Jarlshof ( ) is the best-known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland, Scotland. It lies in Sumburgh, Mainland, Shetland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles"." Jarlshof & Scatness" shetland-heritage.co.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2008. It contains remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century AD.
The Bronze Age settlers left evidence of several small oval houses with thick stone walls and various artefacts including a decorated bone object. The Iron Age ruins include several different types of structures, including a broch and a defensive wall around the site. The Pictish period provides various works of art including a painted pebble and a symbol stone. The Viking Age ruins make up the largest such site visible anywhere in Britain and include a longhouse; excavations provided numerous tools and a detailed insight into life in Shetland at this time. The most visible structures on the site are the walls of the Scottish period fortified manor house, which inspired the name "Jarlshof" that first appears in an 1821 novel by Walter Scott.
The site is in the care of Historic Scotland and is open year-round, with longer opening hours during April to September. In 2012, Jarlshof, Mousa and Old Scatness were added to the UK's tentative list of proposed World Heritage Sites in a combination called the "Zenith of Iron Age Shetland.""From Chatham to Chester and Lincoln to the Lake District – 38 UK places put themselves forward for World Heritage status" United Kingdom Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
Location and etymology Jarlshof lies near the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland, close to the settlements of Sumburgh and Grutness and to the south end of Sumburgh Airport. The site overlooks an arm of the sea called the West Voe of Sumburgh and the nearby freshwater springs and building materials available on the beach will have added to the location's attraction as a settlement. The south Mainland also provides a favourable location for arable cultivation in a Shetland context and there is a high density of prehistoric settlement in the surrounding area.Dockrill, Stepehen J. "Brochs, economy and power" in Smith and Banks (2002) p. 156. Jarlshof is only from Scatness where the remains of another broch and other ruins of a similar longevity were discovered in 1975. There is a small visitor centre at Jarlshof with displays and a collection of artefacts.Armit (1996) p. 152.
The name Jarlshof meaning "Earl's Mansion" is a coinage of Walter Scott,"Jarlshof" Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 2 August 2008."Jarlshof" Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 2 August 2008. who visited the site in 1814. The author based it on the Scottish period term for "the laird's house." It was more than a century later before excavations proved that there had actually been Viking Age settlement on the site,Ritchie, Anna (March 2003) "Great sites: Jarlshof" British Archaeology 69. Retrieved 13 August 2008.Bruce, John (10 December 1905) "Excavation of a Broch at Jarlshof, Sumburgh, Shetland". (pdf) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Retrieved 2 August 2008. although there is no evidence that a Norse jarl ever lived there.Armit (2006) p. 176.
History
The remains at Jarlshof represent thousands of years of human occupation and can be seen as a microcosm of Shetland history. Other than the Old House of Sumburgh (see below), the site remained largely hidden until a storm in the late 19th century washed away part of the shore, and revealed evidence of these ancient buildings. Formal archaeological excavation started in 1925, and Bronze Age relics were soon discovered. Jarlshof was one of first two broch sites to be excavated using modern scientific techniques between 1949 and 1952. Although the deposits within the broch had been badly disturbed by earlier attempts, this work revealed a complex sequence of construction from different periods.Armit (2003) pp. 26–28. The work was undertaken by John Hamilton of the Ministry of Works at Jarlshof and Clickhimin. Buildings on the site include the remains of a Bronze Age smithy, an Iron Age broch, an roundhouses, a complex of Pictish wheelhouses, a Viking longhouseJarlshof Prehistoric & Norse Settlement" Historic Scotland. Retrieved 2 August 2008. and a mediaeval farmhouse. No further excavations have been undertaken since the early 1950s, and no radiocarbon dating has been attempted.
Neolithic The earliest finds are pottery from the Neolithic era, although the main settlement dates from the Bronze Age (see below). A site nearby has been dated to 3200 BC.Nicolson, James R. (1972) Shetland. David & Charles. Newton Abbott. pp. 33–35.
Bronze Age The Bronze Age in Scotland lasted from approximately 2000 BC to 800 BC.Scotland: 2200–800 BC Bronze Age" worldtimelines.org.uk Retrieved 23 August 2008. The oldest known remains on the Jarlshof site date from this period, although there is evidence of inhabitation as far back as 2500 BC.Gilmour, Simon "Mid-first millennium BC settlement in the Atlantic West?" in Smith and Banks (2002) p. 55. The remains of several small oval houses with thick stone walls date to the late Bronze Age and the structures show some similarity to Skara Brae on Mainland, Orkney but are smaller and of a later date. These buildings may have been partly subterranean at the earliest period of inhabitation, a technique providing both structural stability and insulation.Armit (2003) p. 28.
