Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn

 

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn 

Tomb of the dogs

  

(Photo:- orkneyology.com)

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn is a relatively accessible Cairn on mainland Orkney.  It is accessible from the back  road that runs from Finstown to Kirkwall. The climbing walk takes you through an area where several small occupation structures have been excavated, Stonehall Knoll, Meadow and Farm, and just short of the top of the hill is the mound of the Cairn. The view from here is of Wideford Hill and the Stronsay/Westray Firths with Shapinsay and other northern islands off in the distance.

It is quite sheltered from the persistent southwestern winds, and even now more trees seem to survive here than there are in more exposed parts of the archipelago. 

The Cairn was excavated by M. M. Charleson in 1902, and the report that he wrote was published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries as:-

Notice of a Chambered Cairn in the Parish of Firth, Orkney. By M. M. Charleson, F.S.A. SCOT.

 

"The cairn which I examined in the course of last summer, and which is situated on. the brow of Kewing Hill in the Parish of Firth, is locally known as the "Fairy Knowe," a nomenclature frequently applied to mounds of any size, and evidently adopted as the most convenient way to explain the existence of erections of unknown origin.

Operations were begun at the cairn early in July by digging a trench in an easterly direction, and the work had not proceeded very far when layers of masonry were exposed, but these failed for some time to give any indication of the nature of the structure of which they formed part.

 

Gradually, however, traces of a rectangular chamber running north and south came to light, the walls widening as the excavation proceeded downwards, and after reaching a depth of three or four feet the work was continued longitudinally, which revealed the entire length of the chamber.

Up to this point the debris consisted of slabs of various sizes, earth, and animal remains, among which the teeth of the dog were most conspicuous, and while larger bones were sometimes met with, they were in a very fragmentary state and beyond preservation. The length of the chamber being exposed, the excavation was then carried on in a downward direction, ..........   At a depth of about six feet lateral recesses, five in number, were discovered, one of which subsequently proved to be the end of the entrance passage.

About a foot from the floor the deposit had a somewhat fatty, unctuous appearance, and contained two dozen skulls of the dog, several human long bones and five human skulls, three of which crumbled away when touched. The floor of the main chamber being exposed, the cells were then cleared of their debris, the only relics from them consisting of two other human skulls, one of which was found on a slab in a small recess near the entrance to the cell brandling off the west side, a circumstance which raises a question as to how the body could have been disposed of with the head in that position.

  

 ........

The entrance passage was then cleared for about half its length from the inside, another human skull being found embedded in the clay near its roof. 

........

The length of the main chamber along the base of the east wall, which is slightly curved .longitudinally, is 11 feet 10 inches, while the corresponding length of the west wall is 10 feet 2 inches, the east wall being thus 1 foot 8 inches longer than the west. The breadth of the chamber is 5 feet 3 inches at the north end, and 5 feet 8 inches at the south end. The walls are dry built and on the bee-hive principle, beginning to converge at a height of about four feet from the floor, which slopes slightly towards the entrance. The height of the chamber at the north end, which is best preserved, is 7 feet 2 inches, but the altitude must have been greater when the building was complete and'when the walls would converge so closely as to allow of the roof being completed probably by a series of transverse slabs. The four cells, which are oblong and on the bee-hive principle, branch off the west and east sides and the north and south ends respectively—their entrances, which range from 1 foot 3 inches to 2 feet in breadth, and from 1 foot 10 inches to a little over 2 feet.in height, being, with one exception (that in the south end), a few inches from the level of the floor. They average 6 feet in height arid 5 feet in length, the only exception as regards length being the one off the west side, which is 11 feet long, with a central partition extending half way down its height, while beneath this partition is a thin slab rising from the floor to a height of 10 inches and extending across the cell, the opening between the partition and the slab being thus restricted to a height of 2 feet 4 inches. 

.......

As has been said, the relics from the cairn consisted of human and animal remains, the latter in great abundance, the large number of dog skulls, amounting to two dozen, being exceptional; but apart from canine remains, bones of other animals have been also identified, including a portion of the jaw of an ox."

Historic Environment Scotland briefly discusses the authorised version 

"Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn illustrates the sophistication of life among Scotland’s earliest agricultural communities. It’s a fine example of Neolithic architectural design, with evidence of complex burial rites.

The cairn attests to a belief in an afterlife 5,000 years ago, and in its evocative gloom it’s easy to conjure up images of burial rites and rituals taking place."

And....

"An ancient site for burials

Built between 3000 and 2400 BC, this is an excellent example of a Neolithic chambered tomb. It has four cells opening off a central chamber, which is accessed down a passage. Entrance into the tomb today is through the original passage.

