Orkney: 'Beside the Ocean of Time'
Lead Research Organisation:
Falmouth University
Department Name: The School of Writing and Journalism
Abstract
How do individuals and communities understand Deep Time? A relatively short-term perspective is dominant in contemporary societies as they face the complicated ongoing consequences of landscape change on every aspect of the human life, from agriculture and provision of food and energy to the protection of natural or cultural landscapes. A more holistic and deeper knowledge is required. This 18-month project - 'Orkney: Beside the Ocean of Time' - aims to generate new understandings of the interrelationship between human community, Deep Time and landscape change using an interdisciplinary approach, in which five Early Career Researchers with backgrounds in Social Anthropology, Literature, Archaeology, Palaeoecology and Geology, will work together to find innovative ways to investigate and represent time-depth in landscape, using Orkney as a model. The project will develop and pilot an interdisciplinary methodology that will enable new insights into Orkney's rich literary, geological, palaeoenvironmental and archaeological heritage, which is coupled with contemporary concerns over coastal erosion and the political and economic importance of energy generation. The project will address three main research questions:
- How do communities respond and adapt to landscape change?
- What is the time-depth of people's engagement with place?
- How do we make Deep Time visible?
Responding to the challenge of understanding human engagements with the time-depth of landscape change requires the combined insights of Arts, Humanities and Sciences. Researchers will combine their expertise to undertake interdisciplinary fieldwork on Orkney to include: analysis of 19th and 20th century Orcadian literature; investigation of the impact of flooding, the Storegga slide, volcanic ash, and other geological activity; a reanalysis of the Orcadian palaeoenvironmental data; an online database compiling and evaluating legacy Orkney radiocarbon measurements; ethnographic fieldwork (see below). Working together with our project partner, the Pier Arts Centre (Stromness), and in collaboration with a local artist, we will explore creative ways of communicating and representing the results of the fieldwork, and making Deep Time visible. The project will culminate in a public Festival of Deep Time, which will include an exhibition of the artist's collaboration, and a series of public workshops, talks and field-trips, that will enable us to undertake further ethnographic fieldwork, by involving the community in a dialogue about perceptions of time-depth and landscape change. The research findings of the project will also be made available via a project website containing geotagged images, video and other research data, and through the development of a toolkit for researchers wishing to undertake interdisciplinary Science, Arts, and Humanities research in relation to time and/or environmental change.
'Orkney: Beside the Ocean of Time' contributes to the Science in Culture Programme by providing opportunities for public engagement with the effects of time on landscape change. It will enable community dialogue about the ways in which the lived environment of Orkney has been, and will continue to be shaped by human and natural activities, in the deep and near past, the present moment, and perhaps most significantly, the as yet, undetermined future.
- How do communities respond and adapt to landscape change?
- What is the time-depth of people's engagement with place?
- How do we make Deep Time visible?
Responding to the challenge of understanding human engagements with the time-depth of landscape change requires the combined insights of Arts, Humanities and Sciences. Researchers will combine their expertise to undertake interdisciplinary fieldwork on Orkney to include: analysis of 19th and 20th century Orcadian literature; investigation of the impact of flooding, the Storegga slide, volcanic ash, and other geological activity; a reanalysis of the Orcadian palaeoenvironmental data; an online database compiling and evaluating legacy Orkney radiocarbon measurements; ethnographic fieldwork (see below). Working together with our project partner, the Pier Arts Centre (Stromness), and in collaboration with a local artist, we will explore creative ways of communicating and representing the results of the fieldwork, and making Deep Time visible. The project will culminate in a public Festival of Deep Time, which will include an exhibition of the artist's collaboration, and a series of public workshops, talks and field-trips, that will enable us to undertake further ethnographic fieldwork, by involving the community in a dialogue about perceptions of time-depth and landscape change. The research findings of the project will also be made available via a project website containing geotagged images, video and other research data, and through the development of a toolkit for researchers wishing to undertake interdisciplinary Science, Arts, and Humanities research in relation to time and/or environmental change.
'Orkney: Beside the Ocean of Time' contributes to the Science in Culture Programme by providing opportunities for public engagement with the effects of time on landscape change. It will enable community dialogue about the ways in which the lived environment of Orkney has been, and will continue to be shaped by human and natural activities, in the deep and near past, the present moment, and perhaps most significantly, the as yet, undetermined future.