There is also evidence of a cattle stall with a waste channel leading to a tank in a courtyard and a whale vertebra set into a wall that may have been used as a tethering post. Broken moulds from the smithy indicate that axes, knives, swords and pins were produced there, and a bronze dagger was found at the site. The objects indicate the smith was trained in the Irish style of working.Turner (1998) p. 59.Nicolson (1972) p. 33. Nicolson states that the smith "came from Ireland," but provides no supporting evidence. Bone pins and awls also survived, and an extraordinary bone "plaque" was discovered. This latter object is long, has three holes bored into the ends and is decorated with various linear patterns. Its function is unknown.Turner (1998) pp. 29–30. The Bronze Age structures are overlain with sterile sand, suggesting a break in occupation prior to the next phase of building.Armit (2003) pp. 29, 39.
Iron Age and Pictish period
The inhabitants of the Iron Age built part of their settlement on top of the Bronze Age one. The structures include a complex roundhouse, replaced at a later stage by an "aisled roundhouse." Neither have been dated, although artefacts found at the site include querns that suggest the later roundhouse may have been constructed prior to 200 BC.Armit (2003) p. 49.
It is in this period that the broch was built. Part of the structure has been lost to coastal erosion, and modern sea defences have been erected. The tower was probably originally 13 metres (40 feet) or more high. Like many other broch sites, the position would have commanded fine views of the surrounding seas.Nicolson (1972) p. 33. Other archaeological sites of the period discovered in Shetland usually exhibit defensive fortifications of some kind, and Jarlshof is no exception.Turner (1998) p. 63. An outer defensive wall associated with the broch contained a substantial (although rather poorly constructed) house and byre at one time.Turner (1998) p. 74. This wall was utilised at a later stage to build a large roundhouse in the lee of the broch.Nicolson (1972) p. 35.
The earliest part of the wheelhouse complex has been dated to 200 BC, although other parts were built later, post-dating the 1st century BC–2nd century AD profusion of these structures in the Western Isles by several centuries.Armit (2003) p. 135. Construction used the stones of the broch itself. Two of the four main structures are amongst the best examples of their type.Crawford, Iain "The wheelhouse" in Smith and Banks (2002) p. 116. Three successive periods of construction were undertaken. The best preserved structure retains a significant proportion of the stone part of its roof and displays a series of corbelled bays.Armit (2006) p. 124. Another one was built as a circular building and the radial piers were inserted afterwards. This may have been a less stable earlier design. In one case the piers are alternately rectangular and V-shaped, in another all are to the latter design, again suggesting a developing style. Unlike many wheelhouses elsewhere in Scotland that are built into the earth, the Jarlshof structures seem to have been built from ground level upwards.Turner (1998) pp. 81–2.
Amongst the artefacts dated to the later Pictish period is a bone pin with a rounded head probably used as a hair or dress pin. It has been dated to AD 500–800."Bone pin" National Museums Scotland. Retrieved 16 August 2008. "Painted pebbles" are associated with more than two dozen Pictish sites, and one such stone was unearthed at Jarlshof. This rectangular slate fragment had a cross painted onto it and two small S-shaped scrolls suggesting an association with Christian beliefs.Turner (1998) p. 86. The stone is painted with a brown-black stain of unknown provenance and the purpose of these devices is obscure. One of only two Pictish symbol stones found in Shetland was found here, exhibiting a double disc shape and a Z-rod.Turner (1998) p. 87. Pottery finds include buff ware from the period after AD 10, including bowls with flat rims. The quality of the pots appears to decline in the period prior to Viking settlement, becoming thinner-walled and generally more crude in design.Laing (2006) p. 90
In AD 43 and 77 the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder referred to the seven islands they call Haemodae and Acmodae respectively, both of which are assumed to be Shetland. Another early written reference to the Shetland islands may have been when Tacitus reported that the Roman fleet had seen "Thule" on a voyage that included the Orkney archipelago in AD 98."The fleet must have sailed on to the Shetlands since ... the only land likely to be visible from ... the Orkney coast would be Fair Isle" – Ogilvie and Richmond, 1967 Watson in 1926 stated that Tacitus was referring to southern Shetland, probably the area of the brochs in Jarlshof.
Norse period Remains from this era used to cover most of the site, and it is believed the Norse inhabited the site continuously from the ninth to the 14th centuries.Nicolson (1972) p. 39. Excavations in the 1930s by Alex Curle found the first confirmed Norse longhouse in the British Isles and later digs in the 1950s found evidence of fishing and farming activities."Jarlshof" Shetlopedia. Retrieved 12 August 2008. Sheep, cattle, pigs and ponies were kept, Atlantic cod, saithe and ling were eaten, and whale and seal bones have also been found along with the remains of a single dog. Chicken bones are rare in the Norse levels.Platt, M. 1956. ‘Report on the Animal Bones’. In: J.R.C. Hamilton Excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland: Ministry Of Works Archaeological Reports No. 1, 212–215, Edinburgh: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.