Experts from Time Team, the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), Shetland Islands Council, and Viking specialist Dr. Colleen Batey have united to investigate a possible Viking era boat burial. The excavation, which has been granted Scheduled Monument Consent by Historic Environment Scotland, will take place during the summer of 2025 and will be featured in a film planned for release by Time Team next year.
The potential boat burial site was first identified by County Archaeologist Dr. Val Turner in early 2023 during an assessment for a housing planning proposal. Turner noticed a 22.5-meter prominent and undisturbed mound on private land, which she believed to be associated with a Viking era boat burial.
“On seeing the site, I blurted out to my colleague, ‘But that’s a Viking boat burial!’ It’s going to be nerve-wracking, but an exciting few days until we find out if I was correct, thanks to the Time Team coming on board,” said Turner.
Viking boat burials are extremely rare and are usually reserved for high-status individuals. If the mound does indeed contain a boat burial, it would be an important discovery that could significantly contribute to our understanding of the arrival and settlement of these seafaring Nordic invaders over a millennium ago.
Only a handful of Viking era boat and larger ship burials have been identified and confirmed through excavation in the UK. These include two at Westness on Rousay, one at Mayback on the north-east coast of Papa Westray (Orkney), two at Pierowall, Westray (Orkney), and one at Scar on Sanday. The meaning of these boat burials is a subject of debate, but it is believed that they may have been part of a belief in the transportation of the dead to the afterlife.
In early 2023, upon discovering the nature of the site, the landowners contacted Time Team to lead an archaeological investigation of the mound feature. Time Team previously excavated a disturbed Viking boat burial at “Da Giant’s Grave” in Fetlar, Shetland, in 2002, in partnership with Dr. Colleen Batey and Dr. Val Turner, as part of the Channel 4 series. The proposed new site has already been protected as a Scheduled Monument.
“This is a great example of how Time Team, working together with local archaeologists, Historic Environment Scotland, enthusiastic landowners, and the support of our Patreon backers, can find a way to achieve what we all hope will be amazing archaeological results. We are all very excited about this project,” said Tim Taylor, Creator and Executive Producer of ‘Time Team’.
In September 2023 and September 2024, two surveys were conducted by Dr. Nick Hannon from Historic Environment Scotland and Time Team’s Dr. John Gater (SUMO GeoSurveys) respectively. The results of these surveys have proven to be very exciting. Time Team has been working with ORCA to put together a project design, with feedback from HES as the relevant regulatory body. The team hopes to confirm or disprove the theory that the mound contains a Viking boat.
“When you walk over the earthworks and study the immediate surrounding landscape, you sense the site could be very special,” said Dr. John Gater (Time Team and SUMO GeoSurveys).
Time Team’s Dr. Gater, Matt Williams, and Jackie McKinley will join Dr. Val Turner and experts from ORCA in the excavation of the site.
“All of us at ORCA are excited to explore such an important site, especially with the added benefit of working alongside Time Team and sharing the story with a wide audience. Some of the excavation team have spent years living and working in Shetland, and we’re very much looking forward to learning about this site and helping to inform its long-term conservation,” said Paul Clark, Senior Project Manager at ORCA.
The team will also conduct a wider survey and evaluation of the area around the mound, bringing into focus other identified archaeological features that may contribute to the story. The site will also be secured through an extensive metal detecting and recording survey.
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