The Heart of Neolithic Orkney

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Heart of Neolithic Orkney
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Orkney Skara Brae.jpg
Skara Brae is part of the world heritage
National territory: United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Type: Culture
Criteria : (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
Reference No .: 514
UNESCO region : Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 1999  (session 23)
Overview of the World Heritage Site The Heart of Neolithic Orkney ( Scotland , UK) without the Skara Brae settlement (about six kilometers northwest of the section)
Midsummer Sunset on the Brodgar_Halbinsel (June 16, 2003 around 10:30 p.m.) - The position of the sun at sunset exactly between two striking stones is a purely graphical / aesthetic moment and must not be interpreted as possible alignments to explain Brodgar as a sun (or even Lunar or other observatory) in the sense of A. Thom et al

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is a name for a collection of the most important cultural monuments on Orkney ( Scotland , GB ), which was granted the status of World Heritage Site by UNESCO at the end of 1999 . This was preceded by an application process that lasted more than ten years.

The original application only related to the Stones of Stenness , the Ring of Brodgar and the Maeshowe Cairn. The menhirs scattered between the large objects were added later in order to capture the entire ensemble of the Brodgar-Stenness Area.

After a final inspection in spring 1999, the International Council on Monuments and Sites ( ICOMOS ) confirmed the concept, but at the same time expressed its regret that the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae had not been taken into account in the previous proceedings. As a result, Skara Brae and the surrounding conservation area were included in the final designation of the World Heritage Site The Heart of Neolithic Orkney under national law .

Originally known as the Neolithic Heart of Orkney , the monument is categorized as a group of sites in accordance with Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention and, as an overall monument, meets the convention's I to IV dedication criteria.

Based on this assessment, The Heart of Neolithic Orkney was recognized as the second of four complexes in Scotland today.

The categorization as a group of individual objects and the spatial connection to the two conservation areas prompted Scottish Executive to make a protocol note after the official confirmation, which had not existed before: Scottish Executive declared all cultural monuments of the area in question as a kind of self-commitment To equate world cultural heritage in the narrower sense of the word and to protect it accordingly - regardless of whether it was already known at the time of the declaration or is yet to be discovered. This had an initial practical consequence for the Neolithic settlement in the Barnhouse district a little northwest of the Stones of Stenness: When the application was first submitted, Barnhouse was localized, but not yet excavated and researched. The settlement is mentioned in the grounds for the elevation to the world cultural heritage only for information and rather incidentally, but today it is generally classified as a world cultural heritage.

Meanwhile, Scottish Executive and Historic Scotland as a competent management agency for the purposes of the World Heritage Convention have gone a step further: Currently running an application for a very significant expansion of the territorial scope, which should serve in particular the Henge -Monument the Ring of Bookan together the neighboring Cairns , the Unstan Cairn from the 3rd millennium BC And the Knowes o 'Trotty ( mound of earth ) from the 2nd millennium BC , located about three kilometers to the northwest of Maeshowe . To be included.

The designation has paid off in every respect for scientific research. Since the appointment, around three times more funds have flowed into archaeological field research alone than in previous years. This enabled a number of teams to conduct research using state-of-the-art technology, largely free from the previously omnipresent cost pressure. The geophysical investigations in 2004 and 2005 alone revealed results that in the long term will probably lead to a complete re-evaluation of the situation on the Brodgar Peninsula. Among other things, one is fairly certain that within a dyke that stretches north-west of Bookan across the peninsula and that has been interpreted as a much younger field dyke ( i.e. field or district boundary), at least one other, previously completely unknown Neolithic settlement to have discovered (probably even two), also several cairns and some previously unknown objects lying in the ground, probably strikingly large stones with an unknown purpose.

The world cultural heritage is also a complete success in terms of tourism. Orkney has almost the highest growth rates in Scotland, with growth of around 20 percent per year. The number of visitors to cruises, which has almost doubled in the period in question - and they all have the world cultural heritage as an integral part of their land program, is a key factor.

At the same time, however, the first massive problems for the maintenance and future conservation of the facilities arose. The condensation problems in the Maeshowe, for example, developed so dramatically that the daily number of visitors had to be limited since the 2006 summer season. Very similar problems are emerging for the outdoor facilities of Skara Brae and even the newly built Visitor Center at the site, although the neighboring Skaill House has been marketed on an equal footing since it opened to the general public in order to equalize the flow of visitors to Skara Brae.

Descriptions of the individual objects can be found in the articles listed below:

literature

Even older than Stonehenge. A temple from the stone age. (Text: Roff Smith, Photos: Jim Richardson) in: National Geographic Germany, August 2014, pp. 38–61 ( photos and video @ nationalgeographic.de)

Web links