The early 1980s saw excavation of a prehistoric house at Mavis Grind (Cracknell and Smith 1985). Meanwhile, AOC Archaeology investigated five Iron Age sites south of Lerwick, including Kirkigeo in Fair Isle, and a valuable discussion of blockhouses (1995). In 1992, Bennett was the first person to suggest evidence of a Shetland Mesolithic, arising from paleoenvironmental work at Dallican water.
During the mid-1980s Olwyn Owen led a team in excavating an exceptional teind barn, at Kebister, and incorporated an equally exceptional survey which plotted the entire hillside, grid square by grid square. Simultaneously, John Hunter conducted a four-year project to survey the archaeology of Fair Isle, increasing the number of known sites in the island from 23 to 746.
In 1986, Shetland Amenity Trust, on behalf of Shetland Islands Council, appointed Val Turner to be the first Regional Archaeologist for the Islands. She established the Sites and Monuments Record, which included all the recorded sites in the islands, visiting where possible and proactively seeking out more. At a time when community archaeology projects were relatively uncommon, she created the Shetland Archaeology Survey Group, who helped her survey the Viking steatite workings at Catpund to professional standards (Turner 1998). Amateur archaeologists have continued to make an invaluable contribution to mapping and recording, as well as excavation. In 1994, a small-scale excavation at the eroding coastal site of Gungstie, Noss, was carried out by a team who were entirely resident in Shetland.
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