Sanday, Spur Ness
Barrow(S) (Bronze Age)(Possible), Burial Cairn (Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Bronze Age), Cinerary Vessel (Steatite)(Bronze Age)
Site Name Sanday, Spur Ness
Classification Barrow(S) (Bronze Age)(Possible), Burial Cairn (Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Bronze Age), Cinerary Vessel (Steatite)(Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Spurness; Loth Road
Canmore ID 3482
Site Number HY63SW 9
NGR HY 6051 3447
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3482
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Cross And Burness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
Field Visit (June 1979)
On the summit of the Spurness hill ridge, a pair of low
shapeless mounds 2m apart, the S one 6m x 3m, the N one 7m
diameter, each 0.7m high, some earthfast stones showing.
(Because surrounding landscape is featureless, and fog at time of
visit prevented taking of bearings, the location of this feature
may not be completely accurate).
Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Jun 79.
Note (1980)
Spurness, Sanday HY 6051 3447 HY63SW
Two low shapeless mounds on the summit of the Spurness ridge may be burial-mounds.
RCAHMS 1980
(OR 368)
Excavation (June 1991 - July 1991)
Excavations in 1991 beside Loth Road, Sanday, revealed a funerary site, including two cists, which contained cremated human bone, and several pits. The cremation burial in one of the cists was contained in a soapstone vessel. These features presented evidence for the sorting, selection and differential deposition of pyre remains. The cists and pits were surmounted by a kerbed cairn of unusual construction. Radiocarbon dates from the pits placed the site in the Early to Middle Bronze Age.
P Sharman 2007
Note (2020)
Loth Road
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 1950 BC and 1300 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60165
CANMORE ID: 3482
Total no. graves with grave goods: 1
Total no. people with grave goods: 2
Total no. grave goods: 2
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 72375
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation, Cremation
Grave good: Vessel (Unknown/Unspecified)
Materials used: Steatite
Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Lid
Materials used: Stone (Uncertain/Unspecified)
Current museum location: Orkney Museum (Kirkwall)
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/
