Old, old story

Boot worn and mudded after six thrilling days of Orkney exploration, we forwent Easter morning services at St. Magnus Cathedral.  The decision hinged more upon humility, being unfit for decent company, beggared and tired.  

We did visit the open cathedral later that afternoon, however.  A remarkable edifice.  Its timeline is difficult to wrap one's head around; after all, St. Magnus has been home of Kirkwall's faithful for some 900 years.  It gave Kirkwall its name.  

Further, being constructed by Vikings in penance of a murder it is said, St. Magnus Cathedral does not neatly "fit" stereotypes of the war like Norse...their long-ships (lang skip), raiding and bloodletting, death to monks and all manner of hurt.  

As ancient cathedrals go, St. Magnus is something.  Perhaps, when compared to Italian Renaissance cathedrals on the Continent, the hewn sandstone of St. Magnus may seem rough, rustic.  But we are unqualified to make such a critical distinction.       

St. Magnus' hewn sandstone is said to have been quarried on the Isle of Eday.  An aside, we attempted to find this quarry while we were on Eday, but were not successful.  The main reason was that the single track near where the quarry is apparently located, had no obvious parking anywhere along it. 

We mentioned this to a local lady who was out walking on south Eday.  She sought out conversation, curious as to our nationality.  She mentioned that it would have been okay to just park "anywhere".  But we were reticent to block the roadway since a few homesteads were served by the track, to say nothing of traipsing through fenced ground around those houses.    

Built of hewn sandstone or no, as the most northerly cathedral in the British Isles (and thus on the edge of the world in its day), St. Magnus has its share of ornateness, of finery.  Rest assured.

Its stained glass is certainly the equal of continental houses of worship.  

From the ethereal stained glass above to the ornate inlaid floors below, St. Magnus Cathedral does what it was doubtlessly intended to do by the Viking Lords who built it so many centuries ago--it conveys majesty and projects might.

It also yields a pensiveness, quiet reflection.  The cathedral's congregants (and simply visitors as we were) doubtless wonder at the lives long past, and yet still monumentalized in the commemorative burial stones in its walls.  

In an island realm that is literally filled with Neolithic cairns, St. Magnus lends perspective on resurrection, a poignant reminder of mortality and yet eternal life as well.  From Matthew 13:17, "For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see."...Matthew referred to the ancient ones, those of the Neolithic, who longed to see eternal life.  

And similarly those in our own present modern day who equally long to see. 

As the old Gospel hymn (published 1879; lyrics by Katherine Hankey and put to music by William Doane) goes: 

"Tell me the old, old story,
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love"

Unseen things.  Magnus himself was also interred in the walls of the cathedral. For centuries long forgotten, an ancient and truly humble pine box was uncovered during cathedral preservation work in the 1930s.

The box, found within one of the hewn sandstone columns, was the reliquary of St. Magnus.  Far from ornate, the ancient reliquary is truly humble.  His bones were re-interred in the cathedral.

St. Magnus' simple reliquary box is presently preserved and exhibited in the Kirkwall Museum in the shadow of the cathedral.        

 

A plug for Three Mile

 

Vinquoy Hill--spectacular weather

Standing Stone of Setter--April 14, 2022

Assuming one gets off main tourist trodden ways in Orkney and actually ventures a little further afield in these remarkable islands, one would be hard pressed afterwards to declare what the "best" walk was.

Rousay, known as the Egypt of the North, is of course chock full of historical sites at Midhowe, running from Neolithic to Viking to Medieval.  It's certainly a candidate.  So too the Neolithic Ring of Brodgar on Mainland Orkney.  Nothing short of stunning.  And there's Sanday, with its miles of white sand beaches. 

Still, if we (and perhaps I should say I, since the missus is partial to white sands) had to cast a ballot for the most awesome hiking experience during our 2022 Easter sojourn to Orkney, then hands down that must go to Vinquoy Hill on the Isle of Eday.  Its vistas and seascapes are not to be excelled anywhere in Orkney.

Gray Head, Calf of Eday--April 14, 2022

 

Better, the Vinquoy hike also touches a large number of Neolithic cairns (most ruined by heavy handed "antiquarians" during the Victorian and Edwardian eras).  The Vinqouy hike includes a Bronze Age "Fold of Setter" as well.  Its purpose is not exactly understood.  Locals have long assumed it to have been a ancient pen for sheep...or at least that's what Eday's much later pastoralists used it for.  

