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type of tomb is unique to the Orkneys and,
even there, only 12 of them have been identified—principally
on the basis of their size and contents,
which includes Grooved Ware instead of Unstan
Ware. Of the dozen, seven have been excavated
to some degree or other. In most of them,
the internal chamber is rectangular with
a high ceiling but in one case it is square
and in another polygonal. They are also
characterized by small openings in the walls
that lead to cells. The superstructures
are normally circular in plan and can be
quite large. |
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Cuween
Hill. Interior of the tomb showing the
corbelling of the side walls & the
entrance to the cell at the north end.
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There
is considerable variation in the length
of the burial chamber but normally the width
is between 1.4 and 1.8 metres. The longest
is Holm of Papa Westray South (ORK 22),
which is 20.4 metres long and has no fewer
than 14 cells. The walls were made out of
larger slabs and blocks than the Orkney-Cromarty
cairns. Some of those lining the lower parts
of the walls can be quite massive. This
is because they have to support heavy lintels
over the entries to the cells and the passageway.
Above that level, the slabs are long and
thin and are laid in slightly overlapping
courses, a technique known as corbelling,
in order to reduce the span of the roof
to something between 0.5 and 0.9 metres.
The roof was undoubtedly composed of stone
lintels laid crossways—at least that
is the case with the two instances where
some of the material survives, at Quanterness
(ORK 43) and Wideford Hill (ORK 54). The
height of the chamber could be anywhere
from 2.4 to over 4 metres.
Overall,
the level of craftsmanship is exceptional.
The end and side walls are bonded into each
other and, in some tombs, a good deal of
care went into making the corbelling appear
as smooth as possible. Some tombs were clearly
planned on principles of symmetry (Quoyness
and Quanterness, for example).
The
cell entries tend to be small (from 0.6
to 0.73 metres high and from 0.4 to 0.7
metres across). The cells themselves are
irregular in shape—with the exception
of Quanterness, where they are rectangular.
They range in size from about 1.2 by 0.8
metres to about 3.4 by 1 metre at the base
and can be anything from 1.7 to 2.2 metres
high. |
The
layout was designed to be compact, so that they
fit within the roughly circular cairn core of
the super- structure. The latter consisted of
one or more casings of loose stone, each held
in place by a revetment wall. Today, there is
a considerable amount of stone beyond the limits
of the wall—but does it represent the original
limits of the cairn or tumble from the superstructure?
Davidson and Henshall believe the latter and hold
the view that the outer revetment was also the
outer wall of each cairn and that it stood almost
as tall as the height of the chamber. On the other
hand, Colin Renfrew who excavated at Quanterness
believes the revetment was hidden beneath the
slope of the cairn.
The entrance passage could be as much 10 metres
long or more and ran at right angles to the main
axis of the chamber. It was low and narrow, so
that you had to stoop or crawl into the tomb as
you crossed into another world. The stone blocks
used for the walls were often quite large, as
were the lintels used for the roof, and the outer
part of the passage was often paved. Since they
had to be reused repeatedly over the years, it
was necessary to be able to close and reopen the
tomb. There is evidence that some of them were
walled across while at Maes Howe an enormous stone
plug was used.
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