Midhowe Chambered Cairn

Last updated

The tomb showing the individual stalls Midhowe Neolithic chambered cairn, Rousay, Orkney.jpg
The tomb showing the individual stalls

Midhowe Chambered Cairn is a large Neolithic chambered cairn located on the south shore of the island of Rousay, Orkney, Scotland. The name "Midhowe" comes from the Iron Age broch known as Midhowe Broch, that lies just west of the tomb. [1] The broch got its name from the fact that it is the middle of three such structures that lie grouped within 500 metres (1,600 ft) of each other and Howe from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound or barrow. [2] Together, the broch and chambered cairn form part of a large complex of ancient structures on the shore of Eynhallow Sound separating Rousay from Mainland, Orkney.

Contents

Tomb Description

Distribution of burials in Midhowe Chambered Cairn. Midhowe burials.jpg
Distribution of burials in Midhowe Chambered Cairn.

The tomb is a particularly well preserved example of the Orkney-Cromarty type of chambered cairn. [3] Tombs of this type are often referred to as "stalled" cairns due to their distinctive internal structure. Stalled cairns have a central passageway flanked by a series of paired transverse stones that separate the side spaces into compartments that reminded early investigators of horse stalls. [4] The earliest versions of this tomb type are found in Caithness, and they typically consist of no more than four stalled compartments. [5] In Orkney, the tombs became more elaborate; Midhowe is an extreme example of the form with twelve chambers flanking a passageway 23.6 metres (77 ft) in length. [6] The transverse stones rise to a height of 2 metres (6.6 ft) and the walls still rise to a height of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft). [4] Like most tombs in Orkney, the original roof is gone, replaced by a modern hangar-like structure that protects the site. The nature of the original roof is unclear; it may have consisted of flat slabs of flagstone at a height of 3 metres (9.8 ft) or more. Alternatively, it may have been vaulted like Maeshowe to a height of as much as 5 metres (16 ft). [7] The cairn appears to have been intentionally filled with debris after hundreds of years of usage beginning early in the third millennium BC. [8] The size and complexity of the interior of the cairn must have exerted a powerful influence on those entering it. Castleden describes it this way:

Walking into the monument is a little like walking into a miniature church, the straight central aisle flanked on each side by pillar-like slabs and culminating in a shrine-like end compartment at the western end. The stalls or bays on the north side of the chamber were fitted with low stone benches or shelves on which the bones of ancestors were laid out. [9]

The cairn was originally protected by an oval barrow 33 metres (108 ft) long and 13 metres (43 ft) wide. [10] The barrow is supported by three concentric stone casing walls that appear to have overlapped each other to form a step-like structure. Some of the stones in the walls are laid at angles to each other, forming decorative patterns that echo the incised rims found on some Unstan ware bowls, examples of which were found in the tomb. These patterns are clearly part of the architectural design of the walls, meant to be seen. [11] Unstan ware is named after the Unstan Chambered Cairn on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands. [12] Unstan, where the style of pottery was first found in 1884, is a fine example of a stalled chambered tomb, encased like Midhowe in a circular barrow. Unstan ware is mostly found in tombs, specifically tombs of the Orkney-Cromarty type. [13] These include the so-called Tomb of the Eagles at Isbister on South Ronaldsay, and Taversoe Tuick and Knowe of Yarso on Rousay. [14]

Midhowe is distinguished from other tombs of its type by having a horned forecourt adjacent to the long axis of the barrow on the north side. Extension of the curvature of the surviving "horns" of the structure suggests an original diameter of as much as 70 metres (230 ft), indicating a ceremonial space capable of holding hundreds of people. [7]

Midhowe represents an example of collective burial common to the Orkney-Cromarty tombs. [15] The remains of at least 25 individuals were discovered in the tomb. Seven of the twelve chambers have side shelves- the bodies were found in groups of two to four on six of the shelves. [15] Several of the skeletons were in a crouched position on the shelves, with their backs to the side wall and heads resting against the supporting pillars. Other groups of bones had been heaped into the centers of the shelves or swept under them, suggesting that earlier burials had been moved to accommodate later ones. [15] In a few cases only the skulls were present, in one instance the long bones had been piled together with the skull placed on top. [16]

Bones from a variety of animals were found as well. These include ox, sheep, skua, cormorant, buzzard, eagle, gannet, and carrion-crow. [17] Fish bones from bream and wrasse were also present. Bream are not found this far north today, suggesting that the waters around Orkney during the Neolithic must have been several degrees warmer than today. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chambered cairn</span> Burial monument (Usually Neolithic)

A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a sizeable chamber around and over which a cairn of stones was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves. They are found throughout Britain and Ireland, with the largest number in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maeshowe</span> Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland

Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around 2800 BC. In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skara Brae</span> Neolithic archaeological site in Scotland

Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. It consisted of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams that provided support for the walls; the houses included stone hearths, beds, and cupboards. A primitive sewer system, with "toilets" and drains in each house, included water used to flush waste into a drain and out to the ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring of Brodgar</span> A neolithic stone circle in Orkney, Scotland

The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grooved ware</span> Type of prehistoric pottery

Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. Unlike the later Beaker ware, Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed in Orkney, early in the 3rd millennium BC, and was soon adopted in Britain and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unstan ware</span> Type of pottery

Unstan ware is the name used by archaeologists for a type of finely made and decorated Neolithic pottery from the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Typical are elegant and distinctive shallow bowls with a band of grooved patterning below the rim, a type of decoration which was created using a technique known as "stab-and-drag". A second version consists of undecorated, round-bottomed bowls. Some of the bowls had bits of volcanic rock included in the clay to make them stronger. Bone tools were used to burnish the surfaces to make them shiny and impermeable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwarfie Stane</span> Carved Megalithic chambered tomb in Scotland

The Dwarfie Stane is a megalithic chambered tomb carved out of a titanic block of Devonian Old Red Sandstone located in a steep-sided glaciated valley between the settlements of Quoys and Rackwick on Hoy, an island in Orkney, Scotland. The stone is a glacial erratic located in desolate peatland. The site is managed by Historic Environment Scotland.