And then there's the viewscape of Carrick House on Calf Bay, with its lore from the age of pirates (late 1600s - early 1700s).  Arrrgh! 

Carrick House was the target of John Gow, the infamous pirate.  Gow was pirating British waters, before trying to hide out in Orkney.  Many pirates, being English, had issues with hitting up English shipping.  Not Gow.  Apparently becoming short of money, Gow began raiding coastal estates in Orkney where he was also trying to hide out...not exactly a wise move.  He sailed from Stromness, Mainland Orkney (where he was pretending to be a gentleman since the authorities were hot on his trail) to raid Carrick House, the home of one of Gow’s early school day chums.  Loyalty was not a strong suit with Gow.

 

Carrick estate on Calf Bay, Eday--April 14, 2022

The current between Eday (Red Head to left) and Calf of Eday (Gray Head to right) is quick and difficult without a pilot.  Gow’s ship (the Revenge) grounded in Calf Bay opposite Carrick House, which led to his arrest February 17, 1725.  He refused to plead.  And the court ordered him to torture until he did plea. To avoid torture, Gow pled not guilty, and was found guilty in a fast trial.  He was hung in London with seven of his crew on June 11, 1725. 

Actually, Gow was hung twice.  He asked for a speedy dispatch.  To comply with Gow’s request, the hangman grabbed and pulled down on Gow’s legs and...the rope broke.  Gow, semi-conscious was said to have been able to climb the gallow stairs (more like was pushed back up).  And the King hung the gentleman again...successfully this second time.

Gow's history lived on.  Sir Walter Scott, the consummate Scottish writer, visited Orkney and took the Gow story into the novel, The Pirate, in 1814.  Another interesting note is that the author Daniel Defoe was the reporter at Gow's trial in 1725.  Defoe, of course, penned Robinson Crusoe in part from that experience.   

Calm morning at Kirkwall--April 14, 2022

Better still (and not to be overlooked in the 2022 balloting of "best walk" because it may be the key determinant) was the absolutely glorious April weather.  It came together on Eday.  

Weather wise, it mirrored our tour of the Holy Isle of Iona at Easter 2018, a day which the park ranger at Iona declared had to be among the year's top 8 most spectacular days in Scotland.  

What a treat of blue skies and blue ocean.  Even the ferry from Kirkwall out to Eday was itself a delight.   We boarded MV Vagagen (a roll through ferry) early morning with our intrepid little Hyundai rental.  

Thursday's morning sailing, incidentally, was the only ferry timetable that provided sufficient time on the island...i.e. more than two hours.  Unless one is "island bagging," and their principal interest is simply to check been-there boxes--two hours is barely time enough to take in a complex site like Vinquoy Hill, much less rush back to catch the ferry.
 

 

A Thursday day trip out of Kirkwall was about the only realistic choice for Eday.  Travellers should take note that Eday has few if any accommodations.  Generally speaking there are no travel services on Eday, including a pub or restaurant.  Or rather, no services that are actually open for business. 

Square wake leaving Kirkwall--April 14, 2022

One B&B and a small youth hostel are said to operate.  We did not find it so.  The youth hostel may not even be operational.  Presumably, it is volunteer staffed through the Eday Heritage Museum which is located in a repurposed old Baptist church.  We looked forward to visiting the museum to gather more information about the island.  It was closed when we stopped by. 

Bottom line, if one wants to see the whole of Eday more or less dependably...or at least the prime parts of the isle...a car rental is necessary.  It's almost an insurance in a way.

The north isles of Orkney are exposed, basically heath land and/or peat where it is not farmed for grass.  Had the weather been rough, our day trip could have been less than optimal without having the car's protection against the weather.  

MV Varagen at Eday--April 14, 2022

Like several Orkney isles, Eday is deceptive in size, especially if one is entirely afoot.  North-south Eday is some 8 1/2 miles; it's ten square miles in area, much of it rough heath.  So, if going over on foot, and without dependable services, that will require packing it.

 Presumably, one can take a bicycle rental, but that assumes one can be found for rent in Kirkwall in a business that is open and doing trade.  A big if.

 In any case, the weather we enjoyed on Eday was spectacular.  More on the Vinquoy cairns next post. 

 

Close comparandum--overlap?

