Research into Archaeological Landscapes
Shetland has one of the best preserved prehistoric landscapes in Britain. In the North of mainland Shetland, at Islesburgh (near Mavis Grind), Dr Simon Clarke, lecturer in archaeology, has been investigating the relationship between the Neolithic tomb, settlement and enclosure and the natural setting.
The tomb seems to mimic the shape and orientation of the enclosure, its façade analogous to the shoreline, its central chamber correlating to the position of the Neolithic house. The idea that tombs represent houses of the dead is long established, but the completeness of the surviving evidence at Islesburgh allows subtler meanings to be explored. Mavis Grind, just to the east, joining Northmavine to the rest of the Shetland Mainland would have been an important route way in the Neolithic, not only by land but also as a place of portage where boats could be dragged from the North Sea to the Atlantic without a long detour to the north or south. This act probably also carried powerful symbolic meanings, “crossing over” being an obvious metaphor for life and death. Different parts of the landscape offer very different views to Sullom Voe and the North Sea in one direction and the open Atlantic in the other. These locations and the vistas they offered were probably used in the construction of complex mythologies and ceremonies associated with burial rites which are being investigated by means for detailed digital photography.
