Orkney Riddler<p>This is a short telling of the journey of the Orkney <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vole" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vole</span></a>. <br>It is the story of how a European species of rodent, the Orkney Vole, travelled from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands to Orkney over 5,000 years ago, without actually setting foot in Britain. <br>No convincing explanation for this phenomenon has been researched or provided.<br>To understand how this was possible, the formations on the floor of the North Sea must be explained. <br>At the end of the ice age the North Sea didn't really exist. There was a deep trench along the Norwegian Coast called the Norwegian Channel, and deep water features along the east coast of England and Scotland. <br>Between those deep water coastal features was a ridge of land linking the well-known Doggerland in the southern North Sea to the now-removed Land-East-of-Shetland.<br>There was no direct access from the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Atlantic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Atlantic</span></a> Oceanic waters through the Dover Strait, or between Scotland and Orkney, or between Orkney and Shetland. <br>Animals, and people, were able to walk from mainland Europe onto Doggerland until 10,000BP when rising seas connected deep water on the English coast with the Norwegian Channel around the south coast of Dogger Bank. <br>Animals inhabiting Doggerland, and the Land-East-of-Shetland would have been able to migrate from mainland Europe to Orkney without passing through Britain.<br>The Orkney Vole was one of those animals that did. </p><p>At about 3000BC, as rising sea-levels surged down the Norwegian Channel, and through the Dover Strait, the narrowest region of land separating <a href="https://c.im/tags/Doggerland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Doggerland</span></a> from Land-East-of-<a href="https://c.im/tags/Shetland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shetland</span></a> collapsed. <br>This event was followed by the swift removal of loose sands and gravels from the whole of the northern North Sea. <br>In this process, land bridges joining Scotland to Orkney and Orkney to Shetland were removed.<br>People who had been nomadic shepherds living in Orkney for summer months were denied access to the place where they had built stone circles, and Cairns.<br>Some people remained on Orkney, either by accident or on purpose. They were marooned on the islands and as a result they set about developing the more permanent and weatherproof settlements of Skara Brae and the Ness of Brodgar. <br>A detailed account, with substantial evidence is in the blog:-<br><a href="http://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-orkney-riddle.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="ellipsis">orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/202</span><span class="invisible">5/04/the-orkney-riddle.html</span></a><br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Prehistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Prehistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/northsea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>northsea</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkneyvole" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkneyvole</span></a></p>
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#neolithic
7 posts · 7 participants · 0 posts today
Nina Willburger<p>This elaborately decorated <a href="https://social.anoxinon.de/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> vessel, discovered in a well in Altscherbitz, dates back to 5100-5000 BC. The vessel is adorned with finely incised lines, coated with bar pitch, and covered with meticulously applied strips of thin bark. Its exceptional preservation makes it a truly unique object.</p><p>On display at Archaeological State Museum in Chemnitz.</p><p>📷 me</p><p><a href="https://social.anoxinon.de/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a></p>
Andrew Donkin<p>Apologies. Late to <a href="https://toot.community/tags/standingstonedsunday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>standingstonedsunday</span></a> this week. But here’s a beauty from <a href="https://toot.community/tags/Avebury" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Avebury</span></a>, <a href="https://toot.community/tags/Wiltshire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Wiltshire</span></a> <a href="https://toot.community/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a></p>
Orkney Riddler<p>I'm going to keep on harping on about land in the middle of the North Sea until I'm hoarse! </p><p>It's difficult to convince people of the idea partly because it seems so unlikely. The level of the seabed east of Shetland is over 100 metres below present sea level. The idea that a depth of material of that height could have been washed away in the recent past is too incredible to be believed. <br>There is lots evidence to support this notion , but it's a bit like being aware of something that's invisible only by the touch of the breeze on your skin as it passes. It requires the willingness to consider the possibility. <br>The first piece of evidence is actually archaeological. A flint artefact was discovered in a borehole in the floor of the North Sea half way between Shetland and Norway. It was identified, by Caroline Wickham-Jones , as a piece of prehistoric struck flint. How an article created by a prehistoric human could have been deposited so far from land is a bit of a head- scratcher. </p><p>The second piece of evidence referrs to a meltwater surge that drained off from glaciers on Norway and Sweden at 12,000BP. Water and ice fell into the Skaggerak and flowed down a wide trench beside the coast of Norway, called the Norwegian Channel. <br>As sea level in the area was 60 metres below our sea level at 12,000BP, and the height of the surge , as demonstrated on the sea level graphs on the sketch below , was 10 metres, the surge was supported at 50 metres below current sea level.<br>This 50 metres surge was supported along most of the length of the Norwegian Channel, dissipating in the Atlantic Ocean.