Peter Gelling, in a lecture on his work at Skaill to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, once commented on the longevity of occupation on the site, which was virtually unbroken from the Bronze Age to the present day. It is therefore a welcome event to see the publication of Gelling’s long programme of work, which he had finished shortly before his untimely death at the age of 58 in 1983. Buteux, a team from Gelling’s old Department at Birmingham University, and other contributors, have put together the report from the site archive, openly admitting that there are gaps in the data and that some criticism could be voiced about aspects of the excavation itself.

That they have been able to construct this report is greatly to their credit, and Skaill is likely to become a major site in future discussions of early Orkney. There are many facets of Skaill that are important and interesting - early prehistorians will be grateful for the plan of ard cultivation furrows belonging to the earliest prehistoric occupation on the site (probably Early to Middle Bronze Age), and for the data on the two later Bronze Age houses, associated with Flat Rimmed Ware that appears to continue into the subsequent Iron Age. At the other end of the time-scale, the later medieval and post- medieval remains are of some interest, particularly the tower-like building of the twelfth century which has affinities with Cubbie Roo’s castle on Wyre. It is however with the remains of the central period of occupation in the later Iron Age and early medieval period that readers of this journal will be most concerned, for the implications are wide for Pictish studies.

Skaill was occupied throughout Late Iron Age I (LIA I, c. AD 200–625) and Late Iron Age II (LIA II, c. AD 625–800), as well as in the Viking period. The excavations have shed important new light on this key era, the ‘Pictish’ period in Orkney, as well as on the Pictish/Viking interface.

Buteux argues that there is a clear break culturally in Orkney between the monumental building of the Middle Iron Age ‘broch’ period and LIA II, with its notable lack of monumentality. This is reflected both in the ceramic assemblage, and in the presence in LIA II of important numbers of dress- related artefacts (combs, pins and brooches), which have been seen as a phenomenon of the later seventh and eighth centuries. Prior to the excavations at Skaill and at Pool on Sanday, no site was known to have been occupied for certain in the transitional phase, LIA I. The occupation of the Site 6 round house at Skaill was confined to LIA I, and both in architectural terms and in material assemblage can be seen to look back to the MIA. The artefacts from this house are in themselves interesting: a Class E penannular brooch, two Class E pins, and, from the overlying deposit, a Type G1 penannular brooch. The excavators go along with the assumption that brooch and pins could belong to the fifth century, but further south they are ‘Roman’ artefacts, and there is no real reason to believe they outlived the fourth century, even in Orkney, which provides a useful starting date for the commencement of LIA I.

At some point in LIA I there was a major break at Skaill, which is also reflected in the sequence at Pool, Sanday. On both sites were constructed carefully-laid paving associated with, in the case of Skaill, cellular units. Very high quality pottery was produced in this phase. Buteux has seen this as mirroring political and social changes in Orkney, which he has equated with the period of the ‘subregulus’ of Orkney who was subject to Bridei at the time of Columba’s visit. This points to a degree of political centralisation in Orkney which he has seen as becoming assimilated into the Pictish world in the sixth century, though it might be argued that the process had begun a century or more earlier. Buteux has also argued in support of growing Christian influence in Orkney, emanating from Iona, and indicated at Skaill by a cross- incised slab incorporated into one of the ‘Viking’ period houses, though the date of this slab is unlikely to be earlier than the eighth century.

The other main interest of the Skaill excavations lies in the fact that they indicate contacts with Scandinavia stretching back into the pre-Viking age, with steatite and more significantly reindeer antler being imported in LIA II. The assemblage of the Viking period at Skaill also shows considerable cultural survival from the Pictish period, and a degree of integration between the native culture and the new one introduced by the Norse.

This volume has all the usual defects of a BAR - crowded print, small margins, poorly-reproduced photographs, and in some cases ridiculously large illustrations (e.g. figs. 8.9, 8.14 – 8.21). The arrangement is also somewhat confusing in places, though the general discussion pulls much of the key material together.

L. Laing.