North Uist, Vallay, Sithean An Altair
Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cist (Late Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation (Late Bronze Age)
Site Name North Uist, Vallay, Sithean An Altair
Classification Cist(S) (Bronze Age), Cist (Late Bronze Age), Cremation(S) (Bronze Age), Cremation (Late Bronze Age)
Canmore ID 10058
Site Number NF77NE 9
NGR NF 7683 7618
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10058
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF77NE 9 7683 7618.
(Name: NF 7683 7618) Sithean an Altair (NAT)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)
Sithean an Altair is a small mound of sand situated near the centre of Vallay. Probable Late Bronze Age cremations were found in 1904 and later. From 12 to 14 cists contained burnt bone or ashes: two had incomplete cremations and two others contained rounded quartz pebbles, of which about 260 were found during the excavation. Various levels suggests burials over a long period.
E Beveridge 1911.
Sithean an Altair is a featureless area of uneven ground now under cultivation.
Visited by OS (J T T) 22 June 1965.
Note (2020)
Vallay
This burial site in Western Isles was a focus for funerary practices in the Bronze Age period, between 1150 BC and 801 BC.
Prehistoric Grave Goods project site ID: 60149
CANMORE ID: 10058
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: 60049
Grave type: Cist
Burial type(s): Cremation
Grave good: Assemblage
Materials used: Quartz/Quartzite
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/