Rinyo

Rinyo , on Bigland Farm at the foot of the Bares of Rinyo near the Bigland Round burial mound in the northeast of the Orkney island of Rousay in Scotland, is a Neolithic settlement of the Grooved Ware and Bell Beaker culture . It is located on a sandstone terrace on the slope of Faraclett Head .

Excavations

The settlement was in the winter of 1937/38 by James Yorston jun. discovered who carried out field inspections on Rousay on behalf of William Grant and uncovered the houses. Shards of grooved goods, which were still considered Pictish at the time , and shards of bell beaker were found. The settlement was partially excavated in 1938 and 1946 by Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957) with financial support from William Grant. It was partially covered by rubble from the mountain slope and was therefore well preserved.

Findings

A total of seven round houses (A – G) made of dry masonry were uncovered, not all of them completely. Houses (A and B) contained clay stoves to the left of the hearth . Childe found great similarities to Skara Brae .

Comparable settlements are Skara Brae on Mainland and Pool on Sanday .

Finds

The finds consisted of ceramics of the Grooved Ware and bell beaker ceramics (North British group according to Clarke 1937–1976). Some of the pots were broken in situ , like a large specimen in an alcove in House D. The pottery was mainly decorated with lumps of clay. The lithic inventory consisted of 1,938 about 250 flint tools , 80 split pebbles, two carved stone balls (House D), mace heads , mortars and three stone axes from sandstone . Because of the acidic soil, no bones have survived.

meaning

Childe expected that the excavation of Rinyo would acquire similar importance for British prehistory as that of the linear ceramic band settlement of Cologne-Lindenthal for Central Europe. Since the study was never finally published, this hope was not fulfilled. However, Grooved Ware was often referred to as "Rinyo-Ware" in the late 1930s and 1940s. The settlement eventually gave its name to Ian Kinnes ' “Rinyo Clacton Group” of Grooved Ware.

literature

Vere G. Childe , Walter G. Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, ISSN 0081-1564 , pp. 6-31 .
David V. Clarke: Rinyo and the Orcadian Neolithic. In: Anne O'Connor, David V. Clarke (Eds.): From the Stone Age to the 'Forty-Five. Studies presented to RBK Stevenson. John Donald, Edinburgh 1983, ISBN 0-85976-046-4 , pp. 45-56.
Joshua Pollard: Neolithic occupation practices and social ecologies from Rinyo to Clacton. In: Anna Ritchie (Ed.): Neolithic Orkney in its European context. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 1-902937-04-X , pp. 363-369.
Anna Ritchie: Prehistoric Orkney. BT Batsford, London 2000, ISBN 0-7134-7593-5 , p. 37 ff.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 6.
↑ Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 7.
^ ^A ^b Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 24.
↑ Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 26.
↑ Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 27.
↑ Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 22.

Web links

Entry on Rinyo in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database

59.173257 -2.982262Coordinates: 59 ° 10 ′ 23.7 " N , 2 ° 58 ′ 56.1" W.

[Childe_6-1] A ^b ^c Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 6.

[2] Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 7.

[Childe_24-3] A ^b Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 24.

[4] Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 26.

[5] Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 27.

[6] Childe, Grant: A Stone-Age settlement at the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, Orkney (First Report). In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 73, 1938/1939, pp. 6–31, here p. 22.