Saevar Howe
Saevar Howe (also called Saverough ) is a mound of earth about 60 m in diameter and 3.0 m high, which is a few meters above the high water mark on the Orkney island of Mainland in Scotland . It appears natural, but excavations between 1862 and 1867 by James Farrer (1812–1879) revealed that there was a large building and a cemetery here.
The heavily damaged building has produced the typical finds of a brochure and bones, as they were otherwise found on Skara Brae and at Jarlshof . The mound contained the perimeter wall of a paved courtyard, which was surrounded by a thick layer of rubbish heap . A few meters from the building, three small stone boxes were found, one of which contained (of 19 found in Scotland) a medium-sized, square iron bell, known as the "Bell of Birsay" in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) and according to J. Anderson is believed to be the bell of a Celtic church that was deliberately buried to save it from the Vikings . A spearhead was found on the hill a few years earlier .
Minor rescue work was carried out by John Hedges in 1977. The hill consists of three phases, first a Pictish building of which only fragments were found, then Viking Age buildings and finally a cemetery.
literature
- Anna Ritchie: Prehistoric Orkney. Historic Scotland, London a. a. 1995, ISBN 0-7134-7593-5 (English).
- John W. Hedges: Trial excavations on Pictish and Viking settlements at Saevar Howe, Birsay, Orkney. In: Glasgow Archaeological Journal. Vol. 10, No. 10, 1983, ISSN 1471-5767 , pp. 73-124, doi : 10.3366 / gas.1983.10.10.73 .
Web links
- Entry on Saevar Howe in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
- Image of the bell
- French
Coordinates: 59 ° 7 ′ 22.8 " N , 3 ° 19 ′ 7.9" W.