The end of the world, or just ‘goodbye to all that’? Contextualising the red deer heap from Links of Noltland, Westray, within late 3rd-millennium cal BC Orkney

A red deer heap, containing at least 15 carcasses and accompanied by a cod, gannet's wing, gull parts, and antlers, was deposited around the 22nd century cal BC on Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney. Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling refined its chronology within a broader Late Neolithic to Bronze Age settlement sequence, revealing it coincided with Beaker pottery deposition elsewhere on the site. This structured deposit, part of a larger pattern of animal burials in 3rd-millennium cal BC Orkney, offers insights into Orcadian society and ritual practices during this period.

Clarke, D., Sheridan, A., Shepherd, A., Sharples, N., Armour-Chelu, M., Hamlet, L., Bronk-Ramsey, C., Dunbar, E., Reimer, P., Marshall, P., & Whittle, A. (2017). The end of the world, or just ‘goodbye to all that’? Contextualising the red deer heap from Links of Noltland, Westray, within late 3rd-millennium cal BC Orkney. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 146, 57–89. https://doi.org/10.9750/psas.146.1226