PAST MASTERS
PastMasters
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Objects & Activities
    • Research Projects
    • Index & Links
    • Contacts
    • Latest News
  • Projects & Activities
    • EARLY MAPS >
      • Pre Flinders Maps
      • Jave Le Grande
      • Vallard Map 1547
      • Unsigned & Undated
      • DUTCH MAPS >
        • 1606 Duyfken
        • 1623 Pera & Arnhem
        • 1636 Pool Expedition
        • 1644 Tasman Map
        • 1705 van Delft 1705 >
          • Pre-Cook 1705
        • 1756 Gonzal Expedition
    • First Contact
    • HMS Beagle >
      • Watch Vessel No. 7
      • Beagle Well Darwin
      • Roman Villa Found in Darwin
    • Cairns & Burnt Mounds
    • D'Stretch Marks
    • Eyam - The Plague Days
    • Fakes & Forgeries >
      • William Westall {Flinders}
    • HMAS Patricia Cam >
      • Pat Cam 75th Anniversary
      • The Men & Their Families
      • Ship's Knee MH7
      • Beattie's Yard
      • Palermo Park Dig
      • The Sandy Sanford Story
      • Pat Cam Memorial Yirrkala
    • MACASSANS >
      • Pobassoo Island
      • Port Bradshaw
    • Matthew Flinders - The Long Way Home >
      • Flinders & HMS Cumberland
    • Miscellany >
      • Capt. Cook - Bad Hair Day
    • Mystery Objects
    • NT Fleet Review
    • NT Image Makers & Takers >
      • Foelsche Centenary 2014
      • Ted Ryko
      • Shepherdson Collection >
        • 4. Wireless & Planes
        • 6. Boats
        • 7. Fijian Staff
      • NT Painters & Sketchers
    • OSL Beach Dating
    • Shell Mounds & Middens
    • Territory Treasures >
      • The Loss of HMAS Armidale
      • Boustead Jar & Shell Dunes
      • Dundee Beach Swivel Gun
    • Top End Timeline
  • ARNHEM LAND & BEYOND
    • ADELAIDE RIVER
    • COBOURG PENINSULA >
      • PM Expedition 2017
      • Fort Wellington at Raffles Bay
      • Macarthur Journal
      • Victoria Settlement >
        • Lambrick Family Archive
        • Port Essington Jack
        • Victoria Cemetery
        • VIPs at P.E.
    • DARWIN >
      • Early Darwin >
        • Esplanade SE
        • Esplanade SW
        • Bennett Street
        • Cavanagh Street
        • Goyder's Camp & Early Darwin
        • Mitchell Street
        • Smith Street >
          • Victoria Hotel
      • The Govt. House Gun >
        • Residency Govt. House
        • Government House
      • Top End Heritage Park >
        • Darwin's Heritage Assets
        • Historic Statues
        • Pre-fabrication of Australian History
      • Bombing of Darwin
      • Channel Is. Centenary - Quarantine to Lazarette
      • Doctor's Gully >
        • ZDG Catalina Base
        • 1st Darwin Hospital
      • East Point Reserve
      • Naval Fuel Depot WW2
      • Wagait Beach
      • Z Special & Catalina Base
    • DOWN THE TRACK >
      • Coomalie Landing Ground
      • Daly Waters
      • NT Expedition 1880-89
      • Overland Telegraph & Undersea Cables >
        • OT Pole No, 1
        • OT Stations
    • ELCHO ISLAND PORTRAIT >
      • DT coin Elcho Is.
      • Elcho Past Muster - Workshops, Finds & Losses
      • Galiwin'ku Community
    • ESCAPE CLIFFS
    • GOVE PENINSULA >
      • Catalina Beach WW2
      • Control Tower Museum
      • Gove Airfield WW2
      • Gunyangara
      • Heritage Rangers
      • Nhulunbuy
      • Wurrwurrwuy Stone Pictures
      • Yirrkala
    • GAPUWIYAK
    • GOULBURN Is. Centenary
    • GROOTE EYLANDT >
      • Alyangula
      • Angurugu >
        • Angurugu Lifeboat
      • Bickerton Island
      • Emerald River
      • Groote Rock Art >
        • Angurugu Shelter
        • Groote Rock Art 2
      • Umbakumba
    • MILINGIMBI >
      • Rangers & WW2 Strip
    • OENPELLI - Gunbalanya >
      • Oenpelli Mission 1953/85
      • Oenpelli Mission -Early Days
      • Oenpelli Buffalo Days
    • RAMINGINING
    • TIMOR & Oecussi
    • TIWI ISLANDS >
      • Bathurst Island >
        • Heritage Precinct
      • Melville Island
      • Carslow Beach & the Dutch
      • Fort Dundas & Garden Point >
        • Fort Dundas Bicentenary 2024 >
          • DATES 1824
          • FIVE FORTS
        • FD & Gdn Pt. Finds
        • Lady Nelson & Stedcombe
      • Macs on Melville
      • Snake Bay - Macc Weir
    • TRUANT Is.
    • WESSEL ISLANDS >
      • Ancient Coins in Arnhem Land Expedition
      • Australians Bay
      • Hopefull Bay
      • Kora Kora 2023
      • Mary Bryant Story
      • Wessels 2018
      • Wessel Islands Radar 312RS
      • Wildcard Expedition 2019
  • PastMasters Publishing
    • Arnhemland's Lost Past
    • Early Contact North Australia
    • Wooden Weir - Milikapiti
    • Claiming Australia
    • Beagle Beach Well
    • PastMasters' Papers
  • Isenberg Hoard Analysis

