Where, eagles dare - Landscape, animals and the neolithic of orkney

The archaeological study of landscapes has tended to focus on the most tangible aspects of the concept, such as topography, location and view, without focusing on those other aspects of landscape, which at first glance appear to be archaeologically less visible. This paper contends that landscapes cannot simply be considered as a series of unidimensional spaces, rather they must be considered as composed of lived places. This paper sets out to explore the way in which places within the landscape are conceptually framed and constituted through the animal life which inhabits them. The association between certain animal species with different kinds of place is seen as a crucial element in the relationship between place, memory and identity. It is suggested that all these elements of the materiality of animals are important in considering the way in which animals are understood and appropriated by people. These ideas will be examined through the analysis of a series of deposits associated with animals within chambered tombs, passage graves and settlement middens of the late Neolithic period in Orkney.