Current archaeological thinking is that two general pathways of Neolithic settlement existed in the British Isles.  Small Neolithic groups of settlers migrated into Britain and Ireland along both pathways over time, versus a large scale invasion.  It was a slow drip "replacement theory" via Neolithic technology, so to speak.   

One migration pathway moved up the Atlantic coast through the Irish Sea, both shores of which were settled--eastern Ireland and western Britain including Scotland.  These "Breton" Neolithic settlers originated in the Morbihan region of Brittany, now in present day France. 

Early Neolithic Cup and Ring marks at Achnabreck, Knapdale--April 17, 2019

 

Cairnbaan--April 17, 2019

Brittany in general, and Morbihan in particular, is noted for its world famous Carnac Stone alignments, over three thousand stones all told. One of the Scottish sites attributed to "Morbihan migrants" was Achnacreebeag.

   

Achnacreebeag lies near the head of Kilmartin Glen close to Cairnbaan's and Achnabreck's renowned Neolithic "rock art" which we visited in 2019 from our "base" in Campbeltown on the Kintyre peninsula.  Kilmartin Glen, of course, is a world heritage site, renowned for its own concentration of Neolithic cairns, standing stones and stone circles.

 

Brittany's Neolithization on the continent began sometime after 5000 BC, and perhaps as late as 4500 BC--many centuries before the Neolithic migration from Brittany into the west of Britain.  In Brittany, the Neolithic period is characterized by "rock art"--circular spirals and cup marks.  It is no surprise that this rock art would essentially be mirrored in Scotland's west at "associated" sites like those at Cairnbaan and Achnabreck in Knapdale, Scotland.    

"Neolithic Breton Migration"; image ScARF

As for dating, a few Carnac monuments are said to be as early as 4500 BC.  If true, those Breton monuments would have been built by some of western Europe's last Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers, or rather at the time of the metamorphosis from hunter-gatherer to agriculturist.  The majority of Carnac stones in Brittany, however, are widely thought to have been built about 3300 BC...which was well before Stonehenge, but a couple centuries after many Orkney monuments were constructed. 

Late Castellic; Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

A previous post noted 3300 BC as the approximate date the Orkney vole was introduced in Scotland's north isles by Neolithic trade via the second (Flanders) migrant pathway.  

Pottery styles differed by the Neolithic people moving on both paths.  The Neolithic "Breton" migration to the British Isles via the Irish Sea brought their pottery--called Morbihan pottery style, or sometimes Late Castellic.  The style, shown in the photo of the Achnacreebeag bowl (image credit to ScARF), apparently has dating technique "issues".  Presently, it can only be comparatively dated, i.e. based on similar finds in Brittany--c. 4300 BC - 3900 BC.  But this "date bracket" is most likely when British and Irish monuments and their pottery were created by the Breton migrants, with 3900 BC being the most probable.

"Neolithic Flanders Migration; ScARF

A second migration route existed as well.  It was the pathway by which the Orkney vole found a new home.  This pathway originated in Flanders (Belgium and north France) and settled the south and east of Britain, and directly settled Orkney from the sea.  The Flanders culture was Late Michelsberg or a close successor.  The famed "Unstan Ware" of Orkney (found at Unstan Cairn and Knap of Howar) is now known as Carinated Bowl pottery--the CB Culture.  

A large amount of this pottery type was uncovered at Unstan Cairn on Mainland Orkney.  Hence its name.  This geographically specific place name is now considered limited--exclusive of others.  So the term "CB pottery" is more appropriate, permitting inclusion of a wider assemblage of related groups across an expanded area. 

The purpose of rebranding Unstan Ware is not political correctness nor a slight to Orkney.  Carinated Bowl culture more accurately reflects Neolithic "social" interactions for the time.

CB sites in Argyll and Ireland also exist.  Here, pottery tells the tale of an "internal" migration by the CB culture into the "neighboring" Breton pathway sites along the Atlantic facade of west Scotland.  These CB sites are thought to have been fairly rapidly settled from the Neolithic settlements that had been established in east Scotland by the Flanders pathway rather than directly from the continent. 

Lady's Bridge over River Ness, Inverness--April 9, 2022

The Neolithic CB culture apparently used Scotland's Great Glen Rift with its world famous Loch Ness as an "inter-expressway" through the Highlands to found CB sites in a region initially settled by the Morbihan-syle culture.  See:  "Neolithic Flanders Migration" diagram from ScARF (Scottish Archaeological Research Framework).   

