Peggy, our grandson Cody, and I visited the main Orkney Island in June as part of our CIE tour of the Scottish Highlands. Seeing ginger haired coos (cows) and Neolithic standing stones and villages were the highlights of our visit to the island. The photos in this post were taken by Peggy, Cody, or me. The maps are from Apple Maps.
You’ve heard of Stonehenge and likely seen photos and even documentaries featuring these ancient and mysterious standing stones in southern England. But have you ever heard of the Ring of Brodgar on the Island of Orkney in the far north of Scotland? Erected in 2500 BCE, at approximately the same time Stonehenge was being built, 60 stones formed a circle that stretched for 340 feet (104 meters) across. 36 of these stones remain standing today in an impressive array. The clouds provided a dramatic backdrop.We took a ferry from the town of Thurso on mainland Scotland up to Stromness and then crossed the main island of Orkney to Kirkwall where we stayed. The road distance between Stromness to Kirkwall is 15 miles, which provides a perspective on the size of the island. The Ring of Brodgar was one of four neolithic sites we visited on Orkney, which also included the Standing Stones of Stenness plus the villages of Barnhouse Settlement and Skara Brae. All four are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: The Heart of Neolithic Orkney. The red pin on the bay above Stromness to the left is the location of Skara Brae. The one to the right between the two lochs/lakes is the Ring of Brodgar.This provides a closer view. The upper red dot between the two lochs/lakes is the Ring of Brodgar. The lower red dot is the location of the Stones of Stenness and the Barnhouse Settlement, which is next to it. The distance between the two red dots is approximately 1 mile. Skara Brae is located on the lower side of Skaill Bay at the top left corner, about 5 1/2 miles from the Ring of Brodgar.The stones of the Ring of Brodgar are impressive— either as a whole or looked at singularly— standing up to 15 feet tall, each with a unique personality. Visitors are invited to follow a path that leads around the complete 1,250 foot circle. A nine foot deep ditch surrounds the pillars. Known as a henge— think Stonehenge, it was carved out of sandstone by the original inhabitants.A view of 8 of the stones.The unique looks add to the mystery of what purpose the stones served.Opposites attract?The chief?A number of stones had triangular tops. Which provided great perches. Cody took this photo. In fact Cody took a lot of photos that included birds! “They just show up,” he claimed. We are glad they did. The numerous lichens on the rocks added to their photogenic quality. Lichens, BTW, are among the oldest living organisms on earth, the oldest reaching over 8000 years. They have been hanging out in Scotland for some 400 million years!The walk around the Ring of Brodgar also includes a burial mound as shown on the left of this photo. A number of burial mounds are found within the Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO World Heritage Site. Another one can be seen in the distance. The most famous is Maeshowe, which we didn’t visit. Traveling one mile south from the Ring of Brodgar over a stream that connects the sea water Loch of Stenness with the fresh water Loch of Harray, you come to the Stones of Stenness. Once consisting of 12 stones, it now has 4. It is thought to be the oldest henge site in the British Isles, dating back to 3100 BCE, some 500 years before Stonehenge and the Ring of Brodgar.An ancient hearth that is believed to have been utilized for ceremonial purposes (such as burning the bones of the dead and sacrificed animals) is located in the center of the stones.The ceremonies carried out at the hearth would have been connected to the Neolithic Barnhouse Settlement found a short walk away. Excavated between 1986-1991, the bases of at least 15 houses were discovered, each containing a central hearth, beds built against the walls, stone storage areas and internal drains. We felt they were quite sophisticated, especially considering that they dated back some 5,000 years. Another structure at the Barnhouse Settlement.Out trip north to Skara Brae on the Atlantic Coast of Orkney showed houses with a similar structure to the houses at the Barnhouse Settlement. Beds are in the lower right and upper left. A hearth is in the center and a storage area on the upper wall. People lived at the site from approximately 3180 BCE to around 2500 BCE. It is recognized as Europe’s most complete Neolithic village. The furniture is similar in several of the houses.The village looks out on Skaill Bay which opens up to the Atlantic Ocean.Skaill Bay.Paths and tunnels connected the various houses.Cody found his obligatory bird at Skara Brae, displaying a fat, juicy bug and a wild feather look.He also found these two rabbits snuggling up. Were baby rabbits in their future?
Peggy and I have long been fascinated with ancient cultures and found the standing stones and villages of Orkney of considerable interest. In many ways, we were reminded of our trips through the Southwestern United States searching petroglyphs left behind by the Anasazi and other ancient peoples.
This is a good time to remind my readers of Peggy’s word search book on petroglyphs: Artistic Word Searches Unique and Magical Discovering Petroglyphs from the South West. As puzzle solvers work their way through the puzzles, petroglyphs will emerge. This makes an excellent gift for retired seniors (and others) who love word games (and helps keep senior minds sharp—grin). The book can be obtained through Amazon.
The solution to the Kokopelli puzzle is an example of how the images appear as the puzzle is solved.
It looked like this black-faced sheep in the Scottish Highlands had learned how to fly when escaping from a border collie. Maybe not, but it was a one heck of a leap!
Peggy and I have now returned from our two month exploration of Greece, the Scottish Highlands and Ireland. I’ll be blogging about the experience over the next couple of months, focusing on highlights.
One of the highlights of our CIE Travel Company bus tour of the Scottish Highlands with our grandson Cody was stopping at Neil Ross’s 11,000 acre Leault sheep farm in Kincraig, Scotland. (It’s not far from Loch Ness where we went in search of the legendary Nessie.) Neal and his border collies put on a sheep dog demonstration for us that was incredible.
The first border collies were bred on the border between Scotland and England, thus the name. Their ancient ancestors were Viking and Roman herding dogs. Their specific ancestor traces back to a dog know as Old Hemp born in 1893. His herding instincts were so highly developed that sheep herders the world over wanted pups from him. It’s said that he produced over 200— and I assume that he was quite happy to do so. Among the qualities that Old Hemp showed were high intelligence and the ability to manage large flocks over long distances using independent judgement. Plus a real love for his master and a strong desire to please. The latter made him easy to train and eager to carry out his responsibilities.
Sheep herders were also impressed with the fact that Old Hemp was less physical and more mental in his herding technique: Instead of biting the sheep, he gave them ‘the look,’ translated ‘do it or else.’ The bite was implied. I understand the look. Peggy was the principal of an elementary school with over 1000 students from 18 different countries and was a master of the look. She didn’t have to use it often, but when she did, the kids were instantly on their best behavior. So am I.
Possibly the most important factor is the herding instinct, which is the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of years of herding. Sheep and cattle dogs love to herd. It is not a chore; it’s a way of life. When Ross brought his dogs out for the demonstration, they were almost shaking in their eagerness to be turned loose. When Cody was young, his dad had bought a pair of Austrailian cattle dogs. They were constantly trying to herd him and his brother Ethan. They even tried to herd me, but we had a discussion about it. In addition to sheep and cattle, border collies have also been used in herding poultry, pigs and even ostriches!
Neil uses both voice commands and whistles to let his dogs know what he wants them to do. If you ever watched the movie Babe where the pig ends up herding the sheep, Neil provided the whistle commands used with the sheep dogs in the movie. It’s fascinating to watch how Neil and the sheep dogs work together. His first command was to go out into the woods and bring the sheep into the field where the demonstration was to take place. At one point he directed his sheep dogs to separate out some sheep that belonged to a neighbor from his herd, and they did it.
Following are photos that Peggy and I took to give you something of a feel for the sheepdog demonstration. We will apply our own interpretation as to what the border collies were up to…
The collies began their work by gathering the sheep together out in the woods on Neil’s ranch. The video at the end shows the effort. The dogs then brought the sheep into the open area in front of Neil’s house where they demonstrated their ability to control them. Our interpretation here was that the collie that you see in the foreground was staring at the sheep and informing them, ‘You are going in the wrong direction.”“That’s better.” “Now run. It is okay to wag your tails.” We watched as the border collies worked the sheep back and forth across the field at Neil’s commands.“Now, line up in groups of 2-4 and trot across the yard for a group photo.” One dog, seen next to the sheep here, is herding. Another dog stands off in the distance, ready to run in and help if needed. The dogs worked in tandem with two other collies on the field. “Good sheep.” We dutifully took photos. (All of the wool on the ground suggested to Peggy and me that the sheep were shedding. Either that or it was left over from sheep shearing and had been blown across the field.)This photo provides an idea of the number of sheep the dogs were working at the time. It’s just a small portion of the 2500 sheep on the farm.The whole time the dogs worked, Neil was giving them voice and whistle instructions.He also demonstrated the fine art of sheep shearing while three of his dogs looked on. Maybe they were there to assure the sheep’s good behavior.Neil also introduced us to a pair of lambs.And a calf. One of the lambs stuck its nose out through the fence, asking to be let out. Neil let all three out where members of our tour group fed them milk with baby bottles.The absolute stars of the show were the three border collie puppies that were brought over to meet the tour group.Cody fell in love— and was threatening to steal one.I could hardly blame him.Peggy joined Cody for a photo op.A large yawn announced that the puppy had decided that taking a nap in Cody’s arms seemed like a nice thing to do. Or was it saying, “Ah want tae learn hoo tae mak sheep flee, jist like mammy and daddy.” With a proper Scottish accent, of course.Nope, it was sleep.
This video below shows the dogs bringing in the sheep from the forest to the open field under Neil’s directions. One of other dogs wants to join the fun but is limping. Neil directs it down to the open field to hold the sheep when they arrive. You can see the dogs working in the background. Note how fast they run. A few of the sheep slide off to the side. You can hear Neil telling the dogs “Say goodby, say goodby. Clicking on the photo will start it running.
My next post on Tuesday will take you back to the book I am blogging, UT-OH, and the beginning of my time at UC Berkeley where I was a student when a nation-wide effort was underway to involve students in the civil-rights movement. I ended up giving speeches from the Dean’s desk and sitting on the floor of the Administration building singing We Shall Overcome with Joan Baez.
Wandering through Time and Place 