Planned Impact
Direct beneficiaries include:
- Local community
- Pier Arts Centre
- Collaborating artist
- Wider public attending the Festival of Deep Time
Indirect beneficiaries who may be able to use the research include:
- Artistic community
- Tourism and Heritage sites and organisations
- Public Sector Groups & Nonprofit Organisations
- Policy Makers
Impact 1: the research will benefit participants in the local community by developing a deeper understanding of the relationship between 'Deep Time' and landscape change. This will be assessed by evaluation of the Festival of Deep Time and the varying activities involved in this. Evaluation methods include semi-structured interviews, scenario-planning workshops, and feedback responses to field trips and talks that will seek to capture changes in attitudes and perceptions of participants. The Festival, artistic output and website will also raise public awareness of the way in which the lived environment of Orkney has been, and continues to be shaped by human and natural activities at various temporal scales.
Impact 2: the Piers Art Centre will benefit from developing new academic partnerships that enable 'knowledge exchange', which will support the Centre in fulfilling its aim to encourage 'research that explores the visual arts', 'its collection, and Orkney through continued dialogue that provides a public facing forum for discussion'. The co-production of the Festival will also support the Centre's key role in contributing 'to the social, economic and cultural wealth of Orkney, Scotland and the UK'.
Impact 3: the project offers a development opportunity for the commissioned artist, and we would anticipate, a springboard for their future work. We envisage that the artistic collaboration will also provide indirect benefit as a case-study for the artistic community on Orkney and beyond to reflect on the ways in which creative practice can contribute to different understandings of time perception and environmental change.
Impact 4: although aimed principally at academic audiences, it is also anticipated that the interdisciplinary toolkit, database of legacy radiocarbon measurements, talks and co-authored articles produced by the research team, will provide impact alongside the resources made available on the website, for several indirect beneficiaries during and beyond the duration of the project. Given that the project will work at internationally significant tourism and heritage sites, which are vulnerable to the impact of both natural and human forces, the resulting fieldwork will be of potential interest to Tourism/Heritage organisations, as well as Public Sector Groups & Nonprofit Organisations on Orkney (Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Orkney Islands Council). The outputs are also of relevance for national and international policy makers and organisations concerned with the ongoing risks of Global Change, such as DEFRA, Dept. Energy & Climate Change, UN, Greenpeace. The first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) governmental report (2012) set out the main priorities for adaptation in the UK under five themes (Agriculture & Forestry; Business; Health & Wellbeing; Natural Environment, Buildings & Infrastructure). The findings are mainly based on the 2009 UK Climate Projections, and palaeoenvironmental and archaeological perspectives are missing. The second CCRA report is due in January 2017. Although a range scientific experts and fields are included, Humanities & Arts are not. We envisage a significant benefit therefore of providing novel, interdisciplinary approaches and research data on this complex issue. We will disseminate our findings to relevant government organisations to provide new approaches to developing more holistic policies.
- Local community
- Pier Arts Centre
- Collaborating artist
- Wider public attending the Festival of Deep Time
Indirect beneficiaries who may be able to use the research include:
- Artistic community
- Tourism and Heritage sites and organisations
- Public Sector Groups & Nonprofit Organisations
- Policy Makers
Impact 1: the research will benefit participants in the local community by developing a deeper understanding of the relationship between 'Deep Time' and landscape change. This will be assessed by evaluation of the Festival of Deep Time and the varying activities involved in this. Evaluation methods include semi-structured interviews, scenario-planning workshops, and feedback responses to field trips and talks that will seek to capture changes in attitudes and perceptions of participants. The Festival, artistic output and website will also raise public awareness of the way in which the lived environment of Orkney has been, and continues to be shaped by human and natural activities at various temporal scales.
Impact 2: the Piers Art Centre will benefit from developing new academic partnerships that enable 'knowledge exchange', which will support the Centre in fulfilling its aim to encourage 'research that explores the visual arts', 'its collection, and Orkney through continued dialogue that provides a public facing forum for discussion'. The co-production of the Festival will also support the Centre's key role in contributing 'to the social, economic and cultural wealth of Orkney, Scotland and the UK'.
Impact 3: the project offers a development opportunity for the commissioned artist, and we would anticipate, a springboard for their future work. We envisage that the artistic collaboration will also provide indirect benefit as a case-study for the artistic community on Orkney and beyond to reflect on the ways in which creative practice can contribute to different understandings of time perception and environmental change.
