Earth Houses - an Iron Age conundrum

This page examines two very enigmatic structures in Orkney, which are known as ‘earth houses’. The first is known as Rennibister earth house, as it is within the grounds of Rennibister Farm. The second earth house is known as Grain earth house and is located in the middle of an industrial estate in Kirkwall. Both are open to the public and are in care of Historic Scotland. Earth houses comprise a long underground passageway, which leads to a small round or oval chamber and there are large upright stones supporting the roof. They are usually associated with a domestic structure, the above ground house containing access steps down into the subterranean passageway. The house and earth house were planned and built together, so the subterranean structure was not simply a later ‘add-on’. It has therefore been presumed that their function was domestic, probably a storage area for crops and perishable goods.

Now to the conundrum….upon excavation, Rennibister earth house was found to contain the bones of six adults and twelve children. Excavations in 2005 at another earth house at Windwick, also revealed quantities of cremated human remains. So were these chambers merely for storage? There is no evidence to suggest anything was ever stored in them and also as you will see from the short video clip and photographs below, access to the chambers is very difficult. So, what was their function? Storage? Hiding places? Maybe the above ground structure was not a ‘house’ at all, as the Windwick excavations suggest. Did they have some ‘ritual’ or religious function, representing a link to the dead? Perhaps they served a manner of different functions over time. Maybe the answer will never be found and I rather like that! They are indeed, fascinating structures !