Rinyo was a Neolithic settlement on Rousay in Orkney, Scotland. The site was discovered in the winter of 1837–38 on the lands of Bigland Farm in the north east of the island at grid reference HY439322.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric Orkney</span> Overview of the prehistoric period on the Orkney Islands, Scotland

Prehistoric Orkney refers only to the prehistory of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that begins with human occupation. Although some records referring to Orkney survive that were written during the Roman invasions of Scotland, “prehistory” in northern Scotland is defined as lasting until the start of Scotland's Early Historic Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unstan Chambered Cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn

Unstan is a Neolithic chambered cairn located about 2 mi (3 km) north-east of Stromness on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The tomb was built on a promontory that extends into the Loch of Stenness near the settlement of Howe. Unstan is notable as an atypical hybrid of the two main types of chambered cairn found in Orkney, and as the location of the first discovery of a type of pottery that now bears the name of the tomb. The site is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackhammer Chambered Cairn</span> Neolithic burial monument in Orkney, Scotland

Blackhammer Chambered Cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Rousay, in Orkney, Scotland. The tomb, constructed around 3000 BC, is a Orkney–Cromarty chambered cairn, characterized by stalled burial compartments. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midhowe Broch</span> Iron Age structure on Rousay, Orkney, Scotland

Midhowe Broch is an Iron Age broch located on the west coast of the island of Rousay in the Orkney Islands, in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quoyness chambered cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn located on Sanday in Orkney, Scotland

Quoyness chambered cairn is a Neolithic burial monument located on the island of Sanday in Orkney, Scotland. Similar to Maeshowe in design, the tomb was probably built around 3000 BC. The skeletal remains of several people were uncovered in the tomb during excavation in 1867. The monument was partially restored and reconstructed after a second excavation during the early 1950s, to display the different original stages of construction of the tomb. The property is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistoric art in Scotland</span> Overview and examples of prehistoric art in Scotland

Prehistoric art in Scotland is visual art created or found within the modern borders of Scotland, before the departure of the Romans from southern and central Britain in the early fifth century CE, which is usually seen as the beginning of the early historic or Medieval era. There is no clear definition of prehistoric art among scholars and objects that may involve creativity often lack a context that would allow them to be understood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey Cairns of Camster</span> Chambered cairns in Scotland

The Grey Cairns of Camster are two large Neolithic chambered cairns located about 8+1⁄2 miles south of Watten and 5 miles (8 km) north of Lybster in Caithness, in the Highland region of Scotland. They are among the oldest structures in Scotland, dating to about 5,000 years ago. The cairns demonstrate the complexity of Neolithic architecture, with central burial chambers accessed through narrow passages from the outside. They were excavated and restored by Historic Environment Scotland in the late 20th century and are open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huntersquoy chambered cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn in the islands of Orkney

Huntersquoy chambered cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Eday, in Orkney, Scotland. The monument dates from the 3rd millennium BC and is an Orkney–Cromarty type chambered cairn. Huntersquoy is a distinctive two-story burial monument with overlapping chambers. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braeside chambered cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Eday in Orkney, Scotland

Braeside chambered cairn is a Neolithic burial monument located on the island of Eday in Orkney, Scotland. It is an Orkney-Cromarty type stalled cairn, similar in construction to the Midhowe Chambered Cairn on the island of Rousay. Because of prior robbing, the Braeside cairn has been reduced to a few upright stones at the ground level, covered with turf and heather. The cairn is located on the Eday Heritage Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knowe of Yarso chambered cairn</span> Neolithic chambered cairn located on the island of Rousay in Orkney, Scotland

Knowe of Yarso chambered cairn is a Neolithic burial monument located on the island of Rousay in Orkney, Scotland. The site was excavated in the 1930s, and uncovered human and animal bones as well as pottery sherds, flint and bone tools, and arrowheads. The tomb, dating to the period between 3500 and 2500 BC, is a stalled chambered cairn, similar to Midhowe and Blackhammer. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a scheduled monument in 1994.

References

  1. ↑ Ritchie 1995, p. 108
  2. ↑ Orkney Placenames
  3. ↑ Henshall 1985, p. 85
  4. 1 2 Henshall 1985, p. 87
  5. ↑ Laing 1974, p. 39
  6. ↑ Ritchie 1995, p. 50
  7. 1 2 Castleden 1987, p. 172
  8. ↑ Ritchie & Ritchie 1981, pp. 22, 27–29
  9. ↑ Castleden 1987, p. 170
  10. ↑ Childe 1952, p. 16
  11. ↑ Hedges 1984, pp. 88–89
  12. ↑ Ritchie 1985, p. 48
  13. ↑ Henshall 1985, p. 110
  14. ↑ Ritchie 1995, p. 54
  15. 1 2 3 Ritchie & Ritchie 1981, p. 20
  16. ↑ Hedges 1984, p. 140
  17. ↑ Ritchie & Ritchie 1981, p.20
  18. ↑ Ritchie 1995, p. 19

Sources

59°09′24″N3°05′53″W / 59.1566°N 3.0980°W / 59.1566; -3.0980

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.