<br>As there was deep water against the English and Scottish coasts the west bank of the Norwegian Channel may have been a narrow strip of land running north from Doggerland to the Atlantic coast, where the flint artefact was found. </p><p>This looks suspiciously as if prehistoric people may have been able to walk on land in the northern North Sea, and that the land they walked on was higher than we thought. </p><p>What do you think? </p><p>Detailed, if longwinded, analysis is in the blog:- </p><p><a href="http://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-orkney-riddle.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="ellipsis">orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/202</span><span class="invisible">5/04/the-orkney-riddle.html</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/prehistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prehistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Norway" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Norway</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Shetland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shetland</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/flint" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>flint</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/artefact" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>artefact</span></a></p>
Spaceways<p>Over to the west of Scotland and a trip in 2019 to visit Cromalt (west) chambered cairn near Ledmore for today's <a href="https://toot.community/tags/StandingStoneSunday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StandingStoneSunday</span></a></p><p>The cairn material is mostly gone but the very nice orthostats of the chamber still remain. It's a little in the middle of nowhere nowadays but the walk here is good and the landscape open and pretty wonderful.</p><p><a href="https://toot.community/tags/ChamberedCairn" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ChamberedCairn</span></a> <a href="https://toot.community/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://toot.community/tags/TheModernAntiquarian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TheModernAntiquarian</span></a></p>
Martin Rundkvist<p>Stone Age <a href="https://archaeo.social/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://archaeo.social/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://archaeo.social/tags/boardgame" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>boardgame</span></a> <a href="https://archaeo.social/tags/gamenight" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gamenight</span></a></p>
Orkney Riddler<p>Audrey Henshall, in “Neolithic cairns of Orkney” finds that there are around 80 cairns in Orkney, of which half are stalled cairns, linear structures with an oblong space within a great mound. The name refers to upright stones that divide the side walls into partitioned stalls.<br>As well as the 40 or so that are recognisable, there are about 25 cairns that are in poor condition, and cannot be categorised, but are probably also stalled cairns. There another 14 that are in some way hybridised. A common hybrid is called the Maeshowe type, but this is a misnomer, Maeshowe compares to no other Neolithic structure on Orkney, (or probably anywhere else) <br>Maeshowe is a splendid ancient mound, in the heart of which is a large rectangular space with a corbelled ceiling. The design of the interior is very fine with a tall standing stone built into each corner. The room is entered through a long tunnel to one of the inner walls of the structure, and behind each of the other three walls of the interior room are small galleries which would apparently be blocked off from view, by blocking stones, to any normal user of the main room.<br>The entrance to Maeshowe has a stone beside it, fitted into a recess, that can be pulled across and used to block entrance into the interior. The design of this arrangement makes it clear that people wishing to make the closure would have to be within Maeshowe to do it.<br>The other cairns of the Maeshowe type have a central room with galleries arrayed around the walls of the room, the interiors of which, in many cases look suspiciously like bedding places. </p><p>Detailed, if longwinded, additional info is in the blog:-</p><p><a href="http://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-orkney-riddle.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="ellipsis">orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/202</span><span class="invisible">5/04/the-orkney-riddle.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/prehistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prehistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a></p>
Orkney Riddler<p>My blog is a bit long, so probably off-putting. <br>It attempts to "prove" that people were walking from Scotland to Orkney in the early part of the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> period.<br>In extensive and detailed research I have found a series of observations derived from other peoples work that, put together, may be enough to prove that there was walkable land from Doggerland north to the Shetlands, and also from <a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> to Caithness. </p><p>In brief , there is evidence of a passage of land leading from <a href="https://c.im/tags/Dogger" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dogger</span></a> Bank to a location in the north of the North Sea where a flint artefact was found half way between Shetland and Norway. <br>There is also evidence that that land collapsed towards the Norwegian Coast in 3000BC. </p><p>On Orkney, Barnhouse and many other small settlements across mainland Orkney are all shallow sites that are clearly not designed to be occupied in an Orkney winter. These settlements were all abandoned before 3000BC. </p><p>My only assumption is that when land in the North of the North Sea was lost so also was a bridge between South Ronaldsay on Orkney, and Caithness, north Scotland. </p><p>The Stones of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Stenness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stenness</span></a> and Ring of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brodgar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brodgar</span></a> were abandoned, unfinished, probably at 3000BC. <br>The Westray islands are abandoned at 3000BC, and not colonised again until the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Skara" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Skara</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brae" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brae</span></a>, and the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ness</span></a> of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brodgar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brodgar</span></a>, both have dated deposits from before 3000BC indicating there was some kind of occupation until then, but not till after 3000BC are the revolutionary solid structures with stone lined drains and other necessary amenities for winter weather designed and constructed. <br>The structures at the Ness of Brodgar were made of wood, largely, so they would not have lasted long, a couple of generations perhaps.<br>The dates of the human bones found in the cairns are largely assessed to before 3000BC, and the dates of the animal bones, also in the cairns, which were arguably being eaten by people, are largely after 3000BC. <br>This suggests that when a few groups of people isolated from mainland Britain lost the structural secuity of their solidly built structures, they may have sought desperate refuge in the cairns.<br>Temporary visitors returned, by newly developed boats, in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. </p><p>Detailed, if longwinded, analysis is in the blog:-</p><p><a href="http://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-orkney-riddle.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="ellipsis">orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/202</span><span class="invisible">5/04/the-orkney-riddle.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/prehistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prehistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a></p>
Archaeology News :verified:<p>Neolithic Irish tombs were centers of community, not royalty, ancient DNA reveals</p><p>Recent research is rattling established theories about Ireland’s Neolithic tombs. What were once thought to be royal burial sites are now reported to be places where communities congregated, not dynasties...</p><p>More information: <a href="https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/neolithic-irish-tombs-centers-of-community/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">archaeologymag.com/2025/04/neo</span><span class="invisible">lithic-irish-tombs-centers-of-community/</span></a></p><p>Follow <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mstdn.social/@archaeology" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>archaeology</span></a></span> </p><p><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/archeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archeology</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/archaeologynews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeologynews</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/megalithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>megalithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/newgrange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>newgrange</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Knowth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Knowth</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a></p>
Orkney Riddler<p>In “Beside the Ocean of Time: a chronology of Neolithic <a href="https://c.im/tags/burial" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>burial</span></a>, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Monuments" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Monuments</span></a> and houses in Orkney”, Seren Griffiths lists the carbon dates of human bones from 10 Orkney cairns. The cumulative data for these skeletal remains demonstrates that about 75% of the people lain in the cairns died roughly before 3000BC, the rest of them died later, mostly through the 3rd millennium BC. Similar findings are suggested by dating of <a href="https://c.im/tags/skeletons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>skeletons</span></a> in Scotland and England, and it is likely that the fall in numbers of bodies in cairns is, as much as anything, because after a couple of hundred years of existence the cairns were in poor condition, and often collapsing, making them sometimes risky places to enter.<br>Personally, I could never believe that the purpose of cairns was for the storage of corpses. Clearly in later millennia they were regarded as suitable sites for depositing cremated remains and the like.<br>Later burials seem to be dug into the perifery of the monuments, or a later addition. <br>In the few examples of funerary monuments that I've seen it's only special sites like Sutton Hoo that are obviously built with the intention of burying bodies.<br>See more in the Orkney Riddle blog:- <a href="http://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-orkney-riddle.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="ellipsis">orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/202</span><span class="invisible">5/04/the-orkney-riddle.html</span></a><br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> #<a href="https://c.im/tags/prehistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prehistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/cairns" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cairns</span></a></p>
@shezza_t<p>I’ve had this article open in a tab for so long I’ve forgotten who I got it from. If you’re interested in prehistory it’s a cracking read: <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/discover-astounding-secrets-scotlands-stone-age-settlements-180985627/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">smithsonianmag.com/history/dis</span><span class="invisible">cover-astounding-secrets-scotlands-stone-age-settlements-180985627/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.ie/tags/NessOfBrodgar" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NessOfBrodgar</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane ends at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their megaliths, do you dare join them? <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/ring-of-brodgar.html?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/or</span><span class="invisible">kney-neolithic/ring-of-brodgar.html?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane ends at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their eldritch megaliths <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/stones-of-stenness.html?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/or</span><span class="invisible">kney-neolithic/stones-of-stenness.html?