Impact 4: although aimed principally at academic audiences, it is also anticipated that the interdisciplinary toolkit, database of legacy radiocarbon measurements, talks and co-authored articles produced by the research team, will provide impact alongside the resources made available on the website, for several indirect beneficiaries during and beyond the duration of the project. Given that the project will work at internationally significant tourism and heritage sites, which are vulnerable to the impact of both natural and human forces, the resulting fieldwork will be of potential interest to Tourism/Heritage organisations, as well as Public Sector Groups & Nonprofit Organisations on Orkney (Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Orkney Islands Council). The outputs are also of relevance for national and international policy makers and organisations concerned with the ongoing risks of Global Change, such as DEFRA, Dept. Energy & Climate Change, UN, Greenpeace. The first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) governmental report (2012) set out the main priorities for adaptation in the UK under five themes (Agriculture & Forestry; Business; Health & Wellbeing; Natural Environment, Buildings & Infrastructure). The findings are mainly based on the 2009 UK Climate Projections, and palaeoenvironmental and archaeological perspectives are missing. The second CCRA report is due in January 2017. Although a range scientific experts and fields are included, Humanities & Arts are not. We envisage a significant benefit therefore of providing novel, interdisciplinary approaches and research data on this complex issue. We will disseminate our findings to relevant government organisations to provide new approaches to developing more holistic policies.
Publications
Irvine R
(2021)
Time Horizon: Intersections of Deep Time and Biographical Time on the West Shore, Stromness, Orkney
in GeoHumanities
| Title | Walking the Sound Exhibition |
| Description | Anne Bevan is artist in residence for Orkney: Beside the Ocean of Time, a multi-disciplinary research project which examines layers of time and change from a range of perspectives, from the slow geological shift of deep time to our more rapid human development and intervention. Concentrating her activity on a section of the Stromness West Shore, with its dramatic backdrop of constant cross currents and the swell of Hoy Sound, Anne has taken as a 'sample', a local area rich in geology, natural and social history, a source of inspiration for artists and poets. The project has enabled Anne to explore a very familiar place in new and different ways. As well as walking, drawing and making, it has involved her in conversations with local experts, about geology, marine biology, energy and archaeology, as well as engaging with the many stories, histories and memories evoked by the West Shore. The exhibition takes the form of an open studio, gathering together responses to the West Shore through video, sculpture, drawing and print. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | The event opening was attended by around 70 professionals (teachers, ecologists, geologists, archeologists, storytellers, artists) from the local community as well as some of the general public. Anecdotal responses indicated that the exhibition provoked thinking about landscape change and the human temporal relationship to it. The exhibition was also used as part of two additional workshops (described elsewhere in ResearchFish). The exhibition was open between April and June 2017 for free. |
| URL | http://www.pierartscentre.com/current-upcoming-exhibition/22/4/2017/beside-the-sound-an-open-studio-... |
| Description | The most significant achievements of the award were the new knowledge generated as a result of collaborative fieldwork focused on the West Shore, and the series of events and exhibition delivered as part of the Deep Time Festival, which enabled further knowledge and insights into people's perceptions of time-depth and landscape change, and generated innovative ways of making Deep Time visible (see Engagement Activities and Creative Output). The award aims and objectives have been met as explained below. 1. Our aims 'to better understand how local communities respond and adapt to landscape change in the past and present in order to help for the future' and to 'investigate the time-depth of people's engagement with place' were met by our engagement with the public (children and families, students, general public) and local professionals (geologists, archaeologists, artists and makers, alternative energy producers) via activities held as part of the Deep Time Festival. Event participants were invited to engage in and respond to 1) workshops that explored past, present and future environments through scenario-planning and the relationship between time and scale in Orcadian poetry and film, 2) field walks that explored human relationships to deep time processes, through geology, ecology, archaeology, literary engagements, and cultural uses (bathing, graffiti) of the West Shore in Stromness, 3) talks that explored interdisciplinary approaches to time and landscape change in Orkney through a focus on topics such as the stratigraphy of peat, and the work of Orcadian polymath Robert Rendall, 4) storytelling activities that enabled insights into how we understand time through archaeology, 5) a series of interviews with local figures involved in landscape change and impacts in Orkney from the Uranium controversy, to archaeological practices. 