Description

The monument is a burial cairn dating probably to the Bronze Age (between about 2000 and 800 BC). It survives as a roughly circular turf-covered mound measuring approximately 10m in diameter and standing to a height of about 0.7m. A slight hollow in the centre of the mound indicates that it has been disturbed in antiquity and the Ordnance Survey records that a 'stone cist' was found at this site in 1890. In 1929, it was reported that the cist may have been a chamber with a paved floor, about 1.2m long by 0.9m wide and 0.9m high, which contained a small pile of bones. The monument is situated on a gentle SE-facing slope around 40m above sea level, overlooking the Loch of Harray. The monument was originally scheduled in 1940, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is circular on plan, measuring 15m in diameter and centred on the centre of the monument. The scheduling includes 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 it has the inherent potential to contribute towards our understanding of the past, particularly the design and construction of burial monuments, and the nature of belief systems and burial practices during prehistory. Burial monuments such as this provide evidence of the significant changes which took place in society and funerary practice in the Bronze Age in Orkney. The significance of the monument is enhanced by the unusual nature of the reported chamber and by its potential for comparative study with other ritual and funerary, as well as domestic, prehistoric sites within this vicinity and across Orkney. The loss of the monument would diminish our ability to appreciate and understand the meaning and importance of death and burial in prehistoric times and the placing of burial monuments within the landscape.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the site as HY32SW 19.

References

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, 27, no 61.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland