Wideford Hill Cairn
Coordinates: 58 ° 59 '30.8 " N , 3 ° 1' 48" W.
The Wideford Hill Cairn is located on the northwest slope at approx. 115 m height of the over 225 m high eponymous hill on the Orkney island Mainland in Scotland . The facility is not far from Cuween Hill Cairn on a steep slope overlooking the Bay of Firth. It is a megalithic complex of the classic maeshowe type , dating from 3000 to 2500 BC. BC originated.
description
The name "Wideford" is probably derived from the Old Norse "Vide Fjord", as the hill is near the Bay of Firth, also known as the Great. The builders of the Cairns erected a platform on the slope that served both as a quarry and as a building level for the facility. In contrast to other Cairns of the Orkney, the outer stone mantle is visible at Wideford because the covering mound has been removed. The cairn consists of concentric rings that shape the external image in three stages.
The chamber is now accessed through the roof. The original entrance, which is in danger of collapsing, is over five meters long and less than two meters high and wide. Inside the cairn is the rectangular north-south facing main chamber. It is over 1.5 m wide and over three meters long on the ground. Its side walls cantilever so that it is much narrower at head height. Spacious side cells branch off from the main chamber in the north, east and south.
The excavation in 1849 found bones of cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and deer, but no human remains or ceramics. The lack of remains seems to suggest that the cairn was cleared out before its use ended. The last ritual act around the complex consisted in its deliberate backfilling and the mounding of earth. When the Cairn was opened in 1849, the main chamber was full of rubble above the level of the entrance. This seems to indicate that the chamber was filled from the roof. Closer examination revealed a chimney-like structure that could have been built for this purpose alone.
literature
- 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 .
Individual evidence
Web links
- Description Engl. Pictures + plan
- The entrance as a picture
- Entry on Wideford Hill Cairn in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database