2. Our aim to find new and 'creative' ways of making Deep Time visible' was met by the various Festival activities outlined above, and along with a notebook created to accompany the field walk, and the 'Walking the Sound' exhibition. This exhibition was held at the Pier Arts Centre between April and June 2017 and took the form of an open studio, gathering together responses to the West Shore through video, sculpture, drawing and print. We also created digital tools that act to render deep time visible, and which include the project website, an online database of radio-carbon dates, and three sonifications of geological data from the West Shore in Orkney. These are available on the project website, and the sonifications were used with the public during the field walk. 3. Our aim to 'develop interdisciplinary methods and approaches for investigating time-depth' was met by the interdisciplinary fieldwork undertaken on the West Shore, with the project artist, which explored its archaeology, literary representations, resource use, geological processes and stratigraphy, human cultural interventions such as graffiti and concrete defenses (both military and sea defenses), and its ecological past through a representation of its Holocene vegetation. Making and artistic interventions on the shore led to further insights into how working across disciplines can make intangible concepts such as deep-time, tangible and more legible to wider public understanding. Additional archival research into connections between deep time, landscape change, and local human-environment interactions, such as the history of the uranium controversy, the significance of the natural history society, local uses and politics of peat, representations and understandings of time-depth in Orcadian literature, science/natural history texts, religious writings and film provided a rich data set which combined with field notes, audience responses, and interviews, will be written up for publication as a series of articles and a field guide. This work has and will continue to make a contribution to a growing body of emergent research that draws on the concept of deep time in the environmental humanities and earth sciences through archival research, and combining our interdisciplinary knowledge, along with field work. |
| Exploitation Route | Resources from the project such as the designed field-walk, and the walk booklet have been re-used with local schools by University of Highlands and Islands and Pier Arts Centre. The exhibition may also be re-exhibited in other locations subject to further funding. The collaboration with Anne Bevan during this project has already led to a further funded project, funded under the Creating Earth Futures Commissions Scheme. 'Mapping the Sound' runs from January to August 2018 and will create 'cultural maps' from a section of the coastline of Orkney using existing data sets and archives gathered from 'Orkney: Beside the Ocean of Time, as well as new material. From their collaboration on 'Beside the Ocean of Time' Co-I Fearnley and artist-in-residence, Bevan, opened a dialogue around how we represent changing landscapes from a multidisciplinary view point. New dialogue also emerged with the local public, and it became clear that there is much more to explore. The online database compiling and evaluating legacy Orkney radiocarbon measurements is available for use by archaeologists and is currently in use by a PhD candidate at SUERC who will add to the database. The project team has co-authored a piece for The Conversation which is designed to communicate academic research to non-academic communities. Two journal articles and plans for a field guide book outlining interdisciplinary techniques and approaches are in development, which will enable the academic community to use the findings, as well as potential benefit to policy. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.oceanoftime.uk |
| Description | The blog posts about elements of the research on the project website have been widely shared via social media and read by academic and non-academic audiences and generated interest, as has the piece about 'everyday' deep time in The Conversation, which received over 3.4k social media shares. Resources from the project such as the designed field-walk, and the walk booklet have been re-used with local schools by University of Highlands and Islands and Pier Arts Centre, generating new opportunities for learning and creativity among young people. The exhibition and festival were research gathering events in themselves, but also an opportunity to disseminate desk-based and fieldwork research. With an average of 50-70 people at each event, and the extended public engagement through the exhibition at the Pier Arts Centre the initial findings of the desk-based research and interdisciplinary fieldwork have been widely used and well received by the local community and the Pier Arts Centre, demonstrating benefit in terms of people's understanding of landscape change, and how this impacts on community health, social life, economy and creativity. The collaboration with Anne Bevan during this project has already led to a further funded project, funded under the Creating Earth Futures Commissions Scheme. 'Mapping the Sound' runs from January to August 2018 and will create 'cultural maps' from a section of the coastline of Orkney using existing data sets and archives gathered from 'Orkney: Beside the Ocean of Time, as well as new material. From their collaboration on 'Beside the Ocean of Time' Co-I Fearnley and artist-in-residence, Bevan, opened a dialogue around how we represent changing landscapes from a multidisciplinary view point. New dialogue also emerged with the local public, and it became clear that there is much more to explore, and further creative output potential. PI and Co-Is have given talks and shared findings, which have been received with interest among the academic community across various disciplines. The project has also provided experience in research project management for the five ECRs, building capacity within the five HEIs involved in the project to undertake future interdisciplinary research that crosses the boundaries of the sciences and humanities. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | The Creating Earth Futures Commissions 2018 |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 08/2018 |
| Title | Orkney14CLegacy |
