Friday afternoon saw a field trip to the recently re-opened “Tomb of the Eagles”, led by Professor Colin Richards.
For over 20 years, the Neolithic cairn was a successful family-run visitor attraction and an important Orcadian tourist attraction. After the Covid-19 pandemic saw the site close to visitors in 2020, it did not reopen.
This summer, however, it re-opened following a successful campaign to purchase it by the South Ronaldsay community. And we were delighted to get back down with a busload of undergrad and postgrad students.
The earliest radiocarbon dates from the human bone suggest it was in use from around 3400BC. Partially cut into rock, the Isbister cairn, like Unstan, is considered to be a hybrid, containing the stalled compartments of the Orkney-Cromarty cairns and three side cells of the Maeshowe-type.
The structure was found by the landowner Ronald Simison in 1958, who had noticed what appeared to be a section of exposed walling. He went on to excavate the chamber and its contents.
Our thanks to Steve Sankey and the visitor centre volunteers for a marvellous afternoon.
