The Orkney archipelago lies somewhat remotely north of the Scottish coast. And perhaps because of this, the changes that swept through Europe from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age did not reach the archipelago. This has been the prevailing school of thought so far. Now researchers around the archaeologists Hazel Moore and Graeme Wilson from the excavation company EASE Archeology draw a different picture of that time in this region.
At the Links of Notland site on Westray Island in Orkney, they uncovered a settlement and graveyard dating to around 2300-1500 BC. come from. DNA analysis of the bones of 22 individuals revealed that the women of the community carry the genetic fingerprints of mainland Britain and continental populations. The men, on the other hand, were descendants of the ancient population that had come to the Orkney Islands as early as the Neolithic period. Apparently, contrary to what was previously thought, the community there had been in contact with groups elsewhere whose wives intermarried into Orkney society.
The inheritance was probably not divided
As the archeological group writes in the journal Antiquity, they discovered the remains of 35 houses and the burials of about 100 deceased in Links of Notland. The dead were concentrated in three areas, which is why Moore & Co interpret them as three large households. The size of the groups seems to have changed little over the centuries. “This suggests that the goods were not divided among the heirs, but remained intact,” the researchers write in their study. Presumably, people from the three communities also moved away so that the available resources were sufficient for the local population.