Category: Further Afield

Friday, October 21, 2022

Crossiecrown settlement – part one

The Crossiecrown settlement lay in the northern shadow of Wideford Hill, on low ground to the north-east of the Quanterness cairn. Occupied from around 3300BC to 1800BC, the site spanned the Orcadian Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Read more

3D Model / Chambered Cairns / Further Afield / Links

Friday, June 17, 2022

Link: Explore Vinquoy chambered cairn with new 3d model

3d model of the Vinquoy chambered cairn, Eday, Orkney.New 3d models of chambered cairns now available to explore as part of the UHI Archaeology Institute’s Tombs of the Isles project.… Read more

Further Afield / Settlements

Friday, February 18, 2022

The Knap of Howar, Papa Westray

Until the early years of the 21st century, the two buildings at the Knap of Howar had the distinction of being the earliest evidence of Neolithic settlement in Orkney. Read more

Excavation under way at the Sandfiold cist and chamber. (Picture courtesy of the Gunnie Moberg Archive/Orkney Library Photographic Archives)

Chambered Cairns / Further Afield

Friday, January 21, 2022

Sandfiold: cremation, tomb and cist

Like the many Neolithic chambered cairns throughout Orkney, the Sandfiold cist was clearly meant to be, and was, re-used. Few Orcadian cairns have been found to contain human remains, strongly suggesting that they were not the final destination for all the Neolithic dead. Read more

Further Afield

Friday, January 14, 2022

Sandfiold: an ‘exceptional’ burial cist in use for almost two millennia

In 1989, a vehicle broke through the top of a rock-cut chamber that contained a rectangular, box-like structure. Read more

Further Afield

Thursday, December 23, 2021

The Sandfiold Bronze Age cemetery

Sandfiold is a low hill, near Skara Brae, that is home to the remnants of an extensive Bronze Age cemetery. Read more

3D Model / Further Afield / Settlements

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Visit Skara Brae virtually with new digital 3D model

A new 3D model of Skara Brae is offering online visitors an immersive digital experience of the 5,000-year-old Neolithic settlement. Read more

Further Afield / Settlements

Monday, December 13, 2021

The Knowes of Trotty – a Bronze Age cemetery and Neolithic settlement site

The Knowes of Trotty form a Bronze Age barrow cemetery that is the only one of its kind in northern Britain and the largest between here and southern England. Read more

Chambered Cairns / Further Afield

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Quanterness chambered cairn

The Quanterness passage grave is the third in a series of three found in a three-mile stretch of countryside between Kirkwall and Finstown. Read more

Further Afield

Monday, May 24, 2021

The Bay of Firth Neolithic trail

Now that things are getting back to some semblance of normality, we’ve turned out attention to the incredibly rich Neolithic landscape around the Bay of Firth.Although the trail focuses on… Read more

Chambered Cairns / Further Afield

Monday, May 17, 2021

Wideford Hill chambered cairn

Just under three miles to the east of Cuween Hill, on the steep, upper slopes of Wideford Hill, is a second Neolithic passage grave. Read more

Interior of the Cuween chambered cairn, Firth, Orkney. (📷 Jim Richardson)

Chambered Cairns / Further Afield

Monday, May 3, 2021

Cuween chambered cairn

The Cuween cairn is built on an artificial terrace on the upper slopes of Cuween Hill's eastern side. Cuween is a Maeshowe-type cairn consisting of a “roughly rectangular” central chamber with four smaller cells branching off from each side. Read more

Chambered Cairns / Further Afield

Monday, April 5, 2021

Not all monuments were created equal: part two

Evidence calls into question many assumptions surrounding chambered cairns and, indeed, Neolithic architecture. Not all structures were meant to be the steadfast edifices. Read more

Chambered Cairns / Further Afield

Monday, March 29, 2021

Not all monuments were created equal

Visitors to the Ness of Brodgar dig will probably have heard “surface over substance” used to describe the construction of some of the structures on site. Read more

Category: Further Afield

Crossiecrown settlement – part one

Link: Explore Vinquoy chambered cairn with new 3d model

The Knap of Howar, Papa Westray

Sandfiold: cremation, tomb and cist

Sandfiold: an ‘exceptional’ burial cist in use for almost two millennia

The Sandfiold Bronze Age cemetery

Visit Skara Brae virtually with new digital 3D model

The Knowes of Trotty – a Bronze Age cemetery and Neolithic settlement site

Quanterness chambered cairn

The Bay of Firth Neolithic trail

Wideford Hill chambered cairn

Cuween chambered cairn

Not all monuments were created equal: part two

Not all monuments were created equal

Orkney’s Prehistory

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