sketchy at best, so not many conclusions can be drawn regarding
have been present before those of mainland Britain, so they could not have diffused from
there. What is of interested concerning other Viking Age regions is that, with the
exception of the Unst example, longhouses appeared after firehouses in all Viking
colonies. Some widespread force(s) must have driven this architectural shift.
Environment, cultural values, and economy have variously been hypothesized as the
cause. While ultimately all these factors may have played a role, evidence at present
favors economic causes. The bones of calves (as found at Sandwick) indicate that cows
were more important for their milk than their meat. Keeping cattle warm in the shared
space of the longhouse would have increased milk/butter production; the surplus could
have been used for taxes. These taxes were first put into place in the late eleventh
century; according to Hamilton’s chronology, this correlates with the beginning of Phase
V, which is when the first definitive longhouses were erected at Jarlshof. As seen in
Chapter 5, this hypothesis is supported by the fact that, during various phases, Houses 5,
6, and 7, and late House 1 of Phase V, were indeed longhouses and by evidence that casts
serious doubt about whether the earlier Houses 2 and 3 had byres. It is also supported by
evidence that attests that during Phase V of Jarlshof, Shetland transitioned to an economy
based on taxes. This correlates with the hypothesis discussed in Chapter 2—that the
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Viking Age ended with a switch from a gift economy to an economy based on wealth
residential buildings in use at one time. This attests to a population increase in Shetland,
either through immigration or native births. The restriction of population to areas of land
that were located next to (but not on) arable land undoubtedly lead to the establishment of
The division of land would probably have followed odal law, the Germanic
system of land ownership and inheritance. The clustering seen at Jarlshof is evidence of
the antiquity of the method of land management in Shetland, called runrig, that was
documented in the historical period. The complexity of this system, which breaks the
land into strips that are used by alternate households, may be rooted in the complexity of
scattered and rural than that of most of the rest of northern Europe, and the Picts did not
have connections to European powers. Thus, the Pictish population of Shetland and
As exemplified by the treasure of St. Ninian’s Isle, the Picts of Shetland had
treasure that would have been attractive to raiders. The extent of the raiding on Shetland,
however, is unknown. Wealth through raiding, however, was not the Vikings’ only
concern during the later part of the Viking Period. Vikings also came to control many
areas and eventually colonize them. This was partially in order to continue extracting
wealth from terrified citizens. However, as described in the sagas, this may also have
88
been due the consolidation of political power in Scandinavia. This consolidation led to
the loss of authority for many of the traditional chieftains, who subsequently left Norway
to develop power bases elsewhere. In addition, and as discussed above, colonizers also
probably included younger sons, who sought their fortune away from their native lands.
Archaeological and place name evidence were reviewed to determine if the Picts
were present when the Norse first arrived in Shetland. Literary evidence was
contradictory, suggesting both that the Picts were residing in Shetland and the view that
the islands were empty. Archaeological evidence is not well developed in this regard, as
a dearth of Shetland Viking Age sites. Very little recognizable Pictish culture has
survived in Shetland. Little is known about Pictish culture, however, so this lack may be
Buteux (1997) developed a model for the stages of Norse settlement and
interaction with the Picts in Orkney. According to this model, three phases—pioneering,
pioneering stage, raiding and trading took place and winter camps may have been
established. This stage left little archaeological evidence. In the consolidation stage, the
Norse began to make permanent settlements but did not encroach greatly on the Pictish
ways of life. In the establishment stage, the Norse would have dominated, abolished, and
absorbed the Pictish people and culture (Buteux 1997:262). Independent literary, place
name, and archaeological evidence indicate that the first Norse settlements were not on
Pictish sites, indicating that, not only were the Picts present at the time of Norse arrival,
but that the three phase model may also apply to Shetland.
89
There is only limited evidence from Jarlshof that indicates interactions between
the Picts and the Norse. Thus, to gain an understanding of the nature of their contacts,
Orkney sites were examined. The evidence at several sites indicated some sort of
interaction with the natives. Pictish pottery sherds were found in the Norse levels at
Buckquoy and at Brough of Birsay. Other Pictish artifacts came from the Norse levels of
the Brough of Birsay, where the Vikings appear to have immediately appropriated one of
the buildings after its abandonment by the Picts. There was a mixture of native and
Norse artifacts at Pool; the artifacts at Pool were found in a building that could not be
established as Pictish or Viking. Similarly, at Skaill, two buildings were excavated that
could not be assigned to either of these peoples. This is similar to the evidence from
Building 1D. This structure was built using a combination of Pictish and Norse
The presence of Pictish bone combs on Norse sites may indicate that amicable
trading relationships or possibly even intermarriage existed between the two peoples.
