Berstane
Cist (Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Steatite)(Early Bronze Age)
Site Name Berstane
Classification Cist (Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Steatite)(Early Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Birstane, St Ola
Canmore ID 2432
Site Number HY41SE 10
NGR HY 469 101
NGR Description HY c. 469 101
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2432
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Kirkwall And St Ola
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY41SE 10 c. 469 101.
'A large stone (steatite J Anderson 1875) urn (broken) found when excavating foundations for a dwelling-house at Birstane, St Ola' was purchased by David Balfour of Balfour and Trenabie, at the sale of Kirkwall Museum and presented to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) 13th October, 1862.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1865.
This urn cannot be traced now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.
Information from A S Henshall, Assistant Keeper NMAS.
Enquiries at Berstane (HY 469 101) revealed that no further finds have been made in the area.
Visited by OS (NKB) 6 April 1964.
'John O'Groat Journal' in 1844 describes the discovery of cists with bones and a rim-decorated freestone urn, found when foundations for a new house were being dug.
M Howe 2006
Note (2020)
Berstane
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 2200 BC and 1501 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60117
CANMORE ID: 2432
Total no. graves with grave goods: 1
Total no. people with grave goods: 1
Total no. grave goods: 1
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 60042
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Unknown
Grave good: Vessel (Unknown/Unspecified)
Materials used: Steatite
Current museum location: Unknown
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/