BURNT MOUNDS - BREWING & CHAMBERED CAIRNS


The Burnt Mounds Mystery

These archaeological anomalies are the poor cousins of the great stone circles & chambered tombs. A fair indication of their importance is being named after their spoil heaps. They have spawned some fevered hypotheses being variously dubbed communal kitchens, ritual centres, pig processing shops and sheep skin tanneries. This page suggests that they are for brewing beer & initiate a suitably reverential continuity of design through many thirsty millennia.
Picture
The Bronze Age Burnt Mound showing the relationship between the mound of ash, charcoal & split stones at left and the building on the edge of the wet area.

Abstract

The diagnostic features of these buildings are:-
  • Location within the waterlogged edge of a swamp.
  • The stone cistern is centrally located within the building. 
  • Invariably co-located with the agricultural production of Barley.
The predisposing factor is the absence of watertight timber barrels or large earthenware vessels for the brewing process. The answer being to sink the cistern into the waterlogged ground. The addition of clay is reflected in the archaeology.

Confusion arises as the manufacture of gruel, unleavened bread and beer are basically the same. However, whilst gruel & bread require merely profane  domestic processes - the production of intoxicating liquor is often imbued with intonations of the sacred & divine.

The following examples indicate a continuity of location, purpose and design that starts in the Orkneys with the earliest farmers and continues through 'villages' such as Skara Brae down to Brochs and echoes even in the Viking Drinking Halls adjacent to the same fields which still produced their grains some five millennia later. 
Picture
A model of the Burnt Mound & building

The Burnt Mound

Picture
Picture
The Burnt Mound contains ash, carbonised timber residue and boiling stones that have split in the quench.  It has been suggested that this timber was driftwood from North America which could be tested. Mounds in other areas have exclusively peat ash so the deforestation may reflect climate change or increased human predation. The high cliffs suggest collecting driftwood on this scale is arduous but concurrent with the collection of suitable beach stones.
Picture
The inlet below the burnt mound near Skara Brae & the Tomb of the Eagles

The Brew

Picture
The central 'cist' - prounounced kist it was recently current for coffin being a stone built box- sometime reliquary -sometime ossuary.
​Selected beach stones are used for heating water by exposure within a fire & quenching before addition to the cistern. Repeated cycles cause the stones to split in half in a characteristic way. The warmth would have encouraged germination in the cooler months. 
​The absence of yeast sources necessitates the Barley Mash process which requires the corn grains to be pulped by large stones as soon as they germinate which is when the transition is made from starch to sugar. These large pounding stones are found within these sites.
"The first beers likely underwent a continuous mash and fermentation. Sprouted grains were ground and mixed with water in a vessel of wood or even in skin bags. This vessel was heated either by fire, by dropping in heated rocks, or by setting it out in the hot sun. Fermenting flora would have been introduced from both the grains and the air. The fermented gruel could then be consumed, or the liquid could be drawn off as beer and the remaining grains and yeast mixed with wheat flour to make a leavened bread.

