Minehowe event draws international interest
(Article dated: May 28, 2002)

The interior of Minehowe

The organisers of the Minehowe Know How event taking place this week - Wednesday, May 29 to Sunday June 2 - are reporting that tickets have already sold out for some events.

The event is led by workshops and demonstrations at Langskaill Farm by Minehowe and is complemented by evening lectures and films. A group of specialists from several countries will recreate artefacts from Orkney’s archaeology and will also present a variety of complementary ideas.

The event has attracted 15 artisans, musicians, archaeologists and other specialists from out with Orkney, which organisers say includes seven practitioners from Poland, Lithuania and Saskatchewan. The event has attracted a group of 50 students from the Linkoping Folkuniversitet in Sweden – following a series of workshops which one of the organisers, Arlene Isbister, completed with Folkuniversitets at the Ostergotland Museums last November.

Among archaeologists, Minehowe’s underground chamber is favoured as a place which had some religious or ritual function – perhaps for communicating with the underworld. Indeed contemporary Roman documentary sources inform us that Iron Age Celtic religion partly involved the worship of natural spirits - water, earth and sky.

The “Places in Mind” section highlights the importance of landscape, myth, ritual and story to ancient cultures. Inija Trinkuniene, from the Institute of Social Research in Vilnius explores aspects of Lithuania’s traditional culture which centred around ancient beliefs in nature. She will perform the ancient Baltic fire ritual on Saturday afternoon and she will present an accompanying lecture on Friday evening.

Inija is also a founding member of ‘Kulgrinda’ – a Lithuanian ritual folk group. With Debra Cera-Marie Raver, she will workshop ‘Sutartines’ - polyphonic songs which are unique to Lithuania which use poetry, music and dance. Inija and Debra will teach groups the basics of this ancient song. Debra is a USA Fulbright scholar specializing in ‘The Sutartine’ and is conducting research at the Lithuanian Academy of music, and is currently recording her debut CD based on old Baltic music and myth. In Orkney she also plans to experiment with Inija and test the acoustic properties of ‘Sutartines’ in our megalithic monuments. In 2000 Kulgrinda performed their fire ritual in Spain, at the Arcana Europa Festival.

Although the event is centred on Minehowe’s archaeology it highlights other areas of Orkney’s archaeology. “Trotty Traffic” focuses on the Knowes of Trotty at Huntscarth in Harray. This Bronze Age burial complex consists of 16 mounds and in 1858 one mound revealed a spectacular find. Four brilliantly crafted gold foil discs and 20 pieces of amber were found along side burnt human bones.

A gold disc from the Trotty Hoard, now housed at the new Museum of Scotland will be recreated on site by a Polish team, goldsmith Wojciech Kochman and archaeologist, Michal Sekula. They have worked together creating stunning replica artefacts using ancient techniques for the last six years. Amber specialist, Ruslanas Aranauskas from Lithuania is also replicating fragments from the hoard. With workshop participants he will create a spacer-plate necklace. Amber is a fossil resin from trees that grew around 40 million years ago and the largest deposits come from the Baltic – and it is just possible that Ruslanas may be tracing our ancient Bronze Age trade routes. Dr Alison Sheridan, deputy keeper of Archaeology at the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh will give an illustrated lecture on their latest research on the Trotty artefacts. Wojciech and Michal will also recreate a Polish fibula brooch – not unlike the fibula brooch found at Minehowe during the Time Team excavations.

Event programmes are available from Orkney Tourist Board or at www.artdiscovery.org.uk and further details can be obtained from Art Discovery at 01856 771 252.

The event is organised by Art Discovery in partnership with the Friends of the Orkney Archaeological Trust, their parent body OAT and Orkney Heritage Society.