North Ronaldsay, Antabreck
Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation (Bronze Age), Inhumation(S) (Bronze Age)
Site Name North Ronaldsay, Antabreck
Classification Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation (Bronze Age), Inhumation(S) (Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 3659
Site Number HY75SE 12
NGR HY 7584 5409
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3659
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Cross And Burness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY75SE 12 7584 5411
(Name: HY 7600 5408) Two Stone Cists containing Human Remains found AD 1874 (NAT).
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1900).
Two cists were found in 1874 near the east end of the farm steading at Antabreck in a field of clay loam. They lay end to end and only about a foot below the surface.
One cist, 2' by 2 1/2' and 1 1/2' deep, contained portions of two skeletons; the other 4'5" by 2'5" deep, was composed of apparently dressed flagstones of a better finish than those of the first. It contained an apparently undisturbed heap of ashes, probably of wood, in which were small fragments of half-calcined bones and teeth. The ashes appeared 'to have been laid upon coarse cloth or interlaced rushes, portions of which could be distinguished on the floor of the cist so decayed that it was almost impossible to take it up without destroying it.' After inspection the coverstones were replaced and recovered with earth.
Portions of the cist contents were donated by the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) by Dr Traill in 1875.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1876 (Donations); Name Book 1879.
The larger of the two cists was re-discovered recently, and is preserved under a turf-covering complete with capstone, at HY 7584 5411.
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB), 22 July 1970.
Note (1980)
Antabreck, North Ronaldsay HY 7584 5411 HY75SE 12
Two cists containing burials discovered 1874.
RCAHMS 1980
(Traill, W 1876; OR 221)
Note (2020)
Antabreck
This burial site in Orkney Islands was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 2450 BC and 801 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60155
CANMORE ID: 3659
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: 72366
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Liner
Materials used: Organic (Uncertain/Unspecified)
Current museum location: National Museum of Scotland
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/
