Unstan ware
Encyclopedia
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
from the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Typical are elegant and distinctive shallow bowls with a band of grooved patterning below the rim, using a technique known as "stab-and-drag". A second version consists of undecorated, round-bottomed bowls. Some of the bowls had bits of volcanic rock included in the clay to make them stronger. After firing, bone tools were used to burnish the surfaces to make them shiny and impermeable.
Unstan ware is named after the Unstan Chambered Cairn
Unstan Chambered Cairn
Unstan is a Neolithic chambered cairn located on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The tomb was built on a promontory that extends into the Loch of Stenness near the settlement of Howe and the town of Stromness...
on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
, a fine example of a stalled chambered tomb in a circular mound, where the style of pottery was first found in 1884. Unstan ware is mostly found in tombs, specifically tombs of the Orkney-Cromarty type. These include the so-called Tomb of the Eagles
Tomb of the Eagles
Located on at cliff edge at Isbister on South Ronaldsay in Orkney, Scotland, the Tomb of the Eagles is a Neolithic chambered tomb. First explored by Ronald Simison in 1958, he conducted his own excavations at the site in 1976...
at Isbister on South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm.-Geography and geology:...
, and Taversoe Tuick and Midhowe
Midhowe Chambered Cairn
Midhowe is a large Neolithic chambered cairn located on the south shore of the island of Rousay, Orkney, Scotland. The name "Midhowe" comes from the spectacular Bronze Age broch that lies just west of the tomb...
on Rousay
Rousay
Rousay is a small, hilly island about north of Orkney's Mainland, off the north coast of Scotland, and has been nicknamed "the Egypt of the north", due to its tremendous archaeological diversity and importance....
.
Unstan ware has been found occasionally at sites in Orkney other than tombs; for example, the farmstead of Knap of Howar
Knap of Howar
At Knap of Howar on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland, a Neolithic farmstead may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe...
on Papa Westray
Papa Westray
Papa Westray, also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a population of 65 at the time of the 2001 Census, now increased to 70 people...
. There are scattered occurrences of Unstan ware on the Scottish Mainland, as at Balbridie
Balbridie
Balbridie is the site of a Neolithic timberhouse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated in the south Deeside near the B9077 road. This archaeological site is one of the earliest known permanent neolithic settlements in Scotland, dating to 3400 to 4000 BC...
, and in the Western Isles, as at Eilean Domhnuill
Eilean Domhnuill
Armit identifies the islet of Eilean Dòmhnuill , Loch Olabhat on North Uist, Scotland as what may be the earliest crannog. Unstan ware pottery found there suggests a Neolithic period date of 3200-2800 BC...
.
Unstan ware may have evolved into the later grooved ware
Grooved ware
Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, but...
style. This interpretation was originally based primarily on a presumed evolution in pottery styles, from Unstan ware to grooved ware
Grooved ware
Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, but...
, seen at the settlement of Rinyo
Rinyo
Rinyo was a Neolithic settlement on the island of Rousay in Orkney, Scotland. The site was discovered in the winter of 1837-38 on the lands of Bigland Farm in the north east of the island at . It was excavated in 1938 and 1946 by Vere Gordon Childe, and by W. G. Grant...
on Rousay
Rousay
Rousay is a small, hilly island about north of Orkney's Mainland, off the north coast of Scotland, and has been nicknamed "the Egypt of the north", due to its tremendous archaeological diversity and importance....
. D.V. Clarke claimed in 1983 that his investigations at Rinyo
Rinyo
Rinyo was a Neolithic settlement on the island of Rousay in Orkney, Scotland. The site was discovered in the winter of 1837-38 on the lands of Bigland Farm in the north east of the island at . It was excavated in 1938 and 1946 by Vere Gordon Childe, and by W. G. Grant...
had debunked this sequence. John Hedges is another primary proponent of what might be termed the "cultural coexistence" hypothesis, suggesting that although Unstan ware may predate grooved ware
Grooved ware
Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, but...
, the cultures associated with these styles of pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
lived side-by-side across Orkney for centuries. In this interpretation of the evidence, grooved ware
Grooved ware
Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, but...
is associated with the builders of the Maeshowe
Maeshowe
Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The monuments around Maeshowe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney...
class of chambered tomb. The geographic distribution on Orkney of the two pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
types is as follows: grooved ware
Grooved ware
Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, but...
is found on Mainland, Sanday
Sanday, Orkney
Sanday is one of the inhabited islands in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. With an area of , it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands. The main centres of population are Lady Village and Kettletoft. Sanday can be reached by Orkney Ferries or plane from Kirkwall on the...
, and North Ronaldsay
North Ronaldsay
North Ronaldsay is the northernmost of the Orkney Islands, Scotland and with an area of is the fourteenth largest.-Geography:North Ronaldsay lies around north of its nearest neighbour, Sanday at . The island is around long along its length and is defined by two large sandy bays; Linklet Bay on...
, with Unstan ware found on Mainland and the remaining islands, especially Rousay
Rousay
Rousay is a small, hilly island about north of Orkney's Mainland, off the north coast of Scotland, and has been nicknamed "the Egypt of the north", due to its tremendous archaeological diversity and importance....
and Eday
Eday
Eday is one of the Orkney Islands, which are located to the north of the Scottish mainland in the United Kingdom. Eday is located in the North Isles of Orkney, and is about north of the main island of Orkney Mainland...
. Hedges sums up his view this way:
What is important is an understanding that the neolithic population of Orkney can be divided into two major parts on the basis of some elements of their material cultures. It is probable that they originated from different areas and...there is no difficulty in imagining their ability to coexist.
However, he also notes:
One point that should be made at the outset is that there is no discernable difference in the culture- in the social anthropological sense- of the Grooved WareGrooved wareGrooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, but...
and Unstan Ware people...it is only apparent from limited aspects of material culture and the evidence...shows it to have been subordinate to a tribal level of unity which took in the whole of Orkney.
See also
- Prehistoric OrkneyPrehistoric OrkneyPrehistoric Orkney refers to a period in the human occupation of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that was the latter part of these islands' prehistory. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the geology of Scotland...
- Ring of BrodgarRing of BrodgarThe Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle on the Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland...
- Standing Stones of Stenness
- MaeshoweMaeshoweMaeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The monuments around Maeshowe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney...
- World Heritage Sites in ScotlandWorld Heritage Sites in ScotlandWorld Heritage Sites in Scotland are specific locations that have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Programme list of sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humankind. Historic Scotland is responsible for 'cultural' sites as part of their wider...
- Timeline of prehistoric ScotlandTimeline of prehistoric ScotlandThis timeline of prehistoric Scotland is a chronologically ordered list of important archaeological sites in Scotland and of major events affecting Scotland's human inhabitants and culture during the prehistoric period. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the...
