Rousay, Quandale
Barrow(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Early Bronze Age), Unidentified Pottery (Early Bronze Age)
Site Name Rousay, Quandale
Classification Barrow(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Early Bronze Age), Unidentified Pottery (Early Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Knapknowes
Canmore ID 2288
Site Number HY33SE 21
NGR HY 37259 31511
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2288
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Rousay And Egilsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY33SE 21 372 314.
At HY 372 314 is a group of three mounds, excavated in 1936 by Grant, who showed that they contained burials (further details given below).
W G Grant 1937.
These three mounds were located by field surveyor(AA) at (1): HY 3723 3144; (2): HY 3724 3145; and (3): HY 3725 3149.
All were turf-covered with evidence of central excavations; they appeared to have a content of earth with some stones. The field surveyor further noted, at HY 3724 3144, E of (1), a similar mound with, in its excavated centre, a circular dry- walled structure 0.8 m in diameter and 0.3 m deep with a curved, dry-walled (?) entrance from the S. Again, 17.0 m S of (1) was a smaller, vague mound with a slab on edge and traces of dry-walling near its centre. These mounds lay in an area enclosed by denuded later walls, probably contemporary with the vague footings of a rectangular building 17.0 m S of mound (1). Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS(AA) 12 October 1972.
(1: HY 3723 3144; 2: HY 3724 3145; 4: HY 3724 3144) Cairns (NR)
(3: HY 3725 3149) Cairn (NR)
OS 25"map, 1976.
Field Visit (August 1980)
Knap Knowes HY 372 314 HY33SE 21
A group of three mounds, near the site of the abandoned farmstead of Knapknowes some 160m W of the public road and cut by a stone wall, was excavated by Grant in 1936 (see also HY33SE 21). The first, to the S of the wall, measures 6.4m in diameter and 0.6m in height, and covered a cist containing cremated bone, 'cramp' and six small pieces of flint (NMAS EO 581-6). The second, 8m to the NE and crossed by the wall, measured 5.5m in diameter and 0.7m in height; it covered two cists, one of them central, both containing cremated bone and 'cramp'. A pebble with grinding facets (NMAS AK 253) was probably found in the second cist. The third cairn, 57m to the N of the first, measured about 4.9m in diameter and 0.6m in height; it covered an upright Cinerary Urn in a stone setting, containing cremated bones and 'cramp' (NMAS EA 214).
RCAHMS 1982, visited August 1980
(PSAS, 69, 1934-5, 11; Grant 1937, 75-6 and 82-3, nos. 1-3; Wilson Portfolio f. 9; RCAHMS 1946, ii, pp. 202-3, No. 560, 1; OR 624)
Knapknowes HY3726 3143 HY33SE 21
The mound with circular drystone construction reported here by the OS is the corndrying kiln of the farmstead of Knapknowes, cleared in 1845. Faint traces of the farmstead, which was all but obliterated to build the nearby dykes, are visible alongside.
RCAHMS 1982, visited August 1980
(Grant 1937, 72-3; Thomson 1981, 46-7; OR 625)
Field Visit (25 April 1994)
Mounds at Knap Knowes:
1: HY 37230 31450. Bowl-shaped. 6.5m by 7.0m. Height 0.75m. Visible 500m to the W, and up to 1km NW. Under bluff.
2: HY 37260 31490. Bowl-shaped. 5.0m by 5.0m. Height 0.3m. Visible 500m to the W, and up to 1km NW. Under bluff.
Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1994
Field Visit (9 May 2013)
Three burial cairns stand in pasture; two within the farmstead HY33SE 60, the third some 60m to the NNE. The largest cairn (HY 37259 31511) is the one standing apart from the other two. It measures 9.5m in diameter by up to 1.1m in height and the top of the mound has been disturbed, with low heaps of spoil lying to the N and E of a shallow depression. The second cairn (at HY 37239 31448) stands a little to the S of a stone wall that crosses the area from WNW to ESE. It measures 7.5m in diameter by 0.6m in height and a shallow depression, 2.5m diameter, at its centre indicates a disturbance. The third cairn is situated immediately NE of the second and is crossed by the wall. It measures 5m in diameter and 0.5m in height. The three cairns were noted by RCAHMS in 1928 and excavated by WG Grant (1937, Nos. 1-3).
Visited by RCAHMS (GFG) 9 May 2013.
Note (2020)
Knap Knowes #1-3
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 2200 BC and 1800 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60039
CANMORE ID: 2288
Total no. graves with grave goods: 2
Total no. people with grave goods: 2
Total no. grave goods: 2
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74409
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Pot
Materials used: Pottery
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74484
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Assemblage
Materials used: Chert / Flint [Flint]
Current museum location: National Museum of Scotland
Museum accession no.: X.EQ 581; X.EQ 582; X.EQ 583; X.EQ 584; X.EQ 585; X.EQ 586
Further details, the full project database and downloads of project publications can be found here: https://doi.org/10.5284/1052206
An accessible visualisation of the database can be found here: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grave-goods/map/