The fermentation of ancient beers would have involved many different yeasts and bacteria. The trick would have been to keep the pH down low enough to inhibit noxious bacteria." https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Brewing_Ancient_Beer

Managing the pH with Peat Bog Water

​"The pH of pure water is 7. In general, water with a pH lower than 7 is considered acidic, and with a pH greater than 7 is considered basic. The normal range for pH in surface water systems is 6.5 to 8.5, and the pH range for groundwater systems is between 6 and 8.5." Beer has a pH of 4.   https://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education/quality-water-ph-page2.htm

"The pH scale is logarithmic, which means that each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next whole value, for example pH 5 is ten times as acidic as pH 6. A neutral pH (7) occurs when the concentration of hydrogen ions equals the concentration of hydroxyl ions in a solution. Distilled water that has been shielded from air is a neutral solution with a pH of 7. 

Orono Bog is a peatland with varying degrees of acidity. The raised part is very acidic, which means that hydrogen ions are in great excess of hydroxyl ions in that area. From the start of the boardwalk to the center of the bog the pH ranges from about 6.6 to 3.6. A pH of 3.6 is about 1000 times more acidic than a pH of 6.6. Most wetland plant species that grow by the beginning of the boardwalk cannot survive at the raised center of the peatland because at low pH they cannot obtain enough mineral nutrients." ​https://umaine.edu/oronobogwalk/wp-content/uploads/sites/393/2015/03/Peatland-Acidification-pH.pdf

The Brewery

Picture
The concentric walls around a central stone cistern are characteristic of burnt mounds and brochs.
​​The stone cistern (cist) is centrally located within the building. It is the focus of activity with the stalls arranged accordingly. The fireplace is on a stone shelf and quite small suggesting a low intensity of usage over a long period.
​The controlled replenishment and drainage of the cistern suggests that groundwater levels remained constant as the climate cooled, fish species changed and the treeline receded southward. There is a natural spillway along the cliff top for overflow. Warming over recent centuries may give a false impression of water level stability - this could be tested by coring & analysis of the spillway area. Metal detector survey of the adjacent swamp may reveal the ritual deposition of high status iron objects as the brewing process may have held a spiritual/magical cache - similar to that supposedly attendant upon metal creation & working. 
The buildings have been extended and repaired over long periods of usage which suggest a highly valued output, of high status and value worthy of investment of scarce resources and labour.  The feature of the central sunken stone cistern is repeated in the Broch (200BC - 200AD) and at Skara Brae - the continuity is noted below at Westerness  where the cornfields, the pub and the church accompany the Viking Drinking Hall currently under excavation.

Granary or Striking Floor

​The warmth of the Burnt Mound Brewery building would have encouraged germination in cooler months as evidenced by the residue of catastrophic fires in 'granaries'. The objective is to store the grain for food and next season's seed by intervention to stop germination. This is usually achieved by burial in clay pits which have a cap so that the top inch or two germinates, exhausts the available oxygen and the remainder is thus preserved. The effect of this struck corn on domesticated animals and birds would have not passed unnoticed. The faltering struggle to keep grain dry invites the invention of brewing.

Neolithic Granary?

Herewith extracts from a breathless report in Current Archaeology. The central stone cistern is a feature focus in the Granary, Broch, Burnt Mound & Village of Skara Brae. In this instance it becomes an ornate post pad essential at one end of the building but seemingly superfluous at the other.
'An entire Neolithic settlement, predating Skara Brae, has been found on the tiny Orkney Island of Wyre.' [Current Archaeology]
Picture
​​'An axial post-hole in the centre of each of the two parts of the house suggests that the roof was supported by a central ridge pole that formed a frame, which sloped down to the stone wall heads. The northern post-hole had been reworked at least three times, suggesting that the building was maintained for a considerable length of time.

In the last phase, an elaborate square stone-lined box was used to foot the post. This was left to rot 
in situ, revealing it was 20cm in diameter — not large timber in comparison to the rest of the UK, but a sizeable tree for Orkney and certainly enough to have supported a thatched roof.'

"Working on, we soon discovered that House 3 was not any old farmstead. The first (and earliest) phase of use in its northern part was particularly interesting: spread across the floor were several thick layers of charred material, 70mm deep in places, comprising tens of thousands of barley grains.

"We had found one of the largest assemblages of Neolithic cereal in Scotland (currently under analysis by Rosie Bishop as part of her doctoral research at the University of Durham).

"The intensity of grain-production evidence in the house is so unusual it leads us to suspect that the building may have had a more agricultural function—a granary perhaps? 

​"Working on, we soon discovered that House 3 was not any old farmstead. The first (and earliest) phase of use in its northern part was particularly interesting: spread across the floor were several thick layers of charred material, 70mm deep in places, comprising tens of thousands of barley grains. We had found one of the largest assemblages of Neolithic cereal in Scotland (currently under analysis by Rosie Bishop as part of her doctoral research at the University of Durham). The intensity of grain-production evidence in the house is so unusual it leads us to suspect that the building may have had a more agricultural function—a granary perhaps?
"Whatever the case, there was something else unusual about this house: mixed into the burnt grain layers were several sizable chunks of wood charcoal, suggesting that a large fire had ripped through the building. The heat was intense enough to redden the underlying glacial till within the central northern part of the house. Yet both the huge quantities of grain and the fire seem to have been confined to the northern half of the building, while the southern portion — with its series of shallow pits and scoops cut into the floor – was largely unaffected, and continued to be used after the fire.

"Dramatic as the conflagration must have been, it did not mark the end of life of the building. Neither was the structure cleaned out. Rather, the charred grain was pushed to the sides of the room, spilling into open pits and gullies, while the scoop hearth was sealed with a large flagstone slab. A quern rubber was placed on top on this charred grain layer, and the area affected by the fire was covered with a thick layer of mixed clay. Thus all evidence of the charred remains was hidden, while the quern was left visible above the new floor surface. The occupants then placed a small polished stone axe (one of the 15 recovered so far from the site) next to the quern and built-up further levelling layers and floor deposits. We found several further quern fragments elsewhere across the site, often broken and deliberately placed within closing deposits.
​
"Why this ‘strange’ activity? All the evidence, from the vast quantities of grain involved to the actions of the farmers in the aftermath, makes us suspect that the fire was started intentionally. It was probably a ritual act, rather than the result of a series of accidents. Indeed, some Early Neolithic houses in Ireland also appear to have been deliberately burnt down, suggesting buildings had a life cycle of their own, perhaps linked to that of their owners. Or perhaps something else was going on — a religious or social act reflecting the importance of grain in the lives of these early farmers?" ​[Current Archaeology]
Neolithic Granary - Current Archaeology

 ​Excavation of two Orcadian burnt mounds at Liddle and Beaquoy - John Hedges

​Hedges, J. (1975). Excavation of two Orcadian burnt mounds at Liddle and Beaquoy. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 106, 39-98. Retrieved from http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/8913
Picture
John Hedges image
Picture
John hedges image
"certain areas of land are more cultivatable than others (fig 22) and this is reflected in recent agrarian patterns of settlement. It happens that the distribution of burnt mounds is almost identical (fig 21)" J. Hedges
Picture
Liddle Building - Hedges image
Picture
The Liddle Burnt Mound - hedges images
Excavation of Two Orcadian Burnt Mounds by John Hedges

Hypothesis Testing

Picture
Detail of Burnt Mound layout.

Beerstone

There are many calcium deposits in the environment but given the continuity of design, location and usage the testing of pottery and cistern stones should be persuasive. The similarity between the plan view of a burnt mound building and a broch strongly suggests a developing tradition.
PictureMijaya pottery 3400-2900BC Fulai Xing image
Analysis of Neolithic pottery from the Mijiaya site in China's Shaanxi province revealed residue from various ancient grains & plants and traces of a calcium residue on brewing equipment called 'beerstone'.

Calcium Oxalate is soluble in water and a moderately acidic compound found in a number of food items. It is a calcium salt of oxalate with the chemical formula CaC2O4(H2O)x, where x can vary. All forms are colorless or white & are the major constituent of human kidney stones.
 
Beerstone is a significant issue for brewers and distillers as bacteria, mold and yeast become trapped within the scale and contaminate the process.

Beerstone - Calcium Oxalate
5kyo Chinese Beer & Barley
Beerstone Contamination

Current Theories

Inverness - Cooking - Washing Wool - Saunas?

PictureAOC Archaeology image
INVERNESS, SCOTLAND--BBC News reports that road construction in Inverness has uncovered burned mounds dating to the Bronze Age. The mounds, made up of piles of burned waste, ash, and stones shattered by heat, were formed by repeated burning.

​Researchers from AOC Archaeology Group explained that the mounds are usually horseshoe shaped and found close to streams. The heated stones are thought to have been placed in pits filled with water in order to to heat it for cooking, washing wool, or as saunas. The excavation team also uncovered kilns that were used to dry grain, as well as Neolithic pottery fragments. 
​[Grain drying kilns might be a clue.]


Consideration

Tannery - The process of turning hides into leather involved burial or very prolonged soaking in association with organic materials containing tannic acid - hence tanning.

Kitchen - 
The Irish idea that these are communal kitchens arises because the production of gruel from germinated grains is the first step in making unleavened bread and beer. However, it is a domestic process at the centre of every roundhouse - not requiring major infrastructure - the middens do not support this proposition nor do the finds within the buildings.

Saunas - really

Hunting Lodges - Hedges asks why build temporary structures out of stone & why locate them in agricultural areas.

Washing Wool - no need for heated water - no evidence and abundant opportunities in wetlands without major stone buildings.

Conclusion
The determined and prolonged investment of high value resources in the manufacture of a product with no discernible need, benefit or uncommon residue can only mean one thing - cheers.

Chambered Cairns & Stalled Spaces

Picture
Unstan Cairn

Tomb of the Eagles

Picture
The Tomb of the Eagles, aka Isbister Chambered Cairn, 5000 year old stone age tomb, South Ronaldsay Island
Picture
Tomb of the Eagles - Simon Longland Image

Skara Brae

Picture
Skara Brae neolithic village with Skaill House in the distance and the farm at right.
​Radiocarbon dating suggested that the settlement dated from the late Neolithic — inhabited for 600 years, between 3200BC & 2200BC. The Neolithic in Britain is the New Stone Age 4000BC to 2000BC when farming, polished stone tools & pottery became commonplace. 
Picture
Presumed to be hearths perhaps they had a more convivial purpose.
Picture
Exquisite Skara Brae batter & lintel
​The proposition that the slabbed sections are beds makes as much sense as siting the water cistern in the middle of the floor. The rebate in the wall behind the 'dresser' at right suggests a flue.
Picture
Skara Brae - the cist in centre of the rcell is not a practical domestic arrangement.
Islands of History - Orkney Dating

Rock Heap to Chambered Cairn

Abstract

The following images demonstrate that a basic necessity of groundbreaking agriculture is the removal of large stones. In many areas this resulted in dry stone walls and some thousands of miles of these persist in Britain today. It is apparent that the amount of material in a cairn is far greater than is required for structural purposes - especially as the end result is an earth covered grassy mound.

Clava Cairns

Picture
Picture
Picture
The chambered cairn construction could have evolved from the essential clearing of fields for agriculture.

