Maeshowe, a Wonder of the Neolithic World

 

Maeshowe

A Wonder of the Neolithic World 

Orkney has many grand cairns but the grandest of them all is the Maeshowe Chambered Cairn. This is one of the monuments that make up the Orkney World Heritage Site.

It is a great mound encircled within a ditch, and at its’ heart is a rectangular room with tall standing stones at each internal corner. The walls of the room are built up using the thin layered stones that abound on Orkney, and the engineering of the structure is something for which it is justly famous.

Maeshowe was investigated by James Farrer, with the assistance of George Petrie.

James Farrer (1812 to 1879) was a Conservative Party politician in England who was elected three times as the Member of Parliament for South Durham, between 1847 and 1865.

He was a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and his excavations included partial excavation of Orkney Brochs from 1853; Maeshowe in 1861; and the first excavation of Chedworth Roman Villa, from 1864 to 1866.

George Petrie (1818-1875) was a leading Orcadian antiquarian who excavated numerous archaeological sites in the mid 19th century, on some occasions with James Farrer. He worked as the Factor of the Graemeshall Estate and Sheriff Clerk of Kirkwall. Orkney sites he worked on included Maeshowe Neolithic tomb, Skara Brae, numerous Iron Age brochs (e.g. Lingro, Shapinsay, Burray), Bronze Age barrows, cists, and Viking graves.

Petrie’s notebooks contain numerous sketches of artefacts and measured site plans, including many details omitted from published accounts.

An abridged version of Farrer’s personal account of his work at Maeshowe follows.

“As several gentlemen of well-known antiquarian reputation from Edinburgh and Aberdeen were expected, and as I was desirous of having the benefit of their experience and advice, I determined at once to commence operations on the great tumulus of Maeshowe, the subject of this notice. My attention had been particularly called to this tumulus by Mr. Balfour, whose decided opinion that a careful examination might result in some important discovery, afforded me great encouragement, as I well knew that he had for many years taken considerable interest in Orkney antiquities, and his opinion that Maeshowe was a sepulchral chamber, appeared to be confirmed by local traditions.” (“The country people state that the building was formerly inhabited by a person named Hogboy, possessing great strength. Haugbuie, in Norse, signifies “the ghost of the tomb;” and Haugr, “tumulus.””)

Fig 23 Maeshowe Chambered Cairn

Fig 24 inside Maeshowe Chambered Cairn

“On the afternoon of Saturday the 6th of July (1861), therefore, guided by the experience of Mr. George Petrie, and assisted by the professional knowledge of Mr. Wilson, road contractor, ground was broken on the west side of Maes-howe, and on the same evening, Mr. John Stuart and Mr. Joseph Robertson of Edinburgh, with Colonel Forbes Leslie of Rothie, and Mr. James Hay Chalmers of Aberdeen, arrived by the Prince Consort steamship. As it was anticipated that a couple of days would suffice to make a large opening in the tumulus, arrangements were made for meeting there on the 10th of July. “

“On Monday the 8th of July, a number of men under the superintendence of Alexander Johnson, Mr. Wilson’s foreman—a most active and intelligent fellow—proceeded with the work that had been commenced on the previous Saturday, and before evening discovered a passage on the west side, which afterwards proved to be the entrance into the interior of the tumulus. This passage was covered over with large flag-stones, one of which having been with some difficulty upraised, we effected an entrance, but found a considerable accumulation of earth and stones, which was removed on the following day, and Mr. Wilson, after careful examination, in which his engineering experience was of the highest importance, agreed to my suggestion that the excavation should be proceeded with from the centre of the hillock.”

Fig 25 Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, plan and sections

“I am chiefly indebted to my friend Mr. George Petrie for the following measurements, which I believe will be found to be substantially correct:—”

“The tumulus is about 92 feet in diameter, 36 feet high, and about 300 feet in circumference at the base. It is surrounded by a trench 40 feet wide, and varying in depth from 4 to 8 feet. It has undoubtedly been entered at some remote period, probably by the Northmen, who, as is well known, were not deterred by feelings either of religion or superstition, from opening and ransacking any place likely to repay them for their trouble. Whether they were the first to break into the building, or whether they found it in a state of comparative ruin, the natural result of great antiquity, can now only be matter of conjecture. It is obvious that little respect has been paid to the dead, since the stones used for closing up the cells, in which it is supposed they were deposited, were found torn out and buried in the mass of ruins filling up the interior of the chamber to which these cells are attached.”

