Olwyn Owen

Visiting Reader content

Visiting Reader

Archaeological and Heritage consultant.

Contact details: olwyn.owen@btinternet.com

Biography

 Visiting Reader Olwyn Owen 300a

Olwyn is a well-known scholar on Scandinavian Scotland, especially the Northern Isles. She is a prolific author and editor and has published extensively on a wide range of topics, for both academic and popular audiences.

Her varied international work includes helping pioneer the Council of Europe’s Cultural Viking Routes project in the early 1990s, when she also represented the Council itself on a mission to Belarus; and she was Scotland’s representative on the Viking Congress for many years, among many other international engagements. She has made several acclaimed TV appearances, including Time Team (in Sanday) and Blood of the Vikings. She is an accomplished speaker and lectures widely, mainly on Scandinavian Scotland and the archaeology of towns. She is a Member of the Institute for Archaeologists, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and a Trustee of Archaeology Scotland.

Olwyn began her archaeological career on the Brough of Birsay in 1976, where she discovered Orkney and Vikings – two passions that have shaped her professional life. Olwyn excavated in Orkney and Shetland over many years, directing major projects at Tuquoy, Westray, and Kebister, Shetland, as well as excavating widely elsewhere in Scotland, England and Norway.

A graduate of Durham University, Olwyn’s MA thesis was on late Viking art. In her early career, she won two international scholarships and spent 6 months in Sweden researching Viking art and a year in Norway studying Viking silver and economy. In 1986 she joined the (then) Central Excavation Unit in Edinburgh as Senior Field Officer and directed projects, notably on the major hillfort on Eildon Hill North (Scottish Borders), as well as managing projects run by the unit all over Scotland. In 1991, she was instrumental in helping ensure that the famous Scar Viking boat burial was rescued from winter storms.

In 1992 Olwyn joined Historic Scotland as an Inspector of Ancient Monuments, at first helping to manage the Archaeology Programme, but over the next 23 years taking on a wide variety of heritage management roles. For a decade she was responsible for the archaeology of towns and cities, a neglected policy area that was transformed under her leadership, and is still one of her research interests. She also spent 3 years with the Historic Environment Advisory Council, which advised Scottish Ministers on a range of heritage challenges. In 2009, she returned to Historic Scotland as Head of the Scheduling, Marine and Battlefields team.

Olwyn retired from Historic Scotland in 2015 and now works as an archaeological and heritage consultant, mainly writing up her excavations at Tuquoy and editing other archaeological reports. She is also active in her local community and is a Director of North Berwick Trust and of North Berwick Environment and Heritage Trust, and she chairs a local group working to consolidate a scheduled ruined kirk.

Publications

In Press: ‘A decorative mount from the Brough of Birsay, Orkney’, in Morris, C D (ed), The Birsay Bay Project 3.

2016

Shetland and the Viking World: Papers from the Proceedings of the Seventeenth Viking Congress, Lerwick (eds Turner, V E, Owen, O A and Waugh, D J).

2015

'Galloway's Viking treasure: the story of a discovery', British Archaeology, no 140 (Jan/Feb 2015), 16-23.

2013

Viking Unst: Excavation and Survey in Northern Shetland 2006-2010. Lerwick  (edited by O Owen).

'The stone settings of Balta', in Viking Unst: Excavation and Survey in Northern Shetland 2006-2010, 91-95 (with V E Turner and A-C Larsen).

'The legacy of the Viking Unst project', in Turner, V E, Bond, J M and Larsen, A-C, Viking Unst: Excavation and Survey in Northern Shetland 2006-2010, 234-52 (with V E Turner). 

'Preface', in Addyman, T, Romankiewicz, Macfadyen, K, Ross, A and Uglow, N, The Medieval Kirk, Cemetery and Hospice at Kirk Ness, North Berwick: The Scottish Seabird Centre Excavations 1999-2006, xiv-xv. Oxbow.

2012

Things in the Viking World. Lerwick (edited by O Owen). (part of the EU-funded THING Project)

'Things in the Viking World - an introduction', in Owen, O (ed) Things in the Viking World, 6-29.

2011

‘Norse influence at Govan on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland’, in Sigmundsson, S (ed), Viking Settlements and Viking Society, 333-46 (= Proceedings of the 16th Viking Congress, Iceland) (with Stephen Driscoll).

