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Archaeology Notes
Event ID 656403
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/656403
ND49NE 7 4929 9557.
(ND 4929 9557) Hillock of Fea (NAT) Brough (NR) (Site of) Human Remains found AD 1865 (NAT)
OS 6" map (1900)
Orkney SMR Reference: OR 1783, OR 2722
Hillock of Fea, the site of an indeterminate structure almost completely destroyed. What little of it remains is obscured by thick turf. Traces of a very small kitchen-midden deposit were observed on the SW where the OS map notes "Human Remains found". The latter consists of a human skull, and bones of left arm complete together, with detached portions of a human skeleton (Name Book 1879).
RCAHMS 1946, visited 1929
"Hillock of Fea", (possibly a cairn) is a turf-covered stoney mound c.20.0m NE - SW and 16.0m NW-SE, and 2.0m high with five or six earthfast stones are visible around the W arc. A large segment of the mound in the SE has been destroyed by coastal erosion, revealing a loose stony/sandy interior.
The mound stands on a slight platform, defined on the landward wide by traces of a curving wall, and a plough headland both of which are comparatively recent. Exposed in the shore some 12m to the SW are traces of dry-stone walling and a small midden of shells and bones.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (IMT) 17 May 1973
ND 492 955 Hillock of Fea: cairn, denuded, prehistoric.
ND 492 955 Anthropogenic deposits visible in erosion face, probably prehistoric.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Orkney Archaeological Trust
G Wilson and H Moore 1997
'The Orcadian' in 1909 describes how this "Picts' House" was well preserved, despite the site being robbed for building material. The site showed traces of three circling walls.
M Howe 2006
