Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016372
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016372
This is the stalled cairn after which Unstan Ware was named, for its excavation in the late 19th century yielded sherds of at least thirty-five bowls of this distinctively shaped and decorated ware. It was built on a low-lying promontory on the south shore of the Loch of Stenness.
The circular cairn covers a chamber very similar to that at Isbister (no. 85): it is divided by upright slabs into three central compartments and two shelved end-cells, and a side-cell opens off the west wall of the central compartment. The lintel over the cell bears a brief runic inscription, but the stone is not in its original position (having been placed here during restoration); the fact that the runes are carved across the narrow face of the slab implies that it was once set upright. The bird and other doodles on the same slab have apparently been added since restoration this century.
Beyond the tomb, two lines of rampart and ditch cut off the tip of the promontory; nothing is known of the date of this fortified enclosure, an unusual monument for the Northern Isles, and it is not inconceivable that it might be neolithic.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