2010

'Foreword', in Perry, D, Murray, H, Beaumont James, T and Bogdan, N Q, Perth High Street, Archaeological Excavation 1975-1977, xi. Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, Fascicules 1-4.

2009

‘The archaeology of Scotland’s medieval towns: an introduction’, in Engberg, N et al (eds), Archaeology of medieval towns in the Baltic and North Sea area, 9-26. Publications of the National Museum of Denmark (PNM), Studies in Archaeology and History, vol 17.

HEACS Report and Recommendations on the Economic Impact of the Historic Environment in Scotland (main author and editor)

HEACS Report with Recommendations on the Long-Term Conservation of the Ecclesiastical Heritage in a Time of Demographic Change (edited by O Owen)

HEACS Report and Recommendations on Strategies for Engaging Young Adults in the Historic Environment (edited by O Owen)

HEACS Sixth and Final Annual Report: 1 September 2008-31 May 2009 (main author and editor)

2008

Book Review:Kaupang in Skiringssal (Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series, vol 1: Norske Oldfunn XXII), by Dagfinn Skre’, Antiquity 82, no 316, 524-6.

HEACS Report and Recommendations on the Infrastructure of the Historic Environment (edited by O Owen)

HEACS Fifth Annual Report: 1 September 2007-31 August 2008 (main author and editor)

2005

The World of Orkneyinga Saga – ‘The Viking Broad-cloth Trip’. Kirkwall (edited by O Owen) (= part of the EU project, Destination Viking-Sagalands).

‘A brief guide to saga sites to visit in Orkney’, in Owen, O (ed) The World of Orkneyinga Saga – ‘The Viking Broad-cloth Trip’, 224-231.

‘History, archaeology and Orkneyinga saga: the case of Tuquoy’, in Owen, O (ed) The World of Orkneyinga Saga – ‘The Viking Broad-cloth Trip’, 192-212.

‘Scotland’s Viking towns: a contradiction in terms?’, in Mortensen, A & Arge, S V (eds), Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic, 297-306 (= Proceedings of the 14th Viking Congress, Faroe Islands).

2004

Book Review: ‘Hogback gravestones at Govan and beyond, by Anna Ritchie’, Scottish Archaeological News 46 (Winter 2004), 14.

‘The Scar boat burial - and the missing decades of the early Viking Age in Orkney and Shetland’, in Adams, J & Holman, K (eds), Scandinavia and Europe 800-1350, Contact, Conflict and Coexistence, 3-33 (= Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe, 4, Brepols).

2003

‘Curiouser and curiouser: mysteries of Scar and Tuquoy, Orkney’, in Waugh, D J (ed), The Faces of Orkney: Stones, Skalds & Saints, 138-160 (= Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 11).

‘The archaeology of the County, 1945-2000', in Baker, S (ed), East Lothian Fourth Statistical Account 1945-2000, 247-51 (Vol 1 and CD-Rom: = HLF Project)

2002

‘Sound Foundations: Archaeology in Scotland’s towns and cities and the role of the Scottish Burgh Survey’, Antiquity 76 (2002), 802-807.

‘Inveresk and Historic Scotland: managing and protecting the archaeological remains’, in Bishop, M C (ed), Roman Inveresk: Past, Present and Future, 81-87. Armatvra Press.

‘Les Vikings en Écosse: quel type de maison les colons vikings construisaient-ils? [The Vikings in Scotland: what sort of houses did Viking colonists build?]’, in Ridel, É (ed), L’héritage maritime des Vikings en Europe de l’Ouest, 137-70 (= Colloque international de la Hague 1999, Office Universitaire d’Études Normandes, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie).

‘Wrecks and the diving public: the case of Scapa Flow’, The Archaeologist (IFA).

‘Wrecks, divers and scheduling: the case of Scapa Flow’, Nautical Archaeology Society Newsletter.

2001

‘The strange beast that is the English Urnes Style’, in Graham-Campbell, J, Hall, R, Jesch, J and Parsons, D N (eds), Vikings and the Danelaw, 203-22 (= Proceedings of the 13th Viking Congress, Oxbow).

