Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn

Cuween Hill was built between about 3000 and 2400 BC above the settlement area around Finstown in Orkney. Its entrance passage leads into a central chamber with four smaller cells, forming a compact but carefully constructed collective tomb. Investigation in 1901 recovered human remains and the skulls of twenty-four dogs. These unusual deposits are important evidence of the monument’s funerary use, although they do not establish the precise beliefs of its builders. Secondary burials show that the cairn continued to matter after its first period of use. A settlement discovered nearby is thought to be contemporary and may have been connected with the people who used the tomb, but that relationship is not certain. The monument offers a surviving architectural setting for burial while also preserving questions about how human and animal remains were selected, arranged and revisited. Period: Late Neolithic; approximately 3000–2400 BC Grid reference: HY 3642 1277 Protection: Source: Historic Environment Scotland, https://www.trove.scot/place/2059 (Open Government Licence). Contains Historic Environment Scotland data licensed under the Open Government Licence; source compiler retained per record. Banner photo: "Cuween Hill, front external view, 2012 March" by adrazahl, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.