Mauritius Mounds

The images show current evidence of fields being cleared for agriculture whereby stones are piled in a single location. It is suggested that this basic function of agriculture created the opportunity for excavating convenient cavity shelters in the rubble and evolved to planned deposition around a central clear space and as open range land gave way to defined enclosures so the mounds became field walls and steadily evolved into systematic construction.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Rousay Island 

Picture
Below L>R The Wirk Norse Hall - Ruins of Skaill Farm & dig on Viking Drinking Hall - St Mary's Kirk - Midhowe Cairn under roof & the Broch. Unidentified feature at right.
Picture
The Midhowe Chambered {Stalled} Cairn within its protective building.
Picture
Inside Midhowe Cairn
Picture
Westerness - Rousay Island
Picture
The stalls inside Midhowe Cairn
Picture
Inside Midhowe Cairn - Neolithic 4000 - 2000 BC - the first farmers.
Picture
Inside Midhowe Cairn
Picture
Bobby Friel image of Westerness shore with added captions.
The name - Midhowe - derives from the cairn which is the central element of 3 ancient features here on Eynhallow Sound. Howe derives from the Old Norse word 'haugr' meaning mound or barrow.

The Brock is Iron Age - the Cairn is Neolithic & the building is courtesy of Walter Grant of Grants of St James'. Dis-articulated human remains of 25 individuals were found which led to the earlier designation of 'tomb' but so too were many & various animal and fish bones including bream (presumably gilt-head) indicating a more Mediterranean sea temperature.

​Also called a 'stalled' cairn, there is no single explanation of purpose to the construction. The bottom of the hill is ideal for field clearing for agriculture - perhaps in the future it will be akin to excavating a U-Store It facility.

Midhowe Broch

Picture
The Midhowe Broch at c30ft high would have been impressive & unassailable from the seaward side where the entrance is located.
The Broch is not convincing as a fortified stronghold - it is not on an elevated site - there is no defensible perimeter for animals, valuables or defenders and attackers would simply go around it. Neither is it obviously a tower-house or fortified dwelling as there is no means of active defense from parapet, bow slot or window. It would certainly be highly visible and invite vessels to drop anchor in the bay.
Picture
Midhowe Broch and defensible cutting
Picture
Picture

Picture
A Broch is a double skinned tower ~200BC to 200AD - Iron Age
Picture
The central cist feature is described as a communal water tank.
Picture
Highest quality masonry work at the broch
"Large slabs of local flagstone were used to divide the interior (diameter 9.6 metres) into two smaller, semi-circular rooms. These were then further divided into smaller cells, each with its own hearth and water-tank.

​Water was supplied from a spring that flowed up through a crack in the rocks and during the excavations, it was written that the main storage tank retained water which: 'remained clear and drinkable all the years the work of excavation was going on." Orkneyjar
The similarity with the Burnt Mounds, Skara Brae & Granary cisterns is striking - being located in the centre of the floor - surrounded by stalls.
Orkneyjar - The Heritage of the Orkney Isles

St Mary's Church

Picture
St Mary's Church - Built in 1600's perhaps on site of 1300's church associated with the Wirk. Church closed mid 19th century last burial 1920's
Picture
St Mary's Kirk - behind is Skaill Farm ruin & Viking Hall site.
Picture
Picture

Viking Drinking Hall

Perhaps a thousand years later than the Burnt Mound - this site continues the tradition of exploitation of cereal production. Skaill is a Norse work meaning Hall so it has long been suspected that this site contained on of the iconic Drinking Halls which was revealed in the 2019 dig.
Picture
University of Highlands & Islands generously share their time & triumph.
Picture
University of Highlands & Islands reveal 10-12th Century Norse Hall.
Picture
With Skaill Farm ~ 1000 years of occupation to mid 19th century.

Picture
The Wirk - Skaill Farmhouse & Viking Drinking Hall - St Mary's Kirk - roofed Midhowe Cairn & Midhowe Broch. A Bobby Friel image.

Proudly powered by Weebly