Carinated Bowl pottery is now considered one of several variants of Chasseo-Michelsberg pottery from Flanders, c. 4000 BC.  This tentatively (or tenuously) links the Michelsburg Spiennes flint miners and their industrial scale tool production by way of extensive trade routes to east Scotland and Orkney.  

The CB culture moving into west Scotland was contemporary with the Morbihan-style pottery sites already in Ireland and Argyll.  These two pottery styles, in their initial form in the British Isles, are said to not overlap.  Others more expert can decide whether variants constitute "overlap" of the two Neolithic migrant potteries.  I defer with an admission that is too expert a distinction for me.

Morbihan variant style(?)  Islay Museum--April 2, 2018

Generally speaking, the Morbihan-style pottery was limited to the west, to Neolithic sites that sprang from the Irish Sea migrant pathway.  The CB style from the Flanders pathway, had a greater distribution in Britain.  "Cross cultural" exchanges occurred.  Indeed, they could have hardly been avoided.  

It should be noted that pottery use itself (which almost defines Neolithization) was not uniformly and immediately taken up in the whole of the British Isles.  Some areas--Outer Hebrides and some of the Inner Hebrides, some Northern Isles and parts of remote west Scotland and Sutherland--did not take up pottery use as late as c. 3600 - 3500 00 BC.

Skara Brae, Mainland Orkney April 12, 2022

Local variants of Late Castellic and Carinated Bowl are said to exist, as potters shared ideas.  A new "British" form (evidently beginning in Orkney versus being introduced from the continent), became predominant.  This flat bottomed Grooved Ware was introduced and relatively quickly taken up.  It remained in Britain Neolithic use many centuries after it fell from favor elsewhere.

Apparently the Grooved Ware tradition lacks clear "evolutionary" evidence.  Thus, it is thought that perhaps Grooved Ware sprang from a conscious decision to design a new and different pottery style.  Flat bottoms permit setting the pottery  on a rock shelf in all those "new build" Neolithic houses with built in shelves like at Skara Brae, versus pottery with a rounded conical base more useful for placing on campfire coals.  Grooved Ware became the British Neolithic innovative and "fashionable" pottery.  "What will they think of next?!"  Wheels, apparently.  

     

Neolithic industry

The Linear Bandware Ceramic culture (LBK), with their economic focus on cattle, is considered the first phase of the Neolithic conversion of Mesolithic (Hunter Gatherer) Europe.  The LBK made their way onto the word stage beginning roughly 5500 BC.  By 4500 BC (toward the end of the LBK culture--although archaeological finds in Belgium suggest LBK existed as late as 4100 BC), Neolithic farmers had pushed westward over the Danube's narrow headwaters from the Vinča culture's central Balkans homeland, and down the Rhine to the North Sea coast and Lower Belgium where it met a different set of trade nodes...and a different interaction with Mesolithic residents of Europe.

Grooved Ware, Campbeltown Museum April 15, 2019

As for Orkney, it is generally believed to have been first settled in the Neolithic roughly between 3800 BC - 3600 BC.  Though it does exist, only a paucity of evidence has been found of earlier Mesolithic occupation in Orkney, or for that matter in Caithness and north Scotland in general.  Absence of evidence, of course, is not evidence of absence.  

For example, recent electromagnetic induction surveys around Stonehenge revealed thousands of pits used by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers dating to about 8200 BC.  And serendipitous finds of the Happisbrurgh footprints in Norfolk show human ancestors (Homo erectus) were present in Britain as far back as c. 950,000 years ago.

Paleo-genetic analyses suggest that Neolithic Belgium was a key source population in Orkney's settlement.  Orkney is thought to have been settled directly from Flanders and Lower Belgium, bypassing the British mainland altogether.  This necessarily implies oceanic navigation and relatively long trade routes.

Given its Middle to Late Neolithic settlement date, Orkney was not settled by the Linear Bandware (LBK) culture, Europe's pioneer farmers.  Paleo-genetic evidence suggests Orkney was settled from Flanders (Belgium and France) apparently by the LBK's successor, the Michelsberg (MICH) culture.  MICH flourished from c. 4400 BC to 3500 BC, with an approximate ending date roughly contemporary with Orkney's initial settlement.  Since 1954 AD, a Belgium Michelsberg pottery assemblage in the British Isles has been speculated, to show an unambiguous link to the signature Grooved Ware pottery culture.  To date, such evidence has yet to be discovered.  It remains a key interest for Scottish archaeologists.   

