Ring of Bookan

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The Neolithic Ring of Bookan (NMRS No. HY21SE 7, in older works also Buckan ) is located on the Ness of Brodgar peninsula about 1.6 km northwest of the Ring of Brodgar and close to the Bookan Cairn on Mainland , the main island of the Orkney in Scotland .

Age and intended use are not known beyond doubt. A partially walled trench (approx. 13.5 m wide and at least 2 m deep) around a round oval platform of approx. 44.5 m by 38.0 m and several large stones near the center of the platform are clearly visible.

VG Childe , the excavator of Skara Brae , had no problemdescribingthe Ring of Bookan as a henge monument (class II henge in his estimation). Audrey Henshall also clearly takesan extreme opposing position: Accordingly, the Ring of Bookan is a chambered cairn of the maeshowe type , whereby Henshall expressly only refers to certain similarities in the layout of the platforms of Bookan and Maeshowe.

A. Ritchie describes the object as a possible "henge monument with a central stone setting", but explicitly points out the following findings:

  • The crossing over the ditch, which is mandatory for a henge, has not yet been identified, probably also because the ditch in the area in question has been heavily reshaped by modern agriculture.
  • At least one of the large stones visible in the center is not set, but pending.

The following should be noted about all three attempts at interpretation: They are only based on the assessment of what is superficially visible. The Ring of Bookan has not yet been excavated. Geophysical soil surveys from 2003 to 2005 did not provide clarity on this central question. However, they showed some results that are groundbreaking for future work:

  • The Ring of Bookan lies on the northern edge of a "district" that encompasses the entire southern part of the Ness of Brodgar and is clearly delimited to the northwest by a ditch and rampart running across the entire peninsula.
  • Between the ring and the wall there is at least one other Neolithic settlement, so that overall a similar reference situation arises as for the Stones of Stenness and the Barnhouse settlement.
  • In the area of ​​the neighboring lakeshore there are at least two more monoliths that may have been intended for the further expansion / renovation of the Rings of Bookan.

literature

  • Beverley Ballin Smith, Gert Petersen: Brodgar, Stenness. (Stenness parish). Late Neolithic settlement. In: Discovery and Excavation in Scotland. New Series Vol. 4, 2003, ISSN  0419-411X , pp. 102-103, ( digital version (PDF; 23.34 MB) ).
  • VG Childe : The Bronze Age. In: Frederick T. Wainwright (Ed.): The Northern Isles. Nelson, Edinburgh et al. 1962, p. 45.
  • Audrey Shore Henshall: The chambered tombs of Scotland. Volume 1. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1963, 232-233, ORK 45.
  • James L. Davidson, Audrey S. Henshall: The chambered cairns of Orkney. An inventory of the structures and their contents. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1989, ISBN 0-85224-547-5 , 4, 158, no.45.
  • Anna Ritchie: Orkney and Shetland (= Exploring Scotland's Heritage. ). Published for Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland by HMSO, Edinburgh 1985, ISBN 0-11-492458-9 , pp. 118-130.

Footnotes

  1. Other authors today also see it as class I henge.
  2. Note to avoid confusion: The Bookan type chambered cairns as a subgroup of the graves of the Orkney-Cromarty type do not refer to this object = NMRS no: HY21SE 7, but to the Bookan chambered cairn = NMRS no: HY21SE 10 about 180 m southwest of the ring.
  3. The official list of monuments is covered in the description, addressing the object as: Ring of Bookan, "chambered cairn" / henge (probably) - where "chambered cairn" is expressly placed in quotation marks.

Coordinates: 59 ° 0 ′ 41.9 ″  N , 3 ° 14 ′ 59 ″  W.