Midhowe Chambered Cairn

Took the ferry over to the smaller island of Rousay this morning, where there is a dense collection of chambered cairns and brochs.  

There is another neolithic  burial chamber, similar in style to Unstan (see yesterday's blip) but much larger, at Midhowe. Not a hundred yards away is Midhowe broch.

Brochs are large iron age circular towers (Midhowe broch dates from about 100 AD) with double walls and a stone staircase spiralling up between the walls, which were possibly residencies for important people. There are over a hundred brochs dotted around Scotland, mostly in Caithness and Orkney, but some on the west cost and some further south.

We also visited an ongoing archeological dig close by at Knowe of Sandro, where stone age and Viking buildings are being excavated in a race against time, as the sea is encroaching further into the site every year.