Secondary burials at the Cuween Hill could reflect a continued reverence for the site. A recently discovered settlement nearby is probably contemporary with the cairn, and would likely have been connected."

And....

Exploration at the tomb in 1901 found remains of at least eight humans – five skulls on the floor of the chamber, one at the entrance and two in side cells.

Also, the skulls of 24 dogs on the chamber floor. The dog remains suggest the local tribe or family perhaps had a dog as their symbol or totem, or there may have been a belief in an afterlife for animals.

There is now a cultural lore that says that these monuments are funerary interment places, and everybody takes it for granted that the presence of human bones in them constitutes proof that this is so.

Historic environment Scotland is telling us that the monument is a burial tomb but the only evidence they have to go on is the presence of human bones.

In the report that they are working from, quoted above, the commentary records the following:-

"The entrance passage was then cleared for about half its length from the inside, another human skull being found embedded in the clay near its roof. "

And....

"from them consisting of two other human skulls, one of which was found on a slab in a small recess near the entrance to the cell brandling off the west side"

However these bones arrived into the interior of this structure something or somebody has moved them around at a later date in the life of the place.

There is no hint in this case that the bones are carefully placed, not in the case of dogs nor for humans.

Alongside the official narrative of ritual deposition of people and dogs there may be a more prosaic explanation for the interments here, though perhaps less palatable. 

To understand differences of approach it is a good idea to compare current thought processes with ancient lives. We are in no position to do more than guess what prehistoric values were, but we have a reasonable view on what the world views of our first archaeologists were. They lived in the time of Queen Victoria when the death of her consort Prince Albert cast a pall of gloom over the country, and funerals, cemeteries, and mourning, were objects of spectacle, ritual and obsession. 

No doubt neolithic people had their rituals and obsessions too, but those were, at root, much more basic. Food, shelter, health, came first, followed by community to support those three, and defence to protect community. 

If they had rituals they were about being alive. Life itself was too fragile to to be over-conscious of death.

Every cairn told its own story about the people that built it, sometimes sheltered in it, and sometimes stored things in it.

Cuween Hill cairn is a structure with a basic layout that might have supported a family in seriously inclement weather, for which Orkney is famous. 

It has at least one gallery that has the appearance of a bedding space, and another cairn has been recorded with a roof vent, so the possibility of the central room being communal makes sense.

Analysis of the dates of bones found in Cairns suggest that the bones of people laid into the rooms generally date to 3000BC, or before. Inhumations, bones buried in holes in or around the cairn generally date after 3000BC, as do almost all animal bones. 

There are likely reasons for the deposition of human bones in these structures. In my opinion, the currently stated reasons count as mostly unlikely. 

Looking at the evidence from dozens of excavated cairns the reason for depositing bones in them will be as variable as people themselves.

Som people appear to have crawled into cairns and died, while there is some evidence that people survived life limiting injuries, and may have recovered in this relatively safe space.

As two females were secreted within the structure of Hut 1 at Skara Brae it is by no means certain that people had any particular ritual activity around death. Life was just too short.

The presence of dog bones within the cairn might, to some, indicate a deity or a ritualised devotion.

To me though, the bones that are found within the cairns are the remains of animals taken into cairns to be slaughtered for food.

Cattle bones elsewhere have been found to have scratches consistent with removal of marrow for nutrition. 

The dogs may have been killed and eaten in a desperate attempt to survive in a hostile environment, by people who were ill-equipped to hunt and kill the few wild animals roaming the islands, and who were swept off their feet by the winter gales.

It sounds a bit ghastly but the bones of individuals suffering from scurvy and malnutrition have been found.

From:- The Orkneys in Early Celtic Times, Two Lectures, by James M. Macbeath, published by William Peace and Son, in 1892.

Page 9

"When our celtic ancestors came first to these islands, and for centuries thereafter , there is reason to believe that the lower lying grounds were thickly covered with wood , in which mountain ash, birch, pine , and Hazel largely predominated and other species have been found embedded in peat mosses with the bark still fresh and entire.

These would form a covert for the wild boar, red deer, reindeer, and other animals then native to the group, as well as fuel and shelter to the early settlers, who were little if at all removed from the condition of homeless roaming savages, living chiefly by their success in the chase and fishing; making rude and primitive garments and tools of the spoils of these, and having the roughest and rudest weapons made from wood, bone, and stone, with apparently very little, if any kind of knowledge of the working in metals,on which the simplest of all arts depends."

Jeffery Nicholls 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 

More about the migration of neolithic people to Orkney, in the Orkney Riddle 

#neolithic #prehistory #archaeology #Orkney #Scotland #Brodgar #skarabrae