Midhowe Chambered Cairn

The 23 m long Midhowe Cairn is the second largest Stalled Cairn of the British Isles. He belongs to the Orkney Cromarty type ( OC), which falls under the category of passage tombs and is located near the Broch of Midhowe, in the southwest of the Orkney island of Rousay.

Description

The system is now protected by a hall. Until the 1930s it was a grass hill of about 31 m long and 9.5 m wide. From 1932 put the landowner Walter Grant in a series of excavations the remains of a Neolithic grave chamber freely, which dates from around 3500 BC. Among the stones of the collapsed roof of an elongated chamber was discovered, which was divided by both sides erected upright stone slabs in twelve different widths boxes, plus a head niche. Each box contained a stone bench. On their plates, most burials were located. The remains of 25 people - 17 adults and six teenagers and two children under four years - were found. The body parts were leaning against the wall. The south end of pit row lay on her left, which at the northern end on the right side. Most skeletal remains were between the plates on the stone benches. Only four were found under the benches and three were outside the structures on the ground. Because, no human remains were found during the first four boxes in the vicinity of the access, it is assumed that the specimens were stored here until Dekarnation before the bone was collected and deposited in the inner part. The outer wall of Cairns is preserved to a height of 2.5 m and has a special feature that was otherwise observed in this form anywhere, but appears in a similar form on Rousay at two other plants. The bricks are laid in the front central area, much as herringbone (English herringbone effect) with a continuous straight release liner.

Reuse

After the grave had gone out of use, two more bodies were buried in the rubble. The man lay in the southwestern corner of the box no. four, the woman was in the northwest corner. The woman's body was also buried in a rough box-like structure made of flat stones. Both were lying on the right side, was buried with the head to the south in a crouched position.

Accompanying artefacts

In the filling layer of Cairns, the excavators found the bones of cattle and sheep, the remains of red deer ( antlers ), and fishbones and the case of limpets. As with other Orkney Cairns, interpret the findings either to ritual celebrations around the place, or there were grave goods. Other artifacts include five hammer stones, three unprocessed stones and a pestle.