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Rousay, Knowe Of Ramsay
Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Cist (Neolithic), Inhumation(S) (Neolithic), Scraper (Tool) (Flint)(Neolithic)
Site Name Rousay, Knowe Of Ramsay
Classification Chambered Cairn (Neolithic), Cist (Neolithic), Inhumation(S) (Neolithic), Scraper (Tool) (Flint)(Neolithic)
Canmore ID 2637
Site Number HY42NW 22
NGR HY 4004 2800
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2637
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Rousay And Egilsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY42NW 22 4004 2800
(HY 400 280) "Knowe of Ramsay", an Orkney-Cromarty stalled cairn, near the edge of one of the natural terraces above the shore overlooking the "Knowe of Lairo" (HY32NE 6). It is now a low grass-grown mound with a hollow down the centre from which some flagstones protrude . It had much the same appearance before excavation in 1935, when it was found that it had already been severely robbed and disturbed. The cairn, with its major axis NW-SE, is 103' long; the SE end, which contains the entrance passage, is square, 15' in width. The sides diverge to give a maximum width of 24' and then converge into the rounded NW end. It is edged by a wall face of horizontally laid stones, greatly dilapidated but surviving to a height of 4'2" on the SW side; there is no second wall-face. Against the W side of the NW end is a rough block of masonry, possibly part of an unfinished outer casing to the cairn, and at the SE end on the E side a wall 7'9" long abuts the cairn at right angles. The passage is 6'5" long and 1' 8" wide, with a maximum height of 2'4". The chamber, 88' long and from 3'11" to 6'8" wide, is divided into 14 compartments by pairs of transverse slabs, 2'6" - 4'9" high. The end of the chamber is formed by a large stone on edge. A small stone cist was found near the SW corner of the fifth compartment from the entrance. Finds from the site included: about 6 small sherds of reddish ware, a scraper and 5 pieces of flint, human bones very broken and decayed and numerous animal bones.
J G Callander and W G Grant 1936; RCAHMS 1946; A S Henshall 1963.
The remains of a stalled cairn at HY 4004 2800, generally as described by Henshall. Only 5 stones on edge of the chamber are now visible with the merest traces of the edging wall. The wall at right angles to the SE is no longer visible. Surveyed at 1:10,000 and at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (ISS), 9 October 1972.
Field Visit (1941)
Visited by Childe in 1941.
V G Childe 1942
Field Visit (September 1980)
As described OS; now very insignificant.
Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Sep 80.
Note (1982)
Knowe of Ramsay (ORK 30) HY 4004 2800 HY42NW 22
Stalled cairn excavated in 1935, now reduced to insignificance. Finds in NMAS.
RCAHMS 1982
(Callander and Grant 1936; Wilson Portfolio f. 7; RCAMS 1946, ii, pp. 214-16, No. 576; Henshall 1963, 212-13; Switsur and Harkness in Renfrew 1979, 70-2 and 206; plan in Orkney Archives, copy in NM RS; OR 599)
Note (2020)
Knowe of Ramsay
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Neolithic period, between 3300 BC and 2451 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60078
CANMORE ID: 2637
Total no. graves with grave goods: 3
Total no. people with grave goods: 3
Total no. grave goods: 7
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74019
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation
Grave good: Assemblage; Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74020
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 74021
Grave type: Chamber
Burial type(s): Inhumation
Grave good: Animal Bone (Other); Materials used: Bone/Antler/Horn/Ivory/Tooth (Animal) [Bone]; 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/
