Barley
which turns many of the fertile fields around Stove golden-green in late Summer
Barley has been grown on the island of Sanday, evolving since Neolithic times.
Evidence of 'naked' and hulled six row barley has been discovered on several excavated Neolithic settlements dating as far back as 3,600 BC to 2,700 BC. These include Knap of Howar on Papa Westray, Pool and Tofts Ness on Sanday, Barnhouse in Stenness and in the Ha'Breck area of Wyre we found one of the largest assemblages of neolithic cereal in Scotland. The intensity of grain production is so unusual in one of the buildings there it leads us to suspect that it may have had an agricultural function as a granary. - Current Archaeology, No 268, June 2012
