Ness Of Brodgar
Burial Cairn (Early Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Pottery)(Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Vessel (Steatite)(Early Bronze Age)
Site Name Ness Of Brodgar
Classification Burial Cairn (Early Bronze Age), Cist(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Urn (Pottery)(Early Bronze Age), Cinerary Vessel (Steatite)(Early Bronze Age)
Alternative Name(s) Plumcake Mound; Ness Of Brodgar
Canmore ID 1698
Site Number HY21SE 11
NGR HY 2951 1348
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1698
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Stenness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY21SE 11 2951 1348.
(HY 2951 1348 - see also HY21SE 12)
Tumuli (NR) Urn found A.D. 1854.
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1903).
This mound, frequently called the 'Plumcake Mound', was described by Thomas in 1851 as circular, rising 'nearly perpendicularly for 5 ft, when it becomes almost flat on top, or ratherr is surmounted by a very depressed cone. Its diameter is 62 ft and height 9 ft'. (F W L Thomas 1852)
Excavations in 1854 by Petrie and Farrer located two short cists, the one containing a large steatite cinerary urn with triple grooving just below the rim, the other a clay urn, both urns containing calcined bones. The steatite urn is in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS EK 1). A broken stone pestle, and a block of stone with two rows of incised rings round it similar to those on the stone urn were also discovered in the course of excavations.
G Petrie 1859; G Petrie 1927; RCAHMS 1946.
This cairn is not known locally as the 'Plumcake Mound' and no further information could be obtained about the finds. It now measures 22.0m. NW-SE by 20.0 m. transversely, with a maximum height of 2.7m., and contains much stone in its grass-covered slopes.
Numerous excavations have reduced the central area to one of circular depressions and trenches, in which no trace of the cists found by Petrie and Farrer could be seen.
Resurveyed at 1.2500.
Visited by OS (RB) 25 April 1966.
The 'John O'Groat Journal' in 1854 describes the excavation of graves and a baked clay urn with bones at this site.
M Howe 2006
Field Visit (1 May 1994)
This bowl-shaped mound was visited during the course of the Orkney Barrows Project. Measuring 22.1m by 20.3m and 1.55m in height, it is prominent in the surrounding landscape due to its large size. It was noted that the mound is seen by many visitors.
Information from the Orkney Barrows Project (JD), 1994
Note (2020)
Ness of Brodgar
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: 60063
CANMORE ID: 1698
Total no. graves with grave goods: 2
Total no. people with grave goods: 2
Total no. grave goods: 4
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 60031
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Vessel (Unknown/Unspecified)
Materials used: Steatite
Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Mortar/Pestle
Materials used: Stone (Uncertain/Unspecified)
Current museum location: Unknown
Prehistoric Grave Goods project Grave ID: 72328
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Worked Stone
Materials used: Stone (Uncertain/Unspecified)
Current museum location: Unknown
Grave good: Pot
Materials used: Pottery
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/
