Description

The monument comprises the remains of a barrow dating probably to the Bronze Age (between about 2000 and 800 BC). The barrow is visible as an upstanding, sub-circular, turf-covered mound, measuring around 10m in diameter and surviving to a height of 1.25m. There is a 1929 record of a square cist having been found in the mound in antiquity, containing burnt or partially burnt bones. The monument occupies a conspicuous position in the landscape on an area of gently sloping land at about 7m above sea level, overlooking the Loch of Harray. The monument was first scheduled in 1938, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, 20m in diameter, to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of funerary and burial practice in the Bronze Age. Burial mounds and earthen barrows form an important and relatively widespread element of Orkney's Bronze Age landscape, and provide evidence for the major social and economic changes which took place during this period. Although this mound has seen some antiquarian investigation, it retains its field characteristics to a marked degree and is a good example of its type. Excavation of similar sites elsewhere in Orkney has demonstrated that the Howaback mound has the potential to contain one or more burials and associated features, including possibly the remains of funeral pyres or mortuary structures. Orkney's barrows are unusual in Scotland, and important within a British context, as the majority are earthen mounds as opposed to stone-built cairns. The significance of the Howaback mound is enhanced by its association with a wider landscape of Bronze Age burial monuments around or near to the Loch of Harray. All would have had spectacular views over the loch and would also have been inter-visible with each other, which was probably an important factor in their siting. Our understanding of the dating, form, function and distribution of Bronze Age barrows would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY21NE 32

References

Downes, J 1995, 'Linga Fold', Current Archaeology 142, 396-399.

Downes, J 1997, The Orkney Barrows Project survey results and management strategy. Unpublished report to Historic Scotland. ARCUS, University of Sheffield.

RCAHMS 1946, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland, 3v, Edinburgh, 261, no 696.

Towrie, S 2013, The Knowes o' Trotty, http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/knowestrotty [accessed August 2013].

Source: Historic Environment Scotland