<< Our Photo Pages >> Banks Chambered Tomb - Chambered Cairn in Scotland in Orkney
Submitted by coldrum on Monday, 30 April 2012 Page Views: 31080
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Banks Chambered Tomb Alternative Name: Tomb of the OttersCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 5.016 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Orkney Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Village: Burwick
Map Ref: ND45808339
Latitude: 58.734772N Longitude: 2.937914W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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I have visited· I would like to visit
coin whese001 drolaf would like to visit
bettynesbitt visited on 3rd Jul 2012 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5 An amazing site easy access. Well set up by Mr Mowatt. Just around the corner to the Tomb of the Eagles. Members of Bidston Community Archaeology had a fieldtrip to Orkney with the intention of seeing Tomb of the Eagles and we passed the sign (can't miss it) to Banks Chambered Tomb not realising this Tombs importance I returned the next week and was stunned by its significance.
paulinelen visited on 5th Apr 2012 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5 a work in progress and rather wet underfoot but amazing - still doing the £5 guided tour and its a site not to be missed - food was good in the bistro too
Andy B Redfun have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4 Ambience: 5 Access: 5
See the comments below for updates. Hamish Mowatt dug a hole close to an 8ft-long stone in the garden, next to the Skerries Bistro, which is run by his fiancee Carole Fletcher, and discovered a chamber inside with about 9in of water lying on the bottom.
He managed to get an underwater camera into the hole and saw what appeared to be the two eyesockets of a skull. The couple contacted Julie Gibson, an archaeologist with Orkney Islands Council, who said the site was a Stone Age chambered tomb.
A rescue excavation was undertaken by the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, sponsored by Orkney Islands Council and Historic Scotland.
It is thought that the structure might contain three chambers, one of which has been cut down into rock and is capped by a massive flat stone. At least three skulls have been seen, and possibly pottery, which need to be recovered before the water inside the structure destroys them. Archaeologists say it is an exciting find in itself and also because it is near the Isbister Chambered Cairn, or Tomb of the Eagles, on the south-eastern tip of South Ronaldsay.
This cairn contains a cache of tools, including axe heads and a knife, as well as human remains in a chamber.
Ms Gibson said: "Not only do we have the discovery of relatively undisturbed human remains, but we've now got two tombs - the Banks tomb and the nearby Tomb of the Eagles - in close proximity and both found in relatively recent times, where we can see how the dead were being handled in the Neolithic."
Dan Lee, a project officer with the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, said: "We are trying to recover as much information as possible from the tomb. We can see gaps between the top slab and the voids inside, so it's a really exciting prospect for us.
"We will excavate the central passageway and look inside the cells to see the preservation and condition of the human remains. We may encounter single burials or a whole jumble of bones as over 5,000 years ago they used to bury the dead communally. So we don't know what we might find in there, but it should be very interesting."
Isbister Chambered Cairn is estimated to have been built around 3,000 BC, and used for approximately 800 years.
It is just over 11ft high and consists of a rectangular main chamber, divided into stalls and side cells.
Talons from the white-tailed sea eagle and the remains of up to 20 birds were found inside the tomb - the inspiration for it's popular name. Found alongside human remains, it is believed the birds, once common in Orkney, were perhaps a totem of the people who built the tomb.
In all, 16,000 human bones were found at the site, as well as 725 from birds, mainly sea eagles. Recent dating techniques suggest the birds died around 2450-2050 BC, up to 1,000 years after the building of the tomb.
This would confirm growing evidence that the Neolithic tombs of Orkney remained in use for many generations.
Source: The Scotsman (Archive Link)
Official Web Site: www.bankschamberedtomb.co.uk
Current Opening: April to September
11:00 - 17:00 (last tour 16:00)
Admission Charge
Please call 01856 831605 if you would like any further information.
Note: Dig discovers a possible sixth chamber in Banks chambered tomb
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