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Dale

Long Cist (Early Medieval), Souterrain (Prehistoric), Barbed And Tanged Arrowhead, Lithic Implement(S) (Stone)

Site Name Dale

Classification Long Cist (Early Medieval), Souterrain (Prehistoric), Barbed And Tanged Arrowhead, Lithic Implement(S) (Stone)

Canmore ID 2006

Site Number HY31NW 16

NGR HY 3311 1538

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2006

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Orkney Islands
  • Parish Birsay And Harray
  • Former Region Orkney Islands Area
  • Former District Orkney
  • Former County Orkney

Archaeology Notes

HY31NW 16 3311 1538.

An earth house, lying under a low, formerly grassy mound, was investigated in 1926 and 1927, and covered over again.*It was found during ploughing on the W side of the farm of Dale in 1926(2). Surrounding the mound was a 3ft wide causeway of dressed stones; when this was removed a large flint barbed-and-tanged arrowhead was found. The passage, on the E side of the mound, was 2-3ft wide, and had been dug about 2ft deep into the clay.

The passage was also lined with stones set on edge..to support the roof of which a slab, 5 1/2ft long by 4-5" thick, and perforated by a 6" diameter hole, formed a part. A similar, but unperforated slab formed part of the chamber roof. The chamber, approx. 12 x 8ft, contained 5 roof-supporting pillars, and a rough stone implement. Outside the mound, but within the stone causeway, were ten other artifacts. Ten yards to the SE (NE in Authys.2 & 3) of the mound's centre was found a long cist, 6ft by 3ft at the shoulders, and 2ft 4ins at the ends; this held particles of decomposed bones and, at the foot (sic) a small stone "of prismatic shape and triangular in section." About ten yards to the SW of the mound's centre was a flagstone laid over a hole that was full of earth and tiny fragments of bone.

There are no surface traces of the earth-house, but the site was pointed out by Mr Leask, the finder, at HY 3311 1538. Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (undated).

Activities

Field Visit (2016)

HY 33178 15519 A low rounded mound measuring c25m in diameter on top of a natural rise in a cultivated field was visited on 12 March 2016. The mound is covered with brownish red midden rich soil. Upcast from three rabbit burrows on the mound all produced flints and probable Neolithic/Bronze Age pottery. The site is c45m to the NNE of a souterrain (HY31NW 16). A Late Neolithic polished stone mace fragment found by the farmer at Dale many decades ago also hints at the presence of a Neolithic

settlement somewhere on this small farm.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Christopher Gee

(Source: DES, Volume 17)

References

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