As part of the Viking Week, Orkney Archaeology Society and Orkney Time Travel invite you to a Family Day at the Earl’s Bu and Round Kirk in Orphir. Orkneyinga Saga Centre will be open. Outside will be a mixture of fun family-friendly activities, including storytelling from Viking mythology and sagas, Viking crafts, fun and games.
Conducted by Rev. Fraser Macnaughton, with the St Magnus Cathedral Choir.
Explore the fossilised remains of Lake Orcadie’s ancient fish and work together with artist Mary Grieve to help create a shoal of shadows, designing and building a shadow puppet fish to recreate the water world of Devonian times, in an era before life came ashore leading to reptiles, birds, mammals and us.
Walk from the Ring of Brodgar to the Stones of Stenness, stopping off at the Ness of Brodgar and Barnhouse Neolithic village, for an insight into landscape features, archaeology, plants and animals past and present, from HES Rangers and UHI researchers Kath Page, Sue Dyke and Dr Ben Elliott.
Dave Craig explains the nuts and bolts of how Stellarium was used in his recent investigation Why is Maeshowe Squint? This, he says, will help citizen scientists or archaeologists to investigate Maeshowe or other potential alignments themselves. “There will be a particular focus on accuracy and simplicity. If you want, bring along your own laptop with Stellarium and/or Google Earth Pro already installed.
See the blazing light and churning fire of the Sun’s surface and hear music for the cosmos from two composers whose works blend electronic sounds with instruments and voices to create work of elemental power and ethereal beauty. The programme features Stuart MacRae’s Magnus, Noble Martyr and his Incarnadine, along with Michael Oliva’s Threnody and his Music of the Spheres. With the Mayfield Singers, Ewan Robertson (alto and bass flute), Valerie Webster and Hannah Marshall (cellos), and Paisley Abbey organist George McPhee, and narration by solar physicist Prof. Robert Walsh.
Chris Thomas of the Quekett Microscopical Club shows some beautiful images from thin-section rock slides and the pictures of ancient worlds they lead to. Katy Firth of Stromness Museum describes plans to digitise the slides from the late Ted Kellock’s rock collection.
Composers Stuart MacRae and Michael Oliva both explore electronic sounds in their music in journeys of exploration of uncharted territory. How can electronic sounds convey the beauty of the natural world? They join solar physicist and SUN co-creator, Prof. Robert Walsh, and flautist Ewan Robertson in conversation.
A science festival has a radical role in developing a creative climate for a region. Here is the story of how it began, and how Orkney was involved from an early stage in the concept.
