Welcome to Orkneyjar - a website
dedicated to the preserving, exploring and documenting the ancient history, folklore
and traditions of Orkney - a group of islands lying off the northern tip of Scotland,
where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet.
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Spotlight A brief selection of topics covered
in Orkneyjar...
Management plan launched - The new management plan for Orkney’s World Heritage Site was launch in Stromness last week. (October 22, 2008)
Westray site is latest to produce Neolithic art - a large piece of decorated stone has been discovered at one of Orkney’s most threatened sites — the Links of Noltland prehistoric settlement, in Westray. (September 18, 2008)
Rumours of sunken structures prompt survey of Bay of Firth -
Stories about mysterious underwater structures in the Bay of Firth have been circulating for a number of years.
But now, a sonar survey of the area hopes to answer, once and for all,what lies on the sea bed. (September 4, 2008)
Brodgar assumptions questioned at end of Ness dig - With the end of excavations on the Ness of Brodgar, site director Nick Card feels its time for a major rethink about the landscape of Orkney’s Neolithic Heartland. (August 21, 2008)
Experts stunned by scale of Brodgar structure - “What we’ve got here is probably one of the largest, if not the largest, stone-built Neolithic non-funerary structures in Britain.” (August 14, 2008)
Excavators return to Skaill farmstead - One week into this year’s excavation of a site at the Bay of Skaill has seen archaeologists continue to reveal a well-preserved example of a Norse house. (August 14, 2008)
New excavation at Neolithic mystery site -
Archaeologists are returning to a mysterious "decorated" Neolithic structure discovered last year at the Links of Noltland in Westray. (July 21, 2008)
Excavation team return to South Ronaldsay to tackle archaeological jigsaw puzzle - A high-status Iron Age site in South Ronaldsay has been under excavation again this summer.
The three-week excavation at the Cairns, led by Orkney College lecturer Martin Carruthers, focused, this year, on extending previous trenches in order to get a better understanding of the site. (July 21, 2008)
Link: Birsay-Skaill landscape archaeology project: Since 2003, survey and geophysics have been carried out at two locations on the west mainland of Orkney, at Birsay Bay and the Bay of Skaill.
Link: Research Orkney - Do you want to know more about the heritage of Orkney? Research Orkney provides a professional research, advisory and consultancy service dedicated to Orkney's Heritage; be it cultural, historical, archaeological, onomastic, toponymic, topographical or genealogical.
yule in the northern isles
For the ancients the need to celebrate the rebirth of the sun athe winter solstice was an absolute necessity.
An Orkney winter is long, cold and dark. So dark in fact that there are more hours of darkness than daylight.
The midwinter traditions surrounding the festival of Yule were once strong in the islands. But Yule was not only about celebrating the return of the light. It was a time when creatures and spirits wandered, so a good proportion of the Yule customs we remember today were concerned with protecting the household against these malevolent influences.
Perhaps the best-known attribute of Maeshowe is its world famous midwinter alignment.
In the weeks leading up to the winter solstice, the darkest time of the Orcadian year, the last rays of the setting sun pierce the darkness of the long entrance passage to illuminate the interior of the chambered cairn.
Theories abound as to the significance of this phenomenon...
Twice each year, on Christmas Eve and Hogmanay, householders and shopkeepers along Kirkwall's winding main streets barricade doors and windows in preparation for the next day's traditional Ba' games.
The Ba' is played on Christmas Day and New Year's Day every year.
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Orkneyjar is generally updated at least once a month, incorporating new
content with relevant news and information relating to Orkney's rich archaeology,
heritage and history.
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Perhaps the best-known attribute of Maeshowe is its world famous midwinter alignment.
Twice each year, on Christmas Eve and Hogmanay, householders and shopkeepers along Kirkwall's winding main streets barricade doors and windows in preparation for the next day's traditional Ba' games.
To
contact the author about any element of this site, 
