Archaeology Notes

Event ID 645356

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/645356

HY50SW 4 5179 0498.

A steatite urn containing human remains and with a stone cover was found by Mr J Baillie Jnr, of Sebay, Tankerness, Orkney while ploughing in February 1963, at HY 5179 0498. (See also 'The Orcadian' February 1963). The urn is 16 1/2" high with a diameter across the top of 17" and across the base 11". The stone cover measures 17" x 16 3/4" Both are in the Kirkwall Library.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (RD) 12 April 1964

A most impressive steatite urn (420mm high and 430mm in rim diameter and 427mm at the base), with a slab cover, was found in ploughing in 1963 by Mr J Baillie of Sebay and was recorded by the late E W Marwick. Although stated to have held human remains, all that now survives is a mass of hair, which was found during excavation on a fragment of hide. (Tankerness House Museum 1985-4, 5 and 6

The Orcadian, 21 February 1963; RCAHMS 1987.