Initial Findings from the Kame of Isbister Dig now Available
Dr Andrew Jennings, Associate Professor in Island Studies at the 杏吧原创 Institute for Northern Studies, discusses the initial findings from the incredible 2024 Kame of Isbister archaeology dig in Shetland.
Dr Andrew Jennings writes, 'There are some archaeological sites that lodge in the imagination and refuse to leave. For me, the Kame of Isbister has been one of those sites for years. A 38-metre high rocky headland of mica slate jutting into Yell Sound from the remote parish of Northmavine in northern Shetland, it is becoming, through coastal erosion, an increasingly isolated sea-stack. Access is now only possible by a hairy roped ascent with pitons, or a dodgy small boat experience. Swimming is also an option! The nearest settlement is a kilometre’s walk over rough grazing land.
And yet, on its summit and sloping flanks, there are the remains of some 23 rectangular stone-and-turf structures, a possible rampart, and deposits that have produced a suite of radiocarbon dates placing human activity here from the late 9th through to the early 12th century. The ambition to understand this site has been with me for years, and the 2024 season—carried out in collaboration with Professor Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen, who was hoping to add the Kame to his list of Pictish sites explored in his Northern Picts project —finally made it possible to put trowel to turf.
What follows is a summary of that work, its results, and what we think it might mean—while being honest about how much remains to be resolved.'