Transcript: Dr Julie Gibson VFT 2: The Heart of Neolithic
Orkney
Question 4: What are the benefits of the World Heritage Site for Orkney?
The World Heritage designation was actually sought for by the Orkney Archaeology Trust together with the
Orkney Tourist Board and it was the nudging of those groups, and with the Heritage Society actually, who
were the then employer of the archaeologist. They got together and suggested to Historic Scotland that it
was time to revive a bid that had been put on a shelf for a little while. And at that time I think the
community thought it would be a good idea if the islands were inscribed under…as the whole of the islands,
as working farming landscapes holding within them 5000 years of farming history.
But any bidding has to be done by the government and the government, through Historic Scotland, thought
that it would be better to revive the more limited bid for Neolithic Orkney – and do a bid for the Heart of
Neolithic Orkney which expanded on their original idea but was nevertheless more manageable I think. So
that’s what we went with and the reason we went with it was for all those good reasons: that the sites are
getting their recognition; assisted in their preservation; it’s good for your roots and for pride in your roots
and it’s a good marketing tool for almost everything that you do within Orkney.
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