18/06/2026
The Knowe of Swandro, Orkney 🕵
The Knowe of Swandro is one of Orkney's most significant archaeological sites, preserving an extraordinary sequence of human activity spanning more than 5,000 years. Situated on the coast of Rousay, the site contains evidence of successive communities who lived, worked, and built upon the same landscape from the Neolithic period through to the Norse era.
Excavations have revealed a Neolithic chambered tomb, a monumental Iron Age roundhouse that formed the centre of a thriving settlement, Pictish buildings and metalworking areas, and later Norse domestic structures. Together, these layers provide a rare opportunity to trace the evolution of settlement, architecture, craft production, and daily life across multiple periods of Orkney's past.
Among the discoveries are finely crafted antler combs, weaving tools, gaming pieces, imported Roman glass, and evidence of iron, copper, and lead working. These artefacts reveal not only the practical skills of the site's inhabitants but also their participation in wider trade and cultural networks extending far beyond Orkney.
The site is incredibly vulnerable as it continues to be steadily eroded by the sea, with storms and coastal change threatening to destroy archaeological deposits that have survived for millennia.
🔗Listen to one of our recent talks on Swandro by Julie Bond on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/
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1. Swandro Round house © Julie Bond
2. The unfinished whale bone weaving comb found in the Swandro roundhouse in 2024. © Steve Dockrill
3. Structure 5 showing orthostatic divisions, hearth and quern embedded in floor. © Steve Dockrill
4. The brass belt fastener found within the monumental roundhouse in 2024. © Steve Dockrill