Assuming that evidence from the Orkneys can be applied to Shetland, and taking into
account the apparent separation of Pictish and Norse sites at the beginning of Norse
occupation, the only evidence for Norse hostility to native Shetlanders is their almost
complete disappearance (assuming they were there in the first place). Jarlshof is the only
Shetland site with any evidence indicating that Picts were residing at the site at the time
activities.
In Chapter 5, Jarlshof itself was examined in detail. This site experienced a series
of excavations from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the second half
90
of the twentieth century. These excavations revealed a multicomponent site. The first
occupation was by a Late Bronze Age people. The next two settlements were by Proto-
Pictish and Pictish Iron Age peoples. The Vikings followed thereafter.
During their settlement at Jarlshof, the Vikings constructed a long and complex
series of buildings, a series that is broken into seven phases by Hamilton. In the first
phase, a house (House 1, Period I) and several outbuildings (Building 1A, Building 1B,
Building 1C, Building 1D) were constructed. In the second, another house (House 2) was
added, as well as two more outbuildings (Building 1E, Building 1F). In the third, yet
another house (House 3) was built, another outbuilding was constructed (Barn south of
Building 1B), and an addition was made to one of the previously existing houses (House
In the fifth phase, all of the houses were altered. One was turned into a compound
for livestock (House 2 Period II); another, along with the outhouse built in the third phase
(Outhouse 4), was turned into a byre (House 3, Period II); and the original house was
turned into a longhouse (House 1, Period II). Three new houses (House 6, House 7,
House 8) were also constructed in Phase V. Several outbuildings (Building 1A, Building
1E, Building 1F, Building 1B) had gone out of use between Phases II-V.
In Phase VI, the houses of Phase II (House 2) and III (House 3) and the
outbuilding of Phase IV (Outhouse 4) also went out of use. Also during this phase, the
original house experienced several additions (House 1, Period II with additions, including
House 1G), one of the later houses was turned into a longhouse (House 6, Period II), and
another was attached to a preexisting barn so that the complete structure created another
longhouse (House 7, Period II). In Phase VII, these buildings were severely contracted
91
(House 1), added onto (House 6), and contracted and added onto (House 7), (to become
House 1, Period III; House 6, Period III; House 7, Period III). Several other buildings
On the basis of comparison of artifacts from Jarlshof with others from outside of
Shetland, Hamilton stated that the Norse occupation extended from ca. 800 C.E. to the
late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The Medieval Farm, which followed the
Viking occupation, may also be considered a part of the Viking occupation, as there was
no discernible change in lifestyle. If so, then the Norse occupation lasted until
approximately 1500 C.E. After this time, one historical occupation took place at the site.
This was when the building dubbed “Jarlshof” was constructed in the sixteenth century.
Hamilton has come under attack because field methods in archaeology were not
as well developed at the time Jarlshof was excavated as they have come to be.
Hamilton’s work itself, however, is highly detailed but also clear and concise. Any
problems that exist are strictly due to the relatively unsophisticated field methods of his
time. Indeed, Hamilton appears to have made the most of the methods that were
Some investigations of the site have taken place since its last excavation in 1956.
Several of the buildings or parts of buildings have been reanalyzed (Bigelow 1985;
Bigelow 1987). Portions of House 1, Period II and House 6, Period II have been
reaffirmed as byres, and the northernmost rooms of House 5 and House 7, Period III,
which were not given a function by Hamilton, are now considered to be byres. House 2
and House 3 are no longer considered to contain byres. If true, this further supports the
hypothesis that the longhouse came into use in Phase V. The living areas of Houses 5, 6,
92
and 7 have been reaffirmed. Some of the exterior rooms of these houses may have been
privies and some may have been for storage of food. In the latter case, this includes a late
room of House 1 (part of the 1G complex) and a late addition to House 7. The
interpretation of Outbuilding 1A as a hof has been discredited. It may have indeed been a
Two other studies have been conducted on materials from Jarlshof. One of these
(Forster 1998) reanalyzed the chronology of the site on the basis of the comparison of the
steatite from Jarlshof with that of other Viking sites in Britain. It reaffirmed Hamilton’s
chronology as far as possible. Another study (Morrison 1973) searched for underwater
remains of the site. While no remains were found, data was recovered that contributed to
understanding the minimum and maximum extent of the land in the past.
Some questions concerning Jarlshof will either have to be answered in the future
or may never be answered. For instance, lack of Viking Age Shetland sites and the
dearth of historical records make conjectures regarding class speculative at best. Various
Much has been revealed regarding Viking Age Jarlshof and its place in the Viking
adding important new data with which to interpret the site. To state that more
information is needed from other sites has become a maxim in archaeology. For the
reasons just stated, as well as topics of concern not approached in this paper, a demand
for more information about Viking Age Jarlshof will be made for a long time to come.
93
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102
VITA
University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, from August 1996 to May 2000. She graduated
magna cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in physics and minors in
for the degree of Master of Arts, which will be conferred in August 2003. She will
103