Sessions
We will examine the distinct individual islands’ identities, and collective traits and traditions, through the traces of past communities, and we will expand this to thinking about islands and island communities more widely. The conference forms part of the celebrations of the Scottish Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, and presents an opportunity to think about the future of the Islands’ archaeology and heritage, in the face of environmental, political and economic uncertainties. This conference also forms part of the development of a regional research framework for the three island groups, with priorities for research feeding into a new research strategy.
The Our Islands, Our Past sessions are associated with themes that evoke the spirit of the conference. The main sessions consist of:
- The Three Islands Group Research Framework
- Identity and Culture
- Sustainability and Conservation
- Migration and Abandonment
- Connectivity and Travel
- Island Connectivity & Place
Within each session there will be a series of themed papers, lasting a maximum of 15 minutes and followed by a discussion session. There will also be a period for discussion at the end of each full session.
Download 'Our Islands, Our Past' Registration Form
Download 'Our Islands, Our Past' Programme
Registration opens at 15.00 Friday 15th September, Orkney Theatre, Kirkwall.
Posters should be to A1 size and submitted by 6th September 2017. Please let us know if you require any assistance printing or are concerned about sending your poster. We can liaise with a local printer on your behalf. Please bring your poster to the conference venue (Orkney Theatre, Kirkwall Grammar School) from 2pm on Friday 15th September.
Regional Research Framework
Regional Research Framework
Friday 15th September 2017
Session One
16.30 Discussion on The Three Island Group Research Framework for Scotland.
'Our Islands Our Past' Three-Island Group Regional Research Framework.
Regional research frameworks for archaeology, designed to complement the existing national framework (ScARF), have been identified as a strategic priority in Scotland[1]. In response, the Local Authority Archaeologists for Shetland, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, and Orkney, supported by UHI Archaeology Institute, are pulling together a project to develop a Research Framework for the three island-based Local Authority areas. Our proposal is to develop three Local Research Agendas for the individual archipelagos (Shetland, Western Isles and Orkney) that will sit within a wider Regional Framework for the islands. The project will be delivered by UHI Archaeology Institute on behalf of the partners and guided by a steering group comprised of partner and key stakeholder representatives. Also working with us will be staff of The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland who are supporting the development of regional frameworks across the county and will host the island Agendas and Framework on the ScARF website.
This initial meeting will help structure the Agendas and establish themes for the overarching Regional Framework. We want to work in partnership with a wide range of individuals who are active within archaeology, heritage and historic environment sectors across the region. We will therefore be seeking advice, ideas and contributions from community heritage groups, museums, commercial contractors and academics. The aim is to identify what is important and significant for our region’s archaeology and to help provide research questions and targets to help us balance and focus our efforts on what is most significant to these islands.
Julie Gibson
County Archaeologist for Orkney Islands Council.
[1]. Scotland’s Archaeology Strategy Delivery Plan Version 2 January 2017 section 2.1 http://archaeologystrategy.scot/files/2017/01/SAS-Delivery-Plan-16Jan2017.pdf
Identity and culture
Identity and culture
Saturday 16th September
Session Two
Each paper will last a maximum of 15 minutes. Each will be followed by a discussion session. There will also be a period for discussion at the end of each full session.
08.00 Registration Opens
08.30 Tea and Coffee served from 8.30am
09.00 Opening remarks
09.05 Speaker 1: Andrea Blendl & Ragnhild Ljosland. Runic Forgeries: Linking past and present identities?
09.25 Speaker 2: Lara Band. ‘The Åland Islands Question’: a new perspective
09.45 Speaker 3: Duncan Garrow & Fraser Sturt. Islands within Islands: creating crannogs and social identities during the Neolithic in the Outer Hebrides
10.05 Speaker 4: Neil Ackerman. Sheltered by Foundations: post medieval flagstone roofing and Orcadian identity
10.30 Break. Teas and Coffee.
Sustainability and conservation
Sustainability and conservation
Saturday 16th September
Session Three
Each paper will last a maximum of 15 minutes. Each will be followed by a discussion session. There will also be a period for discussion at the end of each full session.
11.00 Speaker 5: Adam Markham: Climate Change, Island World Heritage, and lessons from Community Responses
11.20 Speaker 6: Joe Bowersox: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Politics and Policies:Implications for islands of Archaelogical and Ecological significance
11.40 Speaker 7: Leslie King with contributions from AEJ Ogilvie, Niels Einarsson: Pathways to Resilient and Sustainable Northern Societies: Looking to the Past and the Future
12.00 Speaker 8: Li Sou: Visualising the Crucible of Shetland's Broch Building: the role of digital documentation in supporting the active conservation and presentation of Shetland's heritage
12.30 Lunch. To be served in the atrium at Kirkwall Grammar School.
13.30 Speaker 9: Louise Barker, Toby Driver with contributions from Sarah Davies, Hywel Griffiths, Anthony Corns, Robert Shaw, Gary Devlin, Sean Cullen, Cathal Jordan: Island Heritage in a Changing Climate: The CHERISH (Climate, Heritage and Environments of Reefs, Islands and Headlands) EU-Funded Project
13.50 Speaker 10: Scott Timpany: In Search of the Vikings: a multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental investigation from the Loch of Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney
14.10 Speaker 11: Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir with contributions from AEJ Ogilvie, Arnie Daniel Juliusson, Vidar Hreinsson, Megan Hicks: Sustainability and Fragility of Highlands and Islands: The Mývatn District of Iceland
14.30 Speaker 12: Vidar Hreinsson with contributions from Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir, AEJ Ogilvie, Arni Daniel Juliusson, Megan Hicks: Perceptions of Nature and Natural Resources by Lake Mývatn in Iceland
14.50 Speaker 13: Tom Dawson, Joanna Hambly: What Future for Scotland's Fragile Coastal Sites?
15.15 Break - Tea & Coffee
Migration and abandonment
Migration and abandonment
Saturday 15th September
Session Four
Each paper will last a maximum of 15 minutes. Each will be followed by a discussion session. There will also be a period for discussion at the end of each full session.
15.45 Speaker 14: Tom Rendall. Migration and Movement-perspectives from the North Isles
16.05 Speaker 15: Keir Strickland. Next Exit: Archaeologies of Post-Mediaeval & Contemporary Abandonment in the Highlands and Islands
16.25 Speaker 16: Stuart Jeffrey with contributions from Siân Jones, Derek Alexander, Daniel Rhodes. The Temple of the Wester Main: nature, culture and romance on the Isle of Staffa
16.45 Discussion & Finish
17.00 Close
Connectivity and travel
Connectivity and travel
Sunday 17th September
Session Five
Each paper will last a maximum of 15 minutes. Each will be followed by a discussion session. There will also be a period for discussion at the end of each full session.
10.00 Registration open - Tea and Coffee
10.30 Speaker 17: A E J Ogilvie with contributions from Niels Einarsson, Ross A Virginia: The Spotted Sun: John Rae, Vilhjálmur Stefansson and the Friendly Arctic
10.50 Speaker 18: Nela Scholma-Mason. The Autarky of Influence - Orkney's Folklore and its Wider Connections
11.10 Speaker 19: Jane Downes & Colin Richards. Is there Chalcolithic Life in the Northern Isles of Britain?
11.20 Speaker 20: Will Megarry with contributions from Gabriel Cooney, Torben Ballin, Mik Markham, Alison Sheridan, Alison Sheridan, Bernard Gilhooley and Brendan O'Neill: Making an Island World: Neolithic Shetland, the role of Felsite
11.40 Speaker 21: Mike Copper. Pidgin Pots: the use of the Unstan Bowl as Material Lingua Franca in Early Neolithic Orkney and the Outer Hebrides
12.00 Speaker 22: Jacqui Mulville: Out of the Blue: Inhabiting Islands in Space & Time
12.30 Lunch to be served in the atrium at Kirkwall Grammar School
Island culture and place
Island culture and place
Sunday 17th September
Session Six
Each paper will last a maximum of 15 minutes. Each will be followed by a discussion session. There will also be a period for discussion at the end of each full session.
13.30 Speaker 23: Siân Jones with with contributions from Stuart Jeffrey; Derek Alexander; Daniel Rhodes: The Writing on the Wall: Mark making and the materiality of travel and tourism
13.50 Speaker 24: Julie M Bond and Steve Dockrill. Swandro, Rousay, Orkney: Between Sea and Land
14.10 Speaker 25: Esther Renwick. Islands of the Imagination: World Heritage in an Island Context
14.30 Speaker 26: Julie Gibson and Sean Page. Not All Cheese: Archaeology, Marketing and Identity in Orkney
14.50 Speaker 27: Val Turner: Delling up Wir Past. Identity, Community and Ownership - Finding frames of reference through archaeology in an island group
15.15 Break - Tea & Coffee
15.45 Speaker 28: Sally Foster and Siân Jones: Material Diasporas: an island perspective on the place and value of replicas
16.05 Speaker 30 Gemma Cruickshanks, Steven Birch, Jo McKenzie: Ritual, Place and Memory in the Iron Age on Skye: Excavations at High Pasture Cave
16.25 Discussions and Closing Remarks
17.00 Close