Archaeologists battle the tide to save Orkney's ancient secrets

Published: Friday 1 August 2025

Archaeologists on the remote Orkney island of Rousay are racing against time and tide to save a monumental Iron Age roundhouse from being lost to the sea.



The excavation at Swandro, a coastal site already half-destroyed by erosion, has revealed a complex structure with a history stretching back over 1,000 years, from the Early Iron Age to the Viking Age.

The building, once thought to be a broch, a type of Iron Age drystone tower, is now understood to be a unique architectural hybrid. Its outer walls were added centuries after its original construction, giving it the appearance of a broch without the typical features.

Dr Stephen Dockrill, co-director of the excavation and senior lecturer at the University of Bradford, said: “This year, we finally cracked the puzzle.

“The outer wall is a later addition, built over midden layers dating to around 800-500 BCE. That means this building was in use for centuries, until it was carefully dismantled, likely by Viking settlers who reused its stones for their own longhouse nearby.”



More:
https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2025/archaeologists-battle-the-tide-to-save-orkneys-ancient-secrets.php