A crawl into this first-farming-age tomb leads to four side cells and the extraordinary remains of people and twenty-four dogs, evidence of a community’s funerary ritual.
Twenty-four dog skulls lay on the floor of this chamber, alongside the bones of eight people at least. The tomb was raised by Neolithic farmers — the late Stone Age, roughly 4000–2500 BC in Britain — on Mainland Orkney, about six miles west of Kirkwall. Dating from around 3000 BC, it resembles Maeshowe on a smaller scale. The chambered cairn, a mound of piled stones often covering a burial, was excavated in 1901, revealing human and dog remains.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
Cuween Hill chambered cairn stands on Mainland, the main island of Orkney, about six miles west of Kirkwall, and dates from around 3000 BC. It is similar in design to Maeshowe but built on a smaller scale, and Neolithic farmers raised it as a burial place. Entry is down a narrow passage, partly open to the sky. The main chamber is built directly on the bedrock and stands well over two metres high — probably higher before nineteenth-century explorers broke through the roof to get in. Four small side-cells open off it.
The excavation of 1901 found the remains of at least eight human burials in the chamber, together with a great many animal bones. Most of the human material consisted of skulls rather than complete skeletons, which is itself a clue to how the tomb was used. On the chamber floor lay the skulls of twenty-four small dogs. That discovery has prompted the suggestion that the local tribe or family took the dog as their symbol or totem, and images of a forensic model made from one of the skulls were published in 2019.
Eight burials is a very small number for a tomb of this size, which has led to the reading that it was periodically cleared out, with only the skulls of the recent dead or of important individuals left on display inside the chamber. When the cairn was reopened in modern times it was found to have been carefully blocked up. That may mean it was sealed permanently when the community stopped using it, or that tombs of this kind were routinely closed between episodes of use.
Excavations in the 1990s uncovered the remains of a small Neolithic settlement at Stonehall, at the foot of Cuween Hill. That is almost certainly the community whose dead were being carried up the slope and placed in the chamber above them. Access is on foot through the original entrance, and it means crawling the length of the passage on hands and knees. There is room to stand inside, but very little light. The roof is now a modern concrete dome, and the cairn is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
People
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Amy Thornton
Forensic artist who made a model of a Cuween dog’s head from a 3D print of a CT-scanned skull.
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Alison Sheridan
National Museums Scotland archaeological curator who discussed the reconstruction’s evidence for late-Neolithic dogs and symbolism.
Cultural influences
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A smaller Maeshowe-type chambered cairn, built by Neolithic farmers as a burial place, with the dog-skull assemblage adding to evidence for symbolic or ceremonial practice in late-Neolithic Orkney.
Connections
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Photo: Stevekeiretsu / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 Kirkwall
Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn lies about 6 miles west of Kirkwall.
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Photo: Andrew Jameson / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Stonehall
A small Neolithic settlement was uncovered at Stonehall at the foot of Cuween Hill.
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Photo: Otter at Dutch Wikipedia (Original text: Hopmans) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 Maeshowe
Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn is similar in design to Maeshowe, though smaller.
Discovery & excavation
Excavation in 1901 found the remains of several people and 24 small dog skulls; 1990s excavations also identified a small Neolithic settlement at Stonehall below the hill.
In culture
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A forensic reconstruction of one of the Cuween dogs, based on CT scanning and a 3D print, was published in 2019 and brought the cairn’s unusual canine finds to a wider audience.
What to look for
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The low entrance passage
Access is through the original narrow entrance, which visitors must crawl through on hands and knees.
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Four side cells
Four small cells lead from the tall central chamber, whose original roof was replaced by a modern dome.
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The chamber’s dog story
The cairn yielded 24 small dog skulls as well as human remains, a striking clue to its Neolithic use.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 58.9975°N · 3.1083°W
- Nearest settlement
- Finstown
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Easy going
- Parking
- Parking available nearby — see the official getting-here page.
- Start point
- Located between Kirkwall and Finstown, signposted from Finstown Road.
- Time needed
- About 45 minutes
- Best time
- Open year-round.
- What survives
- The cairn is entered through its original low passage; its central chamber stands well over two metres high and has a modern concrete dome replacing the original roof.
- Facilities
- No dedicated visitor facilities are documented at the cairn; plan to use facilities in nearby settlements.
- Start point
- Cuween Hill car park (foot of the hill) — Small car park at the foot of Cuween Hill, off the Finstown road; an uphill walk on a path leads to the cairn. HES advise the cairn entrance is reached by crawling through a low passage.
Opening & admission
Free entry
- Open year-round.
Nearby places
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Rennibister Earth House
Orkney Islands
An underground structure on Mainland, probably for storage, found in 1926 when a threshing machine broke through it.
- Some walking
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Wideford Hill chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
Wideford Hill is a Stone Age burial mound on Mainland Orkney, with a chamber, side chambers and masonry that shows how the tomb was built.
- Near Kirkwall
- Easy path
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Maeshowe Chambered Cairn
Orkney Islands
The burial mound was built around 2800 BC by farming communities of central Orkney and contains a stone chamber associated with the Grooved Ware po…
- Near Stenness
- 1.6 km from car park
- Easy path
Tomb or burial place · Prehistoric
Quanterness chambered cairn
Orkney Islands
A burial monument on Mainland into which a roundhouse was built about 700 BC, and which held the remains of 157 people.
- Some walking
The setting
The front external view of Cuween Hill; retained as a contextual view while the chambered-cairn photograph below serves as the lead image.
Photo: adrazahl / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Questions people ask
- What was found inside?
- The remains of at least eight human burials, many animal bones, and on the chamber floor the skulls of twenty-four small dogs. A forensic model of one of the dog skulls was published in 2019.
- How does it compare to Maeshowe?
- It is similar in design but on a smaller scale — a main chamber with four small side-cells opening off it, standing well over two metres high on the bedrock.
- How is it entered?
- Down a narrow passage that is partly open to the sky. The roof is modern; nineteenth-century explorers broke through the original to get in.
- How old is it?
- Around 3000 BC. It was built as a burial place by Neolithic farmers, and excavated in 1901.
Sources
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