The Last Foot Triskelion

Around 1850 [1], a violent storm uncovered the site we now know as Skara Brae, then referred to as “Styerrabrae” [2]. The subsequent archeological investigation inspired an unprecedented upswing in public interest in the ancient history of the area [3].

The findings recorded on this website were initiated by the much later excavations of the Ness of Brodgar, which began in 2003 [4]. As well as various discoveries relating to the ancient world, this work yielded new information about cultural practices spawned from the 19th century archeological dig, as well as intriguing – but as yet unproven – links to more ancient practices.

The genesis of the Triskelion project came from references to a winter festival in 19th century documents held by Orkney Archaeology [5], [6], [7].

Our initial analysis of the interconnected references to the festival in the 19th century documents indicated that the participants were deliberately hearkening back to an earlier custom [8]. This practice appears to be highly localized, and potentially linked to familial heritage [9].

A subset of the Ness of Brodgar research group split off and decided to look deeper into the Triskelion. After a comprehensive review of over 2,000 documents sourced from various archives, it was determined that there was simply not enough information to warrant a full study. However, many of our number felt that the topic was so interesting that our preliminary work should be documented online.

We preserve these initial findings here for posterity, in the hopes that if anyone has further information (e.g. firsthand descriptions of related practices from a family member) they will reach out to us via the contact information at the foot of each page.

[1] Sources from the late 20th century unanimously date the storm in 1850. However, earlier sources have stated it took place one year earlier or one year later.

[2] The contradicting spellings were compared in 1928 by the Orcadian scholar Hugh Marwick: “An elderly Sandwick man, who has lived in the neighbourhood all his days, informs me that he had always hear it referred to as ‘Styerrabrae’, i.e. Skerrabrae, with the local palatalising of ‘sk’ before a front vowel.”

[3] S Laing. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. January 1867. ‘On the Age of Burgs or Brochs, and some other Pre-historic remains in Orkney and Caithness’. http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/ psas/article/view/5313/5286

[4] B Ballin-Smith and G Petersen. Discovery Excav Scot. 2003. Vol. 4, pp 102-3. 'Brodgar, Stenness (Stenness parish), late neolithic settlement'.

[5] Old Lore Miscellany. 1909.

[6] Dr Conal Dyer. Letter to Rev Luke Mitchell. September 1852.

[7] Rev Luke Mitchell. Letter to Dr Conal Dyer. October 1852.

[8] Correspondence between Dr. Conal Dyer and Rev. Luke Mitchell contains an exchange about attendance at the upcoming Triskelion. A brief description of an event that aligns with our understanding of the custom is present in Old Lore Miscellany.

[9] In his letter to Dr. Conal Dyer, Rev. Luke Mitchell notes that while Dyer is a new participant in the Triskelion (seemingly one of several in the wake of the unearthing of Skara Brae), prior generations of his family had been involved in older iterations.