The Michelsberg were western Europeans.  Their initial homeland was roughly northeastern France.  Their type-sites, however, are concentrated in Germany's Neckar basin, a main tributary of the Rhine, near Heidelberg.  The MICH pushed their settlements eastward up the Rhine, distributing along both sides of the Rhine.  Evidently, the Michelsberg "absorbed" former LBK riparian lands.  The expansion seems to have occurred by violent means, possibly reflected in ring dyke and causeway "fort" enclosures.

Michelsberg shared little if any cultural affinity (or genetic ties) with the LBK.  Genetically, the Michelsberg were associated with Neolithic farmers from the Paris Basin; but they also carried significant hunter-gatherer (Mesolithic) ancestry.  DNA tests suggest 40% to 50%. 

Cattle remained a principal trade commodity with the MICH, as did flint.  So, although they may not have had a cultural or genetic affinity with the LBK, economically the Michelsberg connected with LBK's cattle-oriented and fairly mobile economy.  United by cattle...and parted by flint axes. 

Extent of Spiennes flint mines; image Spiennes Museum

In Lower Belgium, the MICH operated an industrial scale site--namely, the flint mines at  Spiennes (now a UNESCO World Heritage site).  These mines were the largest and perhaps earliest Neolithic flint mines in Europe.  Michelsberg people are thus considered the oldest miners in the world, though they were first and foremost farmers.  At Spiennes, Lower Belgium, they discovered rich and relatively deep deposits of high quality flint.  This substantial resource was exploited for over 1800 years...with some exploitation continuing as late as the Iron Age, and perhaps one could say into modern times as surface flint was exploited for gun flints in the 19th century AD. 

The Neolithic Spiennes industrial mines covered over a hundred hectares and more than ten thousand shafts, some of which were cut over 52 feet in depth and required ventilation, which the Neolithic MICH "engineers" achieved by dual shafts sunk side by side and by mining in the winter which provides more optimal ventilation. 

Cache of Spiennes flint long blades; image Spiennes museum

Their extraction process was also ingenious.  Enormous blocks of deep flint weighing over half a ton were undercut to free them. These blocks were left supported by rock columns and wood struts.  Once sufficiently undercut, the supports were removed and the flint blocks fell to the mine gallery floor, where they were then broken up for tool cores and removed from the mine.  

Part of the Michelsberg flint tool industry included specialized workshops (basically manufacturing villages in which mining and tool making skills concentrated) to produce the rough outs, polished flints, picks as well as long blades (up to a foot in length).  An exclusive shop produced axe heads and chisels.  Large flint blocks were required to create the signature Michelsberg highly standardized weapons and tools.  And the Spiennes flint resource was abundant enough to afford the MICH an extreme level of quality control.  Spiennes miners rejected many tons of flint at the bottom of their mining shafts that were not the very best quality and size.  On the surface today are scattered millions of worked flint pieces.  [See: http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1821/2481]

Neolithic understanding of society was advanced well beyond that of just the local village.  They could conceptualize far more than modern humans give credit.  The Neolithic was "cosmological" as modern archaeologists style it.  Indeed, to settle distant Orkney, they had to be.  In any case, production of flint tools and weapons at Spiennes far exceeded the local village needs.  And thus, trade networks must have existed.  Neolithic trade nodes are currently poorly understood, reliant upon needle in haystack finds.  Locally, Spiennes flint was obviously the main raw material for tools.  But Spiennes polished axes, blades and large flakes have been identified as far as 160 km (roughly 100 miles) from the mines.  Doubtless, MICH trade reached further afield--and like their pottery assemblage, trade routes remain to be discovered in evidence.  Whether this will be discovered in Orkney must await future archaeologists.    

Rat b*stards--Belgium voles in Orkney

A firm believer in human necessity as the mother of invention, whether or not early Neolithic settlers of Orkney had a proto-written language system ultimately comes down to whether their society had need of it.  Had Neolithic society become sophisticated or complicated enough to have a need to record or tally?  Did it have a need to transmit information remotely to a broader group than merely the family or clan?  Story telling around the campfire hearth is one thing.  Oral tradition need not require literacy.  But dealing with distant trade routes and multiple social interactions among substantial settlements is altogether a different matter.

