Archaeology Notes
Event ID 644229
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/644229
HY21SE 5 2829 1172.
(HY 2828 1172) Chambered Mound (NR)
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed, (1903).
An Orkney-Cromarty stalled chambered cairn, fully described by Henshall. It is under the guardianship of Historic Buildings and Monuments (HBM) who have roofed the chamber in concrete and turfed the mound. The lintel of the side cell, which is a replacement, bears a number of runes and the drawing of a bird.
The excavations of 1884 by Clouston (R S Clouston 1885) yielded a large number of neolithic potsherds (Unstan ware), which are now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) (under E0 136-70), and several flint implements including leaf-and barbed-and-tanged arrowheads (NMAS E0 171-5). Remains of skeletons were found throughout the chamber. The compartment into which the passage opens contained several crouched skeletons and there were two others in the side cell.
A S Henshall 1963; RCAHMS 1946; V G Childe and W D Simpson.
A MOW plaque describes the cairn as the 'Knowe of Onston', although there are variations of the spelling. It is as described and planned by Henshall.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (RB) 11 May 1966.
Orkney-Cromarty round cairn with a stalled chamber.
J L Davidson and A S Henshall 1989.
HY 2828 1172 A watching brief was undertaken in May 2001 during the digging of a trench around Unstan Chambered Cairn (NMRS HY21SE 5), designed to take a new fence around the monument. The trench revealed no definite prehistoric remains.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
D Murray and G Ewart 2001
HY 282 117 A watching brief was undertaken in May 2002 during the excavation of a new track and car parking area for Unstan chambered cairn (HY21SE 5). No significant archaeological discoveries were made.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: HS
G Ewart and D Murray 2002
'The Orkney Herald' and 'The Orcadian' describe the excavation of the site in September 1884. 'The Orcadian' in 1907 mentions that the mound was still open to the elements.
M Howe 2006
