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<\/a>There\u2019s a rather long list of places I con\u00adsid\u00ader high pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adties to vis\u00adit. Near the top of that list is the Orkney Islands. Thanks to some for\u00adtu\u00aditous cir\u00adcum\u00adstances, I\u2019ll be going there at the end of this month. The prin\u00adci\u00adple expense is cov\u00adered, so I will now only have to deal with the loss of income while I\u2019m gone and costs while trav\u00adel\u00adling. It will mean, no doubt, a few cold nights in my back\u00adpack\u00ading tent, and some cre\u00adative skimp\u00ading, but I\u2019m quite used to that sort of thing. My step already has a jaun\u00adty skip to it, like my cat does in antic\u00adi\u00adpa\u00adtion of tuna. I know exact\u00adly the feel\u00ading I\u2019ll have when the plane moves out onto the run\u00adway: I\u2019m On the Road Again. <\/em>This is when I\u2019m hap\u00adpi\u00adest, when the game\u2019s afoot, and unguess\u00adable adven\u00adtures lie before me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nWhy Orkney? None of my his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan and archae\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgist friends need to ask. Less than twen\u00adty thou\u00adsand Orca\u00addi\u00adans inhab\u00adit this clus\u00adter of windswept islands north of Scot\u00adland, but few places on this plan\u00adet have the remark\u00adable depth of human remem\u00adbrance that these lit\u00adtle islands have. By com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson, Rome is a trashy mod\u00adern wannabee, and Cana\u00adda a fleet\u00ading rip\u00adple in the riv\u00ader of time. The old\u00adest evi\u00addence of human habi\u00adta\u00adtion is from about 7000 BC<\/span>. A Neolith\u00adic farm\u00adstead dates from 3500 BC<\/span>, and Skara Brae, Europe\u2019s best-pre\u00adserved Neolith\u00adic set\u00adtle\u00adment, dates from 3100 BC<\/span>. A freak bur\u00adial in wind-blown sand kept this aston\u00adish\u00ading place, with sub\u00adstan\u00adtial inte\u00adri\u00ador fur\u00adnish\u00adings, almost intact. The islands are with\u00adout tim\u00adber, so peo\u00adple have built in stone since the ear\u00adli\u00adest times. It is some\u00adtimes joked that Orca\u00addi\u00adans \u201cleft the Stone Age in the late 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry\u201d. The impres\u00adsive stone cir\u00adcles, con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary with Stone\u00adhenge, are more recent items. The Iron Age left mas\u00adsive stone tow\u00aders (brochs) and enig\u00admat\u00adic Pic\u00adtish inscrip\u00adtions. <\/span><\/span>It\u2019s impos\u00adsi\u00adble to put across the won\u00adder these places hold for me. The ancient Greek explor<\/span>er Pyth\u00adeas of Mas\u00adsil\u00adia [\u03a0\u03c5\u03b8\u03ad\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f41 \u039c\u03b1\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1\u03bb\u03b9\u03ce\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2] seems to have vis\u00adit\u00aded in the 4th Cen\u00adtu\u00adry BC<\/span>, record\u00ading the name of <\/span>Orkas<\/em><\/span>, and the Romans knew the arch\u00adi\u00adpel\u00adago as <\/span>Orcades<\/em><\/span>. The name is prob\u00ada\u00adbly Pic\u00adtish, and has some\u00adthing to do with pigs. The Vikings, who chased out the Picts and made the islands Norse in cul\u00adture and lan\u00adguage, called it <\/span>Orkne\u00adyar<\/em><\/span>. For cen\u00adturies, the islands were part of a semi-inde\u00adpen\u00addent Jarl\u00addom or Earl\u00addom that bal\u00adanced pre\u00adcar\u00adi\u00adous\u00adly between alle\u00adgiance to the Dano-Nor\u00adwe\u00adgian and the Scot\u00adtish Crowns. Scots Eng\u00adlish grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly replaced the local Norn lan\u00adguage, which died out in the 18th century. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For three hun\u00addred years, the Orca\u00addi\u00adans had an aston\u00adish\u00ading\u00adly inti\u00admate rela\u00adtion\u00adship with the Cana\u00addi\u00adan Arc\u00adtic and Sub\u00adarc\u00adtic. They inter\u00admar\u00adried with the native peo\u00adple of Cana\u00adda, leav\u00ading a lega\u00adcy of Orca\u00addi\u00adan sur\u00adnames among the Cree and M\u00e9tis, who, to this day, pre\u00adserve Orca\u00addi\u00adan folk music as a liv\u00ading tra\u00addi\u00adtion. That con\u00adnec\u00adtion is of spe\u00adcial inter\u00adest to me, since I\u2019ve writ\u00adten on the sub\u00adject [forth\u00adcom\u00ading from Pal\u00adgrave Macmil\u00adlan]. There are local archives of Hud\u00adson Bay Com\u00adpa\u00adny mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal that I\u2019m eager to plumb. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But leav\u00ading aside the intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal stim\u00adu\u00adlus that the trip will pro\u00advide, it\u2019s des\u00adper\u00adate\u00adly impor\u00adtant to me to envig\u00ado\u00adrate my sens\u00ades with fresh sounds, sights, smells, and tex\u00adtures. Mod\u00adern Orkney will inter\u00adest me as much as its ancient mon\u00adu\u00adments, and, unlike most anti\u00adquar\u00adi\u00adan vis\u00adi\u00adtors, I\u2019m as eager to know the liv\u00ading as the dead. The worst mis\u00adin\u00adter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtions of the past come from hav\u00ading too lit\u00adtle feel\u00ading for the present, and too lit\u00adtle curios\u00adi\u00adty about the future. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a rather long list of places I con\u00adsid\u00ader high pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adties to vis\u00adit. Near the top of that list is the Orkney Islands. Thanks to some for\u00adtu\u00aditous cir\u00adcum\u00adstances, I\u2019ll be going there at the end of this month. The prin\u00adci\u00adple expense is covered, \u2026<\/p>\n