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane ends at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their megaliths, do you dare join them? <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/knowe-of-onston.html?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/or</span><span class="invisible">kney-neolithic/knowe-of-onston.html?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane ends at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their eldritch megaliths <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-sousterrain/?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/or</span><span class="invisible">kney-sousterrain/?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane ends at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their megaliths, do you dare join them? <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/avebury/?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/av</span><span class="invisible">ebury/?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane ends at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their eldritch megaliths <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/skara-brae/?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/sk</span><span class="invisible">ara-brae/?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Orkney Riddler<p>I could never quite believe that Neolithic people came to Orkney by boat.<br>As it is thought that they brought cattle and sheep with them, I could not envisage any animal, or any human, surviving a sea crossing of any British tidal waters in any prehistoric vessel. <br>Standard sources tie themselves in knots to persuade us that Neolithic people had boats that could carry beasts of both sexes that, once landed, would reproduce and help their tribe to survive on the unknown territory across the dangerous waters. <br>However, evidence has recently emerged that added another dimension to the problem. It was discovered that the Orkney Vole, a species that is unique to the archipelago, had been found by DNA analysis, to originate from northern Europe, and that it was not directly related to the common vole in Britain. (Thomas Cucchi et al) <br>This meant that the animal that arrived in Orkney did not pass through England, Wales or Scotland. <br>A vole arriving in Orkney, from Europe, without passing through Britain was a clue that all was not as it seems, and that in spite of the insistence of some that voles may have been carried as pets or food items, another possibility was probably more likely. <br>I therefore rather assumed that it must be necessary to question what places were passable around the coasts of Neolithic Britain, which areas were land, and which places were water, and when did land areas stop being land. <br>It is understood that much of the southern North Sea area was land at some point in the past. A piece of shallow sea called Dogger Bank has been named Doggerland as artefacts of 8000 years of age, and older, are frequently dredged up there. The rise in sea level which has occurred since the last ice age has clearly flooded lands here, but which lands, where, and when? <br>The obvious location, or so I thought, for a route to Orkney from Europe , that would be passable for small rodents, on foot, and avoiding England and Scotland, would be somewhere in the middle of the North Sea which, of course, is a bizarre idea. <br>Indeed, it was such a bizarre idea that I followed it, to see where it took me. <br>The result of my research can be seen in my blog:-</p><p><a href="http://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-orkney-riddle.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="ellipsis">orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/202</span><span class="invisible">5/04/the-orkney-riddle.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Orkney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Orkney</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/archaeology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>archaeology</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/prehistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>prehistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brodgar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brodgar</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/nessofbrodgar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nessofbrodgar</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Skara" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Skara</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/skarabrae" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>skarabrae</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/barnhouse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>barnhouse</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/knapofhowar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>knapofhowar</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/linksofnoltland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>linksofnoltland</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Noltland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Noltland</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/cairns" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cairns</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Maeshowe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Maeshowe</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane begins at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their megaliths, do you dare join them? <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/ring-of-brodgar.html?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/or</span><span class="invisible">kney-neolithic/ring-of-brodgar.html?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
Conan the Sysadmin<p>Beltane begins at sunset and the Druids will be dancing 'round their eldritch megaliths <a href="https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/orkney-neolithic/stones-of-stenness.html?s=mc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cromwell-intl.com/travel/uk/or</span><span class="invisible">kney-neolithic/stones-of-stenness.html?s=mc</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/neolithic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neolithic</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>travel</span></a></p>
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