The small burial mound Unstan Cairn on Orkney is not as famous as Maeshowe, but it is less frequented and can be visited free of charge.
Head down and in through the narrow passage. Visitors have to be agile here. The Unstan Chambered Cairn is not that big and is perhaps not one of the “Big Four” of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. But amateur archaeologists will have just as much fun here and pay nothing.
This is because Unstan Chambered Cairn is a special grave: normally, all barrows on Orkney are either laid out with small chambers leading off a large central chamber, or a single rectangular chamber is divided into a kind of stable with stalls.
The Unstan Chambered Cairn, on the other hand, has features of both types of construction, which can be seen very clearly inside.
The many inscriptions by tourists, some of whom were here 150 years ago, are also interesting. They have immortalised themselves on one of the stones. However, nobody should continue this tradition today! The grave is, of course, strictly protected.
Knowledge: What was found in the burial mound
When the approximately 5,000-year-old barrow on Orkney was discovered and subsequently uncovered, archaeologists found the bones of many people carefully sorted into the compartments of the “stable”.
In the small side chamber, however, there were two complete human skeletons. Scientists now assume that their bodies were the last two to be buried here.
A number of pottery shards from around 20 vessels were also found in the Unstan Chambered Cairn. These mostly shallow bowls were decorated with a typical grooved pattern around the rim. What exactly the vessels contained, whether they were perhaps offerings to the gods or provisions for the dead, is, however, uncertain.
Incidentally, the finds gave the type of pottery its name. The “Unstan Ware” was found in many other places in Orkney and northern Scotland. For example, on the Hebridean islands of North Uist and Harris.
Directions
With sat nav: “KW16 3JX” will take you very close.
Without sat nav: The A965 road runs between Kirkwall and Stromness. Coming from Kirkwall, you first pass Maeshowe and the turn-off to the Standing Stones of Stenness. A little later, a sign points to the right to the “Unstan Tomb”. Coming from Stromness, the same sign appears shortly after the turn-off towards Orphir after the bridge over a side arm of the loch.
There is a small car park at the end of the small cul-de-sac to the cairn. From there it is a few metres on foot along a good path.