Description

The monument comprises the remains of two earthen mounds, immediately adjacent to each other. One is easily visible as an upstanding circular mound; the other comprises the plough-truncated remains if what was once an upstanding mound. The monument was first scheduled in 1949, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present re-scheduling rectifies this.

Only the southernmost mound survives as an upstanding feature today. This roughly circular mound measures about 15m across and stands about 1m high. Now grass-covered, it appears to be composed primarily of charcoal-rich soil with some small stones. According to early reports, the mound was once encircled by a bank and/or ditch. It may have been opened in antiquity, with the consequent loss of part of its western side.

The northern mound must have been very similar originally. It now appears as a roughly circular area of raised ground, best seen in a low angled light, which is about 10m in diameter but stands omly about 0.2m high. Given its slight profile, the edge of the mound in indistinct. In 1877 a stone-lined cist containing ashes was discovered within this mound, indicating that this was a Bronze Age burial site.

In 1946 a second cist was discovered some 35m NE of the surviving upstanding mound, perhaps when the northern mound was ploughed flat. It seems likely that archaeological features associated with prehistoric burial or ritual once extended over a wide area.

The area to be scheduled is circular with a diameter of 50m, centred on the southern (upstanding) mound, as indicated in red on the accompanying map. The area includes both mounds and an area around them in which evidence relating to their construction, use and related activities is likely to survive.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the remains of two, probably associated, prehistoric burial mounds, which have the potential to provide important information about ritual practices associated with human burial in the Bronze Age. It is possible that the mounds are the focus of a wider ritual and burial landscape. Although both mounds have suffered plough damage and erosion, excavations elsewhere in Orkney have shown that much important information is likely still to survive beneath the mounds and in the ground around them.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as HY22NE 1.

References:

RCAHMS 1946, TWELFTH REPORT WITH AN INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND, 3V, Edinburgh, 25.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland