First thing this morning I called up all the relevant
offices and we managed to book ourselves on all the ferries we wanted for all
the islands we wanted to visit! Yey!
So, today we went to Rousay, which is known as the “Egypt of
the North” for all its archaeology and history.
Before we got to the pier we stopped off at Cuween Chambered Cairn on
the mainland – we had a little time so we decided to do this first. The mound was on top of a hill and this one
was dated to 4,500 years ago and is totally intact. We took out the torch in the box next to it,
but it wasn't working. Mathew went to
get his LED headlamp but the batteries were fading....! We decided to go in anyway, and we were glad
we did. It was so bright outside, that
inside the Cairn, it took our eyes longer than usual to get used to the
darkness in there. Eventually we saw the
walls, and roof and four chambers in each side.
Very spacious I have to say! The
information board told us that the remains of at least 8 human skeletons were
discovered in here, along with lots of animal bones. Most of the human remains consisted of
skulls, and on the floor of the chamber had lain the skulls of 24 small dogs
which indicates the dog being this particular family's totem or symbol.
Back to the car, we went on our way to Tingwall where our
ferry would be departing from to go to Rousay.
Something which we didn't realise was how much this was going to cost –
we thought that the price we had seen as £26.40 would be our fare, but no –
that was how much it was costing to take the car across. Add £8.30 each to that and it cost £43 for a
day trip to Rousay from mainland Orkney – which is about the same cost of a 1
way ticket for the 90 minute journey between Orkney and mainland Scotland! Well, we had already decided that there were
three islands which we were going to explore while we were here, so......the
fares will just have to be paid!
20 minutes later and we were on Rousay, and off we went
exploring. This – like all the islands –
would be a case of driving along and stopping whenever we saw something. First up was Taversoe Tuick, a Neolithic
Chambered Cairn, a burial place for the farming community who inhabited the
area over 4,500 years ago, discovered – as usual – by Victorians. We didn't need a torch for this one as there
were small sky lights placed in the roof.
This Cairn is a rare one as it is two-tiered – we had a small ladder
inside! Two burial chambers set one
above the other, and this is only seen in one other tomb in Orkney, on
Eday. In the lower chamber, bones of at
least three individuals were found, including a crouched skeleton, while three
heaps of cremated bone lay in the now blocked entrance passage which is on the lower
tier opposite the current entrance. The
upper tier also had human bones in, both intact and cremated, and large amounts
of pottery and flint tools were also discovered here.
The next Neolithic Chambered Cairn was “Blackhammer” - only
one tier this time, but this was a long one.
The roof and entrance were added at a later date after discovery to
protect it. No torch needed, we slid
open the door (yes, slid!) and went down a small ladder into the tomb – the
original entrance would have been very low and very narrow. Inside, it was a very long subdivided chamber
inside which human bones, animal bones and pottery were discovered.
Next, we went to the Knowe of Yarso, dated to the same time
as the previous two Cairns. We had a
little walk up a hill for this one which took us around 10 – 15 minutes to get
to, and of course I used my awesome walking sticks! This, like Blackhammer, was a long chamber
subdivided by tall 'stalls' or upright stones projecting from the side
walls. When this one was excavated, the
bones of at least 29 adults were discovered, 17 of which were represented only
by skulls. Again, animal bones, flint
tools and pottery were also found in here.
The interesting thing about this Cairn is that there is lots of evidence
of burning – ash was found on the floor and stones in the upper part of the
chamber walls were heat-cracked....although nobody knows when the burning took
place, if it was the same time as the burials or later on.
We went on to Midhowe Cairn and Broch. This was DOWN hill, but I took my sticks with
me as I knew I would need them coming back up again. The Cairn was in a building, covered and
protected from the elements – understandably, because the quality of the stone
used to make this one was terrible! I'm
sure it wasn't this bad at the time, but it looked like realy weather beaten
poor quality sand stone. Midhowe is the
largest known Stalled Cairn (long chambered tomb), but it is the second
longest. It would have been quite an
imposing 'house of the dead', being very visible across the water from the
mainland of Orkney. Remains of 25
individuals were discovered here in 1932 – 33, in various ways of either neat
heaps of bones, single skulls and crouched burials; along with pottery and some
flint tools. Inside the building
protecting it, we couldn't walk INTO this one, but we could walk OVER it via a
walkway. This was quite a neat idea and
you could easily see everything this way, without even touching it.
Outside, was the Broch of Midhowe, which was built and laid
out pretty much like the Broch of Gurness, with one large central tower
surrounded by a complex of small houses, like a village. Both the Brochs of Gurness and Midhowe are
two of at least 9 Brochs which would have stood sentinel over the narrow and
dangerous stretch of water known as Eynhallow Sound.
After we had explored the Broch, we walked along the coast a
little along what is known as the Westness Walk – described as the most
important archaeological mile in Scotland, it spans settlements from the first
Stone Age settlers, the Pictish Iron Age, Viking invaders, the period of Earls
and the troubled crofting times. This
was right along the beach where we decided to have some lunch, and we picked a
spot where we could watch some seals as they basked in the sunlight and played
in the water.
After this, we continued around the island of Rousay
enjoying the views. The weather was
being very nice to us today with blue skies, fluffy clouds and sunshine,
although we could see grey clouds approaching, giving mainland Orkney a bit of
a dramatic look while we were still in sunshine...an odd thing to experience
when you can see so far into the distance you can see an actual weather front
approaching.
Time to leave, and we headed to the pier, got the ferry back
to mainland Orkney and back to our cottage. At around 9pm we set out again to see if we coul dget some arty shots of the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar in the sunset, as it was sich a clear day.....and we did! :)Tomorrow we visit Hoy and we have to get up earlier for this one, as the ferry leaves at 8am.
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