“The passage leading to the central chamber is 2 feet 4 inches wide at its mouth, and appears to have been the same in height, but the covering stones had been removed, or had fallen in for about 22½ feet. The passage then increases in dimensions to 3¼ feet in width, and 4 feet 4 inches in height, and continues for 26 feet, when it is again narrowed by two upright stone slabs to 2 feet 5 inches. These slabs are each 2 feet 4 inches broad, and immediately beyond them the passage extends 2 feet 10 inches, and then opens into the central chamber. Its dimensions from the slabs to its opening into the chamber are 3 feet 4 inches wide, and 4 feet 8 inches high. At the commencement of the passage there is a triangular recess in the wall about 2 feet deep, and 3½ in height and width, in front and opposite to it in the passage, a stone of corresponding shape and dimensions, suggesting the idea that it might have been used to close the passage, and that it was pushed back into the recess in the wall when admission into the chamber was desired. From this recess to the chamber, the sides of the passage, the floor and roof, are formed by four immense slabs of flagstone; three of these stones are broken, and the fourth slightly cracked.”

“After a few days’ labour the whole of the rubbish filling the chamber was removed, but long ere this was accomplished, the keen eye of Mr. Joseph Robertson discovered the first of the Runic inscriptions. They were high up on the walls of the building, smaller and less distinctly drawn than many that were afterwards discovered, but the important fact of the existence of Runic inscriptions in Orkney, where none had hitherto been found, was at once established.”

“The chamber when cleared out proved to be about 15 feet square on the level of the floor, and 13 feet in height, to the top of the present walls. Immediately opposite to the passage is an opening in the wall 3 feet from the floor. This is the entrance to a cell or small chamber in the wall, On the two opposite walls of the chamber are similar openings in the walls. The roofs, floors, and back walls of the cells are each formed by a single slab of stone, and stones corresponding in size and shape to the openings in the walls were found on the floor in front of them. The natural inference is that they were originally the seals of the chambers in which the honoured dead reposed.”

“Large quantities of earth had been piled up over the building when completed. In each angle of the central chamber stands a large buttress, doubtless intended to strengthen the walls, and support them under the pressure of their own weight, and that of the mass of earth with which the whole was covered. The walls of the chamber are built with large stones, which generally extend the whole length of the wall. No lime or mortar of any kind has been used.”

“It is proposed now to inquire into the origin of Maeshowe, at what time, and for what purpose it was constructed, and who were the people whose names and writings are found engraved on its walls. I am indebted to the learned Professors who have furnished me with their translation of the inscriptions, for the information which is embodied in the following pages.”

“....... Professor Rafn believes that it was a sorcery hall for Lodbrok, a female magician, Professor Munch, that it was the burial-place of a woman of the same name, while Professor Stephens, who expresses no opinion as to the time when the building was raised, considers the writings which speak of Lodbrok’s sons, as indicative of its having been used in early times by the celebrated Scandinavian Vikings of that name, as a fortress and place of retreat. The low and narrow cells, as well as the low passage leading to the interior, fully justify the opinion that it was undoubtedly at one time a place of burial..... .” (Gutenberg)

“On various stones of the chamber, mainly near the entrances to the cells, but also running along the narrow edges of some corbel-stones, are 24 runic inscriptions, and some miscellaneous markings.

There are also, on one of the buttress-stones, small engravings, of a dragon, of a walrus and of a serpent knot.

Parties of Vikings entered the chamber through the roof on several occasions in the twelfth century, leaving this graffiti. Three of the comments refer to treasure:-

‘It is true what I say, that treasure was carried off before those Crusaders broke into the howe’;

‘Away to the NW is a great treasure hidden. A long time ago was a great treasure hidden here.’

‘Lucky will be he who can find the great fortune. Hakon single-handed bore treasure from this howe.’

The Orkneyinga Saga mentions that Maeshowe was entered on more than one occasion by Norsemen at this time.

The mound was known to them as Orkhaugr.

During the struggle between the rival earls Erlend and Harald for control of the earldom, Harald and some of his men sought shelter in Maeshowe from a snowstorm, but it was such a terrible experience that two of them went mad, “which slowed them down badly” says the saga, though they still reached their destination by nightfall.

