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Westray
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Sites in this group:
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1 post
Fitty Hill Chambered Cairn |
Knowe of Queen O'Howe
Broch
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2 posts
Knowe of Skea Iron Age Shrine |
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2 posts
Knowe of Skea Chambered Cairn |
14 posts
Links of Noltland Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
5 posts
The Pierowall Westray Stone Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art |
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5 posts
Quoybirse Standing Stone / Menhir |
News |
 Add news |
'Orkney Venus' is back home for the summerWestray schoolchildren met Scotland's oldest face — the Orkney Venus — at the Westray Heritage Centre today, Friday, May 14. The children were the first visitors to the Westray exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday, May 15... continues... |
Posted by goffik14th May 2010ce Edited 14th May 2010ce |
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Orkney Venus to face the public The earliest human figure (now commonly known as the Westray Wife) to be found in Scotland is to go on temporary display at Edinburgh Castle. More info : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8309503.stm |
Posted by drewbhoy17th October 2009ce |
Scotland's 'earliest face' foundA carving believed to be Scotland's earlist human face, dating back thousands of years, has been found on the Orkney island of Westray. The small Neolithic sandstone human figurine is believed to be up to 5,000 years old. Experts have described the find as one of "astonishing rarity"... continues... |
Posted by moss21st August 2009ce Edited 4th September 2009ce |
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Archaeologists Find Mysterious Neolithic Structure in Orkney A new structure has been discovered beneath beach sands on Westray in the Orkney Islands at the Links of Noltland. This Neolithic find is constructed with dressed stone and was clearly intended to look impressive from the outside. Dating to approximately 2000 BC, the building is quite different from most Bronze Age structures in this region......Read the full article by Caroline Lewis. |
Posted by C Michael Hogan20th December 2007ce Edited 21st December 2007ce |
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90% of Scotland's IA burials on Westray C14 dates for burials at the Knowe of Skea (HY44SW 2) on the edge of Berst Ness [HY44SW 3] push back the age of these from Viking to 200BCE-400ACE. Many of them (mostly children) consisted of bagged bodies dropped vertically into spaces created by removing material from the structures' walls. Article with photo on Sigurd's site http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/knoweskea2006.htm |
Posted by wideford3rd August 2006ce Edited 7th June 2007ce |
Latest posts for Westray |
Showing 1-10 of 29 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Knowe of Skea (Chambered Cairn) — Miscellaneous |
| I hope TMA Eds will forgive me adding a site I may never visit, but from what I have read so far it is a very intriguing place, little known, which may prove to be of considerable importance, and would appear to be in part contemporary with Ness of Brodgar. A tomb of unusual size. See also the separate eponymous entry for the nearby Iron Age part of this complex, and the link within it. |
Posted by spencer16th January 2017ce |
Knowe of Skea (Iron Age Shrine) — Links |
OrkneyjarA very interesting piece on Iron Age Orcadian burial practice, based on excavation of this structure. |
Posted by spencer 16th January 2017ce |
Knowe of Skea (Iron Age Shrine) — Miscellaneous |
| This lies due north of the of the earlier and unusually large sized chambered tomb for which there is an eponymous but separate site entry. An underpublicised complex of importance. See link below for excavation details, and read the Canmore entry linked to the chambered tomb. |
Posted by spencer 16th January 2017ce |
Knowe of Skea (Chambered Cairn) — Links |
CanmoreThe Canmore entry for a most intriguing complex of Bronze and Iron Age structures which are under threat of coastal erosion and where excavation has taken place for several years. |
Posted by spencer 16th January 2017ce |
Quoybirse (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
   
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Posted by Ravenfeather12th June 2016ce |
Quoybirse (Standing Stone / Menhir) — Fieldnotes |
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Visited 9th June 2016 A glorious sunny day on our trip to Westray with barely a cloud in the sky, and in my continuing quest to track down all of Orkney’s standing stones I notice one marked on the O.S. map enticingly close to the road. I try to spot it in the fields at the side of the road whilst simultaneously trying not to fall off my bike or veer into oncoming traffic (fortunately not much of a problem on Westray) but the stone proves elusive, and I figure it’s probably one of those small stones not easy to spot unless you’re right on top of it, how wrong I would turn out to be! The rest of the day is pleasant though, visiting some of Westray’s other archaeological treasures and on our way back down the island I cast a final longing glance towards the spot where the map indicates the standing stone and just spot a tantalising glimpse of what could be the tip of a menhir peeking above a rise in the field. We are next to a farmhouse called Braehead Manse & Reid Hall, and propping the bike at the side of the road I follow a rough track up the side of the farm buildings which seems to lead toward another derelict house. Soon though I encounter a barbed wire fence across the track, placed to corral a herd of somewhat truculent looking cows who now seem to be the derelict building’s inhabitants. Although there is no way through I get a better view of the stone, and it looks a whopper! Not to be defeated in the hunt for a site I head back to the road, where Ellen points out a gate into the field to the south side of the farmhouse, a field thankfully free of bovine interlopers, and just visible ahead the top of the stone. And what a stone it is, a slate-like finger, squared off and rising around 11 feet from its base of packing stones. The top is covered with a bristly growth of lichens, whilst the lower corners are rubbed to a polished smoothness due to its use as a cattle rubbing post. The menhir stands atop a small rise close to a stone fieldwall, looking down to Pierowall to the north. The ‘front’ of the stone, or at least its widest face, draws the eye toward the western hills of Westray, hills that are topped with a line of cairns. I wonder if this stone sentinel in some way was meant to delineate this area, signifying a boundary with the sacred high grounds beyond. In this way it reminded me of the Stone of Setter on nearby Eday, which also seemed to signify the start of an area rich in ritual sites. Standing here I can see the cairns atop the hills to either side framing the stone. There’s nothing better than finding a site for the first time, particularly when it exceeds your expectations, like this stone has. The calls of Curlews and Oystercatchers, for me the soundtrack of Orkney, ring out around us, the sun warmed stone on my back providing a sense of snugness, and I think how perfect it is to be here. It’s more than just having ‘bagged’ this stone, but instead having found somewhere I’m captivated. One day I’ll return and walk to the cairns in the hills, to look down on the stone from above, but until then we’ll have to leave, with just enough time to spot some Puffins on the rock stack of the Castle O’ Burrian nearby. |
Posted by Ravenfeather 12th June 2016ce |
Links of Noltland (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — News |
ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER BRONZE AGE ‘SAUNA HOUSE’ IN ORKNEYARCHAEOLOGISTS IN ORKNEY HAVE UNCOVERED THE REMAINS OF OVER 30 BUILDINGS DATING FROM AROUND 4000 BC TO 1000 BC, TOGETHER WITH FIELD SYSTEMS, MIDDENS AND CEMETERIES. The find includes a very rare Bronze Age building which experts believed could have been a sauna or steam house, which may have been built for ritual purposes. EASE Archaeology recently made the exciting discovery on the periphery of the prehistoric Links of Noltland, on the island of Westray in Orkney, next to where the famous ‘Westray Wife’ was found in 2009, which is believed to be the earliest depiction of a human face in Britain. Continues..... http://www.heritagedaily.com/2015/09/archaeologists-uncover-bronze-age-sauna-house-in-orkney/108454 |
Posted by moss 30th September 2015ce |
Showing 1-10 of 29 posts. Most recent first | Next 10
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