Excavation

Date June 2002

Event ID 999744

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/999744

HY 286 141 Excavation at Bookan chambered cairn (HY 21 SE 10) in June 2002 showed that the tomb excavated by Farrer, and described and planned by Petrie in 1861, was only the primary phase in the history of the site. After the tomb had fallen into disrepair or been deliberately slighted, the original cairn, c 7m in diameter, was incorporated in a larger cairn, c 16m in diameter, bounded by three concentric revetments. A deposit of human skeletal material was recovered from one of the side chambers. Various aspects of the layout and architecture of the original tomb, like the arrangement of side chambers around a central chamber and the removable side-chamber 'doors', would seem more akin to Maeshowe type tombs than Orkney Cromarty tombs. However, the size and aspects of the architecture would seem to be noticeably different from other chambered cairns.

Archive deposited in Orkney SMR and the NMRS.

Sponsors: Orkney Islands Council, Orkney Archaeology Trust, Orkney College.

N Card 2002