The following winter of 1153-4, crusaders, who had gathered together ready for a trip to the Holy Land broke into the chamber and incised some of the runic inscriptions.” (Canmore)

In spite of the story, no finding of treasure has been reported from the excavation.

Neither were any interments found with the exception of a single fragment of human cranium.

The monuments greatest claim to fame seems to be the observation that the long entrance passage has been designed such that it is aligned with the setting sun on the day of the Winter Solstice. As the sun sets, its rays are said to radiate down the passage Illuminating the back wall of the great chamber. There remains great speculation regarding this belief, and much scholarly dispute is devoted to the discussion of sunsets and horizons on the Orkney landscape.

Maeshowe Chambered Cairn as described by the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Scotland :-

“More than any other prehistoric monument, the design and execution of Maeshowe epitomises the skill of Neolithic masons in Orkney, and the tomb is rightly considered to be one of the supreme achievements of prehistoric Europe. It is inevitable that such a huge mound should have been robbed long ago, and when it was opened in 1861 by James Farrer it was indeed empty of its original contents, apart from a fragment of human skull.

Its location, close to the great ceremonial complex of the Brodgar-Stenness circles, is presumably no accident.

The mound was built on a levelled circular platform, encircled by a low bank composed of earth scraped up from a shallow ditch on its inner side; the mound itself, 25m in diameter and 7m high, consists largely of clay and stones, but there is an inner core of stones casing and supporting the chamber. The outermost part of the entrance passage has been restored, but from the door checks inwards it is original. The great boulder in its triangular niche just inside the doorway on the left would have been drawn forwards with ropes to close the entrance. In keeping with the proportions of the tomb, the passage is quite spacious, although at a height of 1.4m it is not possible to walk upright.

The main chamber is about 4.5m square and was originally about the same height, with three side cells entered above ground-level; in each corner there is a buttress designed to help in supporting the weight of the corbelled roof. The masonry is superb, the slabs finely adjusted by underpinning or dressing to create a smooth face even where they are in fact oversailing one another towards the roof, and the tapering orthostats facing one side of each buttress not only create an impression of soaring vertical space but attractively interrupt the horizontal lines of the walls.

When Farrer dug into Maeshowe, he found that the chamber had already been broken into, as he did, from the top; from Orkneyinga Saga and from the runic inscriptions on the walls of the chamber, it is clear that it was entered on more than one occasion by Norsemen in the 12th century, to whom the mound was known as Orkhaugr. During the struggle between the rival earls Erlend and Harald for control of the earldom, Harald and some of his men sought shelter in Maeshowe from a snowstorm, but it was such a terrible experience that two of them went mad, ‘ which slowed them down badly’ says the saga, though they still reached their destination by nightfall. The following winter of 1153-4, crusaders gathered together ready for a trip to the Holy Land broke into the chamber and incised some of the runic inscriptions, and there were probably other occasions as well when runes were cut there. This is one of the largest extant collection of runic inscriptions carved in stone. There are about thirty inscriptions, including both ordinary runes and cryptographic twig runes, and there are also some beautifully executed carvings of a walrus, a serpent knot and a dragon or lion on the north-east buttress, all in typically vigorous Scandinavian style.” (RCAHMS Canmore)

The Maeshowe Chambered Cairn is such a glorious piece of work, and the interior, of such quality that I find it difficult to believe that the internal space was to be seen only by the light of flames. Seeing that the Vikings were able to enter the place through the roof suggests, to me, that there was some hint that this route was available to them, otherwise they might not have made the attempt.

The absence of any finds, except for a piece of cranium suggests, not that the contents were stolen, but that there was never any treasure in the cairn in the first place. It is perhaps better to accept that the tomb was empty than to further a myth with, no actual evidence, for the sake of a good story.

The entrance passage into Maeshowe, showing the blocking stone in its recess at the side wall.

The Royal Commission suggests that :“The great boulder in its triangular niche just inside the doorway on the left would have been drawn forwards with ropes to close the entrance.”, but as the butting face for the blocking stone is facing inwards, in my opinion it seems unlikely that an effective closure could be made from the outside. Strange though it may seem, it looks more likely that this closure would be better performed by people enclosed within the cairn.