"Marked" stone; BCC image Ness of Brodgar excavation

As with most things today, archaeology has entered a technological revolution.  Classical archaeology--detailed stratigraphy and context--has yet to be dethroned.  Nor will it likely be.  One still needs boots on the ground and trowels in hands, so to speak.   That said, advanced analytical tools now allow for increasingly precise dating of humankind's timeline and ancestry.  

Genetic tracing advancements now permit information simply unknowable in archaeology practiced even as little as a decade or two ago.  Paleo-genetic analyses of ancient human remains now make it possible to peer deeply into prehistoric ancestors with an almost unfathomable level of detail and across a mind boggling expanse of time--tens of thousands of years.  By way of reference, most Europeans today descend in part from haplogroup G2a, as discussed here:  https://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_G2a_Y-DNA.shtml#Neolithic  

The Orkney vole, image courtesy BCC

The Orkney vole (Microtus arvalis orcadensis), a small ground dwelling, grass eating rodent, is yet another example with applicability to Orkney's history.  The vole (rat b*stards as we irately call them here in grazing land Idaho) is invasive.  It was most likely introduced to Orkney mistakenly by Neolithic farmers and traders from the European continent in fresh cut bedding hay or livestock fodder.  

With few predators in Neolithic Orkney, the vole naturalized in the island ecosystem.  So sharp was the invasive colonization by the vole, its presence or absence has become an archaeological marker for the middle 4th millennium BC in Orkney.  It is a dichotomous key.  

Because the vole did not appear in the bio-record of Orkney until after c. 3300 BC, the short take is that wherever evidence of the Orkney vole exists in Neolithic stratum those layers can be no earlier than the vole's introduction.  Conversely, if the vole is absent, the Neolithic layers must be earlier than c. 3300 BC.

"Barnhouse" Neolithic village rock slab walls-April 11, 2022

Curiously, the vole was introduced into Orkney roughly the same time Orkney's Neolithic people shifted to building with stone versus their earlier more temporary wood post construction.  Neolithic settlement in Orkney took hold and became more permanent.  

Apparently, their settlements were substantial enough to support long distant trade and interaction.  Orcadian finds indicating extensive trade routes are a Cumbrian axe head and Arran pitchstone, as well as pottery in the Grooved Ware style (which originated in Orkney) having been found as far away as Knowth Cairns in the Boyne Valley (County Meath, Ireland) c. 3100 BC.

Indeed, Orkney is considered somewhat akin to  Britain's Neolithic capital, with stone henges and Grooved Ware pottery originating in Orkney then being adopted in Britain and Ireland...a southward cultural movement that is counter to general assumptions made by earlier archaeologists. 

In any case, "pre-vole" layers are associated with Orkney's first Neolithic settlers, who colonized Orkney c. 3800 BC - 3600 BC.  Biological dating using the vole's presence is an old school archaeological method, to be sure.  But this "vole marker" now melds with biotechnology.  Paleo-geneticists only within the last five or ten years or so have identified the Orkney rodent's likely continental origin.  

It turns out the Okney vole hailed from a population in Stalhille, Begium.  Stalhille (roughly meaning 'cattle corral hill') is located in present day West Flanders, about a mile from the Noordede River, which empties into the North Sea at Oostende.  So, Stalhille potentially linked to extensive Neolithic maritime trade and in particular with cattle.  Early Neolithic farmers in Orkney were bringing in cattle and thus establishing stock rearing as the "economic" basis of their culture.

Standing Stones of Stenness--April 11, 2022 

This is important because without the means of available Neolithic oceanic navigation a vole from Belgium could not have realistically colonized Orkney.  While "sweepstakes colonization" (i.e. all conditions, however improbable, are met to permit successful colonization from accidental floating debris) cannot "absolutely" be ruled out, still it is generally accepted that the Orkney vole was more probably introduced by Neolithic humans via ocean going trade.  And key along with oceanic navigation would be a Neolithic developed cattle trade, with its fresh cut hay aboard--becoming the rat b*stard (vole) vector to Orkney. 

So, the question becomes two-fold.  (1)  Did Neolithic people possess the ability to navigate open water trade routes in vessels capable of transporting their livestock and introducing the Orkney vole in the process? (2)  Did they have a developed and substantial enough "market" for cattle and other trade goods?  The answer is yes to both, as will be addressed next post.