Graemsay, Sandside

A human skull was noticed protruding from an eroding shore-line in 1977. The burial was excavated due to the immediate threat. This revealed an extended inhumation in a cist which was barely large enough for the adult male skeleton contained. No grave goods were found. The long cist had been covered by stones over a sandy fill and had sloping sides lined with flagstones with a base of natural clay.

J W Hedges 1980.

Rescue excavation was carried out at this site in 1977, following the appearance of a human skull in an eroding coastal section. Work revealed a long cist, containing the skeleton of a human male. The cist measured 2m long by 0.65m wide and was 0.35m deep. The skeleton was almost complete. A radiocarbon date of 1085+/- 55 AD was obtained from the bone (Hedges, 1978). The site is no longer visible.

Moore and Wilson, 1997

Coastal Zone Assessment Survey

The appearance of a human skull in an eroding coastal section in 1977, led to the excavation of a long cist containing the skeleton of a man aged about 45 years old. The cist was 2m long by 0.65m wide by 0.35m deep. It was stone lined and covered in several flags. Dating evidence revealed he died sometime around 1100. The site is no longer visible.

Information from Orkney SMR [n.d.]