Unstan Chambered Cairn, Orkney

 Introduction 

This evening, I am focusing on the prehistoric cairn of Unstan located at Clouston, about 3 miles from Stromness. Location is Orkney, one of Scotland's Northen Isles. 

Visitors entering the Cairn.

 

Information on the Cairn and prehistoric Orkney.

Firstly, Orkney is well populated with prehistoric monuments and sites some of which are still undergoing evaluation. Refer this blog post for record of a typical tour. 

Unstan is a long, chambered cairn dating from the 3rd Millennium BC .This structure is of a type common to western and northern Scotland and northern and western Wales.These are usually designated as passage graves.Typically, they comprise a small rectangular or polygonal chamber approached by  a small passage.The whole is set within a circular mound or cairn.

In Unstan's case the interior burial compartments are divided by upright stone slabs. A volume of pottery was found at this site with distinctive design. This has been designated as Unstan Ware. As will be noted from the images herein, the entrance is very narrow, The writer had to navigate through on all fours!

The Vikings also discovered this cairn as evidenced by the existence of runic inscriptions in the interior.

Cairn Interior

  

Entrance to Cairn



More information

For more information on Orkney and other islands please refer Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4. This book is also available via Kindle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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