| Description | Orkney14CLegacy is a database of information about legacy radiocarbon measurements from Orkney compiled as a component of the Orkney: 'Beside the Ocean of Time' project. Included are the radiocarbon measurements from Orkney in the Scottish Radiocarbon Database, which is described by Ashmore et al. (2000) and currently available on Canmore. Every archaeological radiocarbon measurement from Orkney published before 2006 is included in the database. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | While much of the information in Orkney14CLegacy can be viewed on many separate Canmore webpages, an advantage of this new database is that it serves as a single comprehensive source for information about the legacy radiocarbon measurements from Orkney. Original sources for radiocarbon information are not provided on Canmore, but this is something included in Orkney14CLegacy so that users can easily track down publications with the referenced information. The database enables some insight into the Deep Time of human history at Orkney. For example, the data highlights a gap in chronological understanding for Orkney's archaeology showing that there is much potential for future chronologically-focused research for Iron Age Orkney. While version 1 of Orkney14CLegacy is complete, there is much that could be included in future updates. Specifically, the database currently does not include radiocarbon measurements published after 2006, but the pace of radiocarbon submissions from Orkney to the SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory have only accelerated over the past decade. Including these more recent measurements in Orkney14CLegacy with future updates could help make the database a useful resource for archaeologists. The database is therefore a foundation for future work. One of SUERCs PhD students funded by Historic Environment Scotland will be updating the database with measurements from Westray and Papa Westray as part of her PhD work. |
| URL | http://www.oceanoftime.uk/a-database-for-orkneys-legacy-radiocarbon-dates/ |
| Description | Pier Arts Centre |
| Organisation | Pier Arts Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The research team are providing their research knowledge and intellectual input to develop the festival content which will be delivered to Pier audiences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Pier have supported the research team in delivering WP3 - Artist Collaboration, and WP4 - Festival of Deep Time. The Pier will provide use of the gallery as the Festival and exhibition venue, including room hire for talks, workshops and other public events, they will install the artist output, and promote events through their networks. The Pier are also providing invaluable knowledge and networks in the artistic and wider local community, experience of working on interdisciplinary research projects on Orkney, expertise in the development of cross-disciplinary artist briefs, the selection of artists and the management of residency programmes. |
| Impact | Outputs yet to be delivered. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | BBC Radio Orkney Interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | An interview about the project with PI Niamh Downing and Carol Dunbar from The Pier Arts Centre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://soundcloud.com/radio-orkney/around-orkney-thursday-14-july-2016 |
| Description | CenSamm Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk entitled: Dust: on climate fatalism, invited paper at the symposium "Climate and Apocalypse" at The Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (CenSAMM) which is an initiative of the Panacea Charitable Trust in Bedford, UK. This generated interest and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Deep Time Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Deep Time Festival took place over three days from 21 to 23 April 2017 at The Pier Arts Centre, and in and around Stromness. A series of events, walks and an open studio exhibition brought together our reflections on the human experience of Deep Time from a range of artistic, scientific, humanities and social and human science perspectives. The accompanying open studio exhibition, Walking the Sound, by Anne Bevan ran from Saturday, April 22 to Saturday, June 10 2017. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.oceanoftime.uk/deep-time-festival/ |
| Description | Deep Time Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Two workshops were run at the Pier Arts Centre designed to engage the general public, and children and families with concepts of deep time and landscape change. One event was a scenario planing workshop and the other a children's art workshop based on the work of Margaret Tait. Deep time workshop 1: 'Recasting the future': How was the human-environment relationship in the past? How can we imagine our future relationship with the landscape? Workshop with anthropologist Richard Irvine, geologist Carina Fearnley, and paleoecologist Lourdes López-Merino to explore past, present and potential future scenarios for landscape change and environmental hazards to evaluate whether we have learned from past experiences and we are doing enough now. Deep time workshop 2: 'Making Things Visible': How can we understand things or events that are very large like the Universe, or very small like an atom? Join this drop-in creative workshop with Niamh Downing, using the films and poetry of Margaret Tait, to think about objects large and small, and timescales beyond our everyday lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Deep Time in a Glass |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Article about deep time and the project in The Conversation. The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/a-glass-of-whisky-could-help-you-get-your-head-around-deep-time-79240 |
| Description | Deep Time in a Glass |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The slow accumulation of peat: partially decomposed organic matter building up under wet conditions over thousands of years. What does it reveal about our past, and how do we live with it in our present? How do we work with it, touch it, smell it, taste it? This event, with participation from Highland Park distillery, explores the stratigraphy of peat from a range of arts and science perspectives. This event explored peat from different disciplinary perspectives, presenting collective research and enabling the participants (approx 70) to engage with concepts of deep time in everyday objects. The event was very well received with discussion afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | First Field Trip Reception |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We met with local professionals in the field of archaeology, storytelling, art, geology to build networks on Orkney that would support the project, and as audiences for the later festival. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Glasgow University Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk entitled: 'Walking the Sound: Beside the Ocean of Time'Glasgow University, School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, which generated interest and discussion among academic community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Oslo Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk entitled: The problem with presentism, Geological Times seminar at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo. This talk was about research on the West Shore, and one of the outcomes of that was that members of CICERO (Centre for International Climate Research) at Oslo http://www.cicero.oslo.no came along and want to engage with some of our research when it is published. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Project Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project website, with interactive map of field trip 1, events, news and research updates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.oceanoftime.uk |
| Description | Robert Rendall Public Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a talk by Richard Irvine about the life Robert Rendall and Rendall's experience of the vastness of time on the Orkney shore. Poet, archaeologist, natural historian, and scripture scholar, Rendall's interests spanned many facets of island life. The talk explored his scientific, theological, and poetic writing, and consider how his knowledge of Orkney's landscape was infused with a sense of the deep time of creation. Around 70 people attended and the event generated much discussion among local professionals and the general public about landscape, deep time and Robert Rendall's work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Storytelling Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Te Deep Time Festival included a public storytelling session about archaeology. Six individuals who reside in Orkney with backgrounds in archaeology and public heritage served as storytellers. Each story shared was recorded and can be listened to on the website. Fran Flett Hollinrake (Historian, Writer, Storyteller, Tourist Guide, and Custodian for the St. Magnus Cathedral) served as a wonderful curator for the evening and can be heard at various points throughout each recording. The focus of the event was archaeology, many of the stories included discussion relevant to other fields in Deep Time research. Caroline Wickham-Jones' story included cross-disciplinary reflections about observer bias and the power of prejudice. The field of folklore played an important part of Tom Muir's story, which included a narrative from an Orcadian folktale. Likewise, the stories shared by Andrew Hollinrake and Fran Flett Hollinrake involved encounters with objects of historical significance for Scotland. The event was attended by around 70 members of the public. Audience participation was a component of the event with Q&As and discussions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.oceanoftime.uk/stories-about-archaeology/ |
| Description | Talk at UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk entitled: Remember you are dust: imagining ruin, at a Centre for the Anthropology of Sustainability Seminar, University College London, which generated interest in the topic and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Talk at University Highland and Islands (UHI) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk entitled: An uncertain footing: peat and its life cycles, seminar at the Archaeology Institute, Orkney College, University of Highlands and Islands. This generated interest and discussion among academic community and a request to work further with the research group on peat. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Traversing the Sound - Public Walk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The West Shore at Stromness, was the focus of the open studio exhibition, and some of our interdisciplinary work, including a public walk. The site was selected by project artist, Anne Bevan, for its personal and local familiarity, and its potential for looking anew at the everyday as a deep time environment. This familiar landscape provides a palimpsest of human, geological, archaeological and environmental records. Human agency is evident in this landscape: energy generation, concrete sea defences, wartime archaeology, the remains of a bathing shelter, as well as the linguistic marks left by graffiti and local literary representation. This activity is inscribed across the deeper time of the local geology from the ancient formation of the granite bedrock, stromatolites, and fish beds of Lake Orcadie, to more recent efforts to release energy from Uranium, or the sea itself. We walked the route several times, drawing on material from the Orkney archives, museum, palaeo-environmental and archaeological records, as well as the expertise of local geologists, archaeologists, artists, writers, biologists and heritage professionals, many of whom accompanied us on the final public walk. We made notebooks for each of the walk participants including a map, cross-section drawing, and various images about each stop on the walk that we had gathered during our research work. There was space for walkers to record their own thoughts about deep time. At each stop a project team member spoke for a minute or two about the time-depth of the landscape feature, and participants were also invited to take part in activities on the Tender Tables. The walk culminated in a geological sonification at the Ness Battery. The walk was undertaken by the general public, and then again a month later by a local school group and Art and Archaeology students from UHI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.oceanoftime.uk/deep-time-festival |
| Description | University of Canterbury Talk, New Zealand |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'Walking the Sound: Beside the Ocean of Time', University of Canterbury (NZ), Department of Geography. This talk produce interest about the research work and further discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |