Dwarfie Stane

The about 5000 year old rock grave Dwarfie Stane ( dwarf stone) lies in a valley between Quoys and Rackwick on the Orkney island of Hoy. It is the only recognized example of a rock-cut tomb in the UK and also the northernmost in Europe.

Description

The Dwarfie Stane is about 8.5 m long and 2.5 m wide block of red sandstone, which has been dissolved in the ice age from the nearby rock wall. Then the presence of the Partick Stane, a similar boulders indicated about 200 meters, so that both stones during the retreat of the glaciers, were relocated here at the end of the last ice age.

The transverse small chamber with the centrally impinging short hallway was picked between the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in the stone. A square opening of 0.9 x 0.9 m into the chamber. Noteworthy is the fact that the massive stone was hollowed with stone tools. At the entrance is a sandstone block, which is considered as a locking stone of the chamber, which was said to be unopened to the 16th century. There is no record of any archaeological excavations and finds.

Legend

According to a fable of orkadischen Dwarfie Stane is the work of a giant and his wife. A third giant unlocked the " gigantic pair " in the stone. But his plans were thwarted, that the imprisoned giant heaved a hole in the ceiling of the chamber. The legend tells that today backfilled with concrete hole in the roof of the chamber.

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