Digger finds Neolithic tomb complex

[theshee]

Archaeologists on Orkney are investigating what is thought to be a 5,000-year-old tomb complex.

A local man stumbled on the site while using a mechanical digger for landscaping.

It appears to contain a central passageway and multiple chambers excavated from rock.

There is a large neolithic burial complex nearby called The Tomb of the Eagles where over 300 bodies were found.

"Potentially these skeletons could tell us so much about Neolithic people," said Orkney Islands Council archaeologist Julie Gibson.

"Not only in relation to their deaths, but their lives."

One end of the tomb was accidentally removed as it was discovered and as a result, the burial site has now been flooded.

Archaeologists are in a race against time to recover its contents before they are damaged or destroyed.

"There might also be other material, pottery or organics such as woven grass, buried in there - which cannot last under the circumstances," said Ms Gibson.

The rescue excavation is being undertaken by archaeologists from Orkney College and is sponsored by Orkney Islands Council and Historic Scotland.

The team are posting daily video updates from the excavations which are expected to take 10 days.



the follow ups daily can be found here -

www.youtube.com/user/360Production

[brillbilly]

aaarrrrggg can they dig faster,i want to see the layout
east/west big stones,nice resonance chamber and all that lol,good find shee

[theshee]

Archaeologists have recovered remains from at least eight people after initial excavation at a Neolithic tomb site in Orkney discovered in October.

A narrow, stone-lined passageway leads to five chambers, two of which have been part-excavated so far.

Fragments of skull and hipbone have been unearthed, some carefully placed in gaps in the stones, suggesting the 5,000-year-old site is undisturbed.

The bones point to a range of ages at death including a child of about six.

It is a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to look at a Neolithic community, says Orkney Islands Council's county archaeologist, Julie Gibson.

Orkney contains some of the best preserved Neolithic remains in Europe. Just a few hundred metres from the dig at Banks on Ronaldsay lies the larger Tombs of the Eagles complex where remains of more than 300 people were found.

But the recent find is the first undisturbed burial of a Neolithic community to be discovered in Scotland in three decades.
Burial 'rituals'

"Science has moved on a lot in the last few years," says Gibson.

"It is now possible to find out where someone grew up, for instance. And in the case of the Amesbury Archer, found near Stonehenge, it could be seen that he had travelled from the Alps.

"It is by no means certain that all the people in this tomb will have been born here."

There are signs of rituals taking place at the site, for instance the complex was filled with layers of earth suggesting repeated use over a period of time. And large stones were used in the construction and sealing of the chambers.

The site was discovered accidentally during landscaping with a mechanical digger which damaged one end of the complex. The underground site is now subject to flooding and archaeologists are keen to investigate the site while it remains undisturbed.

Initial excavations carried out by the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology have now been completed and there are plans to return to the site in the summer. The dig has been sponsored by Orkney Islands Council and Historic Scotland.

[brillbilly]

lol,just how i pictured it!

"hang on?...he came from the alps!
what" was he frigging lost,bloody long walk that was matey!

[theshee]

Hell of a long walk brill lol

[brillbilly]

Dec 18, 2010 9:44:48 GMT 10 theshee said:

Hell of a long walk brill lol

maybe back then it was all snow and all down hillish from the alps,
he could have done it by sledging on the back of an upturned giant turtle shell ,hopefully with turtle still alive inside for company,ballast and food,fresh n frozen;)

[theshee]

PMSL I like your way of thinking ;D

[brillbilly]

its how i would do it,lol