<< Other Photo Pages >> Onziebist - Chambered Cairn in Scotland in Orkney
Submitted by cosmic on Saturday, 10 June 2023 Page Views: 936
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Onziebist Alternative Name: OnziebustCountry: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Village: Isle of Egilsay
Map Ref: HY4741827807
Latitude: 59.133807N Longitude: 2.920531W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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Access to the interior would have been via a long, low and narrow entrance passage – of which no trace is visible today. The bulk of the structure has been greatly disturbed making any detailed interpretation of the current remains impossible.
Although unexcavated, the structure has clearly been explored in the past. A section of what is presumably a interior wall of the central chamber is visible and part of a side cell’s roof has been removed making it possible to see inside.
The side cell is rectangular at its base, measuring a mere 1.5 metres long by one metre wide. It was accessed by a narrow passage in its eastern side.
The one-metre-long passage is a mere 40cm at its widest and probably about one metre high. It is partially blocked by a layer of material/rubble covering the cell floor to an estimated depth of c.50cm.
Whether the cell infill represents a deliberate act of closure/sealing or accumulated over time is not clear but the fact the roof survived almost intact does make a good case for the former.
The cell is a beautiful example of corbelling – a technique in which stones are overlapped to create a beehive-like roof. The highest point of the roof is less than a metre above the current infill level, suggesting the chamber had an original height of around 1.3 metres.
While recording the condition of the structure it became clear that the face of a single stone slab forming part of the cell’s corbelled roof had incised “decoration” on it. See below in the comments for more on this.
Source: https://archaeologyorkney.com/2023/06/08/onziebist-rock-art/
Note: Recent incised stone "rock art" discovery during a visit to Egilsay’s Onziebist chambered cairn
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