Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn

The Cuween Hill Cairn lies on the Cuween Hill, 800 meters south of the village Finstown, at the Bay of Firth on Mainland island of Orkney in Scotland.

The passage tomb from Maeshowe type is at the end of a path, with views of the Bay, climbs up on the eastern slope of the hill.

Name

The name Cuween derives from the Old Norse " Kua - tight " from (Eng. " Pasture "). Today's writing is relatively new. Even in the early 20th century the hill was still written like other place names on Orkney " Kewing ". In popular opinion Cuween was like other megalithic the house of trolls or fairies. Consequently, the local name for the stone hill "Fairy Knowe " ( Feenhügel ).

Description

Although smaller than Maes Howe also Cuween Cairn is the result of impressive prehistoric architecture. The access to the interior through a low, narrow passage, which is less than a meter high and 5.5 m long. The hallway leads into a rectangular chamber, from which open four side chambers ( one per side ). One of them is a double chamber. However Typical Maes Howe type systems have only three sub-chambers. Vinquoy on Eday also has four, while the Cairn has Isbister ( Tomb of the Eagles ) on South Ronaldsay five and six Quoyness on Sanday, has the Südcairn on Papa Westray even twelve. The four inputs to the side chambers are slightly above the level of the bottom of the main chamber. The built of layers of stone slabs main chamber is spacious. Today, major and minor chambers over two meters high. The original roof of the main chamber but was damaged in the 19th century when boarding the Cairn. The present roof is a modern construction. The original was probably much higher. Probably the 3000 BC built Cairn was excavated in 1901 by M. M. Charleson.

Finds

The remains of at least eight people, mostly the skull, and the bones of cattle and birds were found inside. The small number indicates that the chamber was dispelled during their service at least once. The excavators found before the Cuween Cairn, like other orkadische graves, carefully closed. This would indicate that the plant had gone out either use, or that it was always sealed between the carried out at intervals of several years of use.

The dog skulls

The most interesting discovery, apart from the human bone, was the discovery of 24 dogs skulls. This led to the idea that the dog was the totem animal of users, similar to the Eagle for the Isbister cairn ( Tomb of the Eagles ) on South Ronaldsay is significant.

The settlement

The settlement of Stone Hall is located directly below Cuween Hill. Stone Hall was a Neolithic village, which is older than the Knap of Howar on Papa Westray. Given the proximity between Cairn and settlement and the fact that the two are contemporary, is to assume that the settlers of Stone Hall also responsible for the construction and use of the Cairns were.