‘The Southwell lintel, its style and significance’, in Graham-Campbell, J, Hall, R, Jesch, J and Parsons, D N (eds), Vikings and the Danelaw, 203-22 (= Proceedings of the 13th Viking Congress, Oxbow) (with Philip Dixon & David Stocker).

2000

The archaeology of Midlothian (The Midlothian 2000 CD-Rom: A Fourth Statistical Account of Midlothian: Millennium Project).

‘Les Shetland’, in Écosse, 262-68 (= Guides Gallimard, travel guide).

Book Review: ‘The Biggings, Papa Stour: a royal Norwegian farm, by Barbara Crawford & Beverley Ballin Smith’, Medieval Archaeology, XLIV (2000), 394.

‘Protecting the archaeology of Scotland’s historic burghs, in Dennison, E P (ed), Conservation and change in historic towns: research directions for the future, 47-59 (= Council for British Archaeology Research Report, 122).

The Future of the Scottish Burgh Survey (= Historic Scotland Research Report; with A MacSween and M Ritchie).

Scottish Burgh Survey (series editor)

  • Historic Linlithgow
  • Historic Forfar
  • Historic North Queensferry and peninsula

1999

Scar: a Viking boat burial on Orkney (Tuckwell Press monograph; with Magnar Dalland)

The Sea Road: a Viking voyage through Scotland (= The Making of Scotland series, Canongate).

Kebister, Shetland: the four thousand year old story of one Shetland township (= Society of Antiquaries of Scotland monograph, 14; with C E Lowe).

Scottish Burgh Survey (series editor)

  • Historic Melrose
  • Historic Nairn
  • Historic Dumbarton

1998

Urban archaeology in the United Kingdom, in Council of Europe: Urban Archaeology Handbook (with G Wainwright and R Thomas (EH); R Turner (CADW); and N Brannon and C Lynn (DoENI)).

‘The Scandinavian comb’, in ‘The discovery of medieval deposits beneath the Earl’s Palace, Kirkwall, Orkney’ by E McB Cox, O Owen and D Pringle, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 128, 567-80.

‘From past to present at Kebister: Unfolding the story of one Shetland farm’ in Turner, V (ed), The Shaping of Shetland (1998), 31-46.

Scottish Burgh Survey (series editor)

  • Historic Dalkeith
  • Historic Coupar Angus

 

1997

Book Review: ‘Scandinavian settlement in Northern Britain, edited by Barbara Crawford’, Journal of Landscape Studies, 3, 103.

Scottish Burgh Survey (series editor)

  • Historic Dunblane
  • Historic Stornoway
  • Historic Aberdeen

1996

Follow the Vikings: Highlights of the Viking world (= Council of Europe Cultural Viking Routes: international guidebook: editor and contributor).

Scottish Burgh Survey (series editor)

  • Historic Hamilton
  • Historic Musselburgh

1995

‘A lone traveller’s end? A group of early historic artefacts from Carronbridge, Dumfries and Galloway’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 125, 753-70 (with R D Welander).

‘Historic Scotland’s Backlog Project and the Projects Database’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 125, 1-8 (with G J Barclay).

‘The Catalogue’ in J Graham-Campbell et al The Viking-Age gold and silver of Scotland, National Museums of Scotland monograph (1995), 89-167 and passim.

Book Review: ‘When history becomes the footnote. Medieval Towns: a review’, British Archaeology (CBA Newsletter), 6.

Scottish Burgh Survey (series editor)

  • Historic Kirkcaldy
  • Historic Stranraer
  • Historic Cumnock

1994

‘The penannular brooch’, in Johnston D J ‘Carronbridge, Dumfries and Galloway: the excavation of Bronze Age cremations, Iron Age settlements and a Roman camp’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 124, 267-8.

‘Scar, Sanday, Orkney: the rescue of a Viking boat burial’, in Ambrosiani, B and Clark, H (eds), Proceedings of the Twelfth Viking Congress, 159-172 (with M Dalland).

1993

‘Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney: A challenge for the future?’, in Morris C D, Batey C E and Jesch J (eds), Proceedings of the Eleventh Viking Congress, 318-339.

1992

‘Eildon Hill North, Roxburgh, Borders’, in Rideout, J, Owen, O and Halpin, E (eds), The Hillforts of Southern Scotland, Historic Scotland/AOC monograph 1, 21-71.

