Introduction
An innovative collaboration between Shetland Amenity Trust and Bradford University is providing a radical new insight into the past of Britain's most northerly island group.

The project, which is managed by the Trust and funded from a variety of sources (See list at bottom of this page), consists of a survey of the sites and monuments of the southern tip of the Shetland mainland, and large-scale excavation and sampling of the settlement mound of Scatness.

The project's aims are twofold; to answer research questions about the nature of settlement and subsistence in Shetland, and to present this information to the public.

Excavation at Old Scatness
Bradford University staff and students, volunteers and other professional archaeologists have just completed their second season excavating the massive settlement mound at Scatness.

Their work has revealed that the mound, over five metres high and 80 metres in diameter, has been inhabited for 3,000 years, and has at its centre an Iron Age tower, or broch.

 Work at the Old Scatness site began at Easter 1995, with a preliminary topographic and geophysical survey, which showed the extent of the mound, and revealed major beneath-ground features, including the walls of the broch itself.

Excavation began in summer 1995, with three main areas covering the centre and flanks of the mound.

The second season of excavation commenced in July 1996, and lasted for seven weeks.

The long occupation of the Scatness site was already known from the first season's work, with evidence for settlement dating from the Bronze Age to the present century. One of the central aims of the Scatness project is to examine the changing subsistence patterns in an area which, historically, was one of the most fertile in Shetland. The post-medieval and early modern deposits on the site are being excavated and sampled with the same care as the prehistoric material.

This work has revealed part of a 19th century crofting settlement, 17th century midden deposits, a Pictish building with rooms formed by stone piers surrounding a central space, like the spokes of a wheel, and the remains of an imposing Iron Age round tower, known as a broch. Brochs, which are found only in Scotland and the Northern and Western Isles, seem to have been built partly in defence, and partly as the status symbols of the elite - the stonework of the Scatness tower shows signs of being shaped and set with appearance, as well as function, in mind.

One of the most exciting discoveries of the excavation so far has been evidence that the site dates from at least the Bronze Age; further excavation in 1997 is expected to clarify this.

The Old Scatness/Jarlshof Environs Project is managed through Shetland Amenity Trust and its archaeologist, Val Turner, is director of the survey. Steve Dockrill, of Bradford University, directs the excavation at Scatness. Julie Bond, of Bradford University, manages the research in environmental archaeology and the post-excavation programme.

Future Work
Excavation at Old Scatness will continue in 1997; the site may be visited on Saturdays and Sundays during the excavation period (normally July and August); details will be advertsied in the Shetland Times.

For Further Information

Old Scatness Heritage Project
Shetland Amenity Trust
22-24 North Road
Lerwick, ZE1 0NQ, UK

Old Scatness Excavation
Steve Dockrill/Julie Bond
Department of Archaeological Sciences
University of Bradford
Bradford
West Yorks, BD7 1DP, UK

Jarlshof Environs Survey
Val Turner
Shetland Amenity Trust
22-24 North Road
Lerwick, ZE1 0NQ, UK