 1991

‘The excavation of a post-medieval building at Halfway House, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway’, Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 66, 67-78.

1990

‘Kebister: burnt mounds and burnt mound material’, in Buckley V (ed), Burnt Offerings: International Contributions to burnt mound archaeology, 84-6 (with C E Lowe).

1989

 ‘A runic inscription from Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney’, Medieval Archaeology, 33, 53-59 (with J McKinnell).

 ‘Excavations at Red Craig: Stratigraphy and structures’, in Morris C D (ed), The Birsay Bay Project 1, 143-90 (with N Emery).

1988

‘Kebister, Shetland: An armorial stone and an archdeacon’s teind barn?’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 22, 1-20 (with B Smith).

‘Tuquoy, Orkney 1988: Further assessment and tapestry excavation of the Norse and medieval site’, Central Excavation Unit and Ancient Monuments Laboratory Annual Report 1988 (Historic Buildings and Monuments), 4-8.

1987

‘Trial excavations at Eildon Hill North, Roxburghshire, 1986’, Universities of Durham and Newcastle Archaeological Reports for 1986, 10, 17-23.

1986

‘Excavations and survey work on a multi-period settlement site at Kebister, Shetland 1985’, Universities of Durham and Newcastle Archaeological Reports for 1985, 9, 46-52.

1985

‘Skaill, Sandwick, Orkney: Preliminary investigations of a mound-site near Skara Brae’, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 12, 81-92 (with C D Morris, N Emery, M J Rains and H M Watt).

1984

‘The archaeological rescue project at Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney Islands, 1983’, Universities of Durham and Newcastle Archaeological Reports for 1983, 7, 49-54.

‘A decorative mount from the Brough of Birsay, Orkney’, Universities of Durham and Newcastle Archaeological Reports for 1983, 7, 55-60 (with C D Morris and J M Cronyn).

1983

‘Tuquoy, Westside’, in Lamb, R G Papa Westray and Westray: the archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland, 19, no 124, 33-4.

1982

‘The rescue project at Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney Islands, 1982’, Universities of Durham and Newcastle Archaeological Reports for 1982, 6, 45-50.

1980

‘A Viking Urnes style mount from Sedgeford, Norfolk’, Norfolk Archaeology 37, 353-5 (with R Trett).

1979

MA Thesis (University of Durham) Late Viking Art: a catalogue and re-evaluation of the Urnes Style in England (awarded 1980).

Miscellaneous interim reports

 (excluding HS and HEACS policy documents and numerous contributions to Discovery and Excavation in Scotland, etc.)

‘Lairg and the impact of bracken in archaeological areas’ (Historic Scotland 1992).

‘The excavation of a post-medieval building at Halfway House, by Kirkcowan, Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway’ (AOC Annual Report 1989).

‘Publicity and public relations’ (AOC Annual Report 1989).

‘Tuquoy, Orkney 1988: Further assessment and tapestry excavation of the Norse and medieval settlement site’ (CEU Annual Report 1988).

‘The discovery of human remains near Broxmouth, East Lothian’ (CEU Annual Report 1988; SDD-CEU internal report 1988).

‘Publicity and public relations’ (CEU Annual Report 1988).

‘Redhouse Castle, Longniddry, East Lothian (CEU Annual Report 1987; SDD-CEU internal report 1987).

‘Kingside Hill stone circle, East Lothian’ (CEU Annual Report 1987).

‘Interim report on the survey and excavations undertaken at Kebister, Shetland’ (CEU Annual Report 1987).

‘An interim report on excavations undertaken at Kebister, Shetland, 1986’ (SDD-CEU internal report).

‘Eildon Hill North: an interim report on trial excavations of the fort on Eildon Hill North, Roxburghshire, 1986’ (SDD-CEU internal report).

‘Report on the archaeological watching brief undertaken during the stabilisation programme of the Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney’ (SDD-CEU internal report 1986)

‘An interim report on excavations and survey work undertaken at Kebister, Shetland, 1985’ (University of Durham internal report)

‘An interim report on the second season of the archaeological rescue project at Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney, 1983’ (University of Durham internal report)

‘Interim report on the archaeological rescue project at Tuquoy, Westray, Orkney, 1982’ (University of Durham internal report)