Situated on
the island of Hoy in Orkney, the Dwarfie Stane is believed to be a tomb dating
to the third millennium BC.
Orkney is one
of the most important Neolithic locations in Britain, and perhaps the world.
It’s increasingly believed to have been the heart of British culture during the
third and fourth millennia BC. Tombs, stone circles, villages and huge ritual
buildings are linked in a vast and complex web, a mere glimpse of the
complexity of the culture archaeologists are only beginning to discover.
Hoy is an
island characterised by lofty peaks, sheer cliffs and swathes of bleak heather
moorland, one of the wildest islands in Orkney. There was little habitation in
the Neolithic or any other period compared to the other islands. Scraping a
living from this unforgiving island would have been near impossible.
The Dwarfie
Stane is unique on Orkney and in Britain. It comprises a single huge block of
stone, carved out to form an entrance and two side chambers, each about a metre
wide. It was broken open long ago and no burials or anything else are known. As
such there is nothing to confirm it was even a tomb.
The interior
of the Dwarfie Stane.
Legend tells
that the Stane, or stone in local dialect, was the home of a (dwarfish) giant
and his wife. A third giant imprisoned them inside to make himself master of
Hoy, but the imprisoned giant smashed his way through the roof. This explains
the now-repaired hole in the roof, probably made by ancient tomb-robbers.
The tomb is
situated on a flat stretch of moor between the hills, and it faces the dramatic
and sweeping slopes of Hoy’s highest peaks. It’s hard to believe this wasn’t
intentional. Most of Orkney’s tombs face out to sea; perhaps the purpose of the
Dwarfie Stane’s orientation was to absorb the powerful spirit of Hoy.
The Orkney
people’s spiritual beliefs have been barely examined, but there is no doubt their
complexity equals the complexity of their material world. The tomb has
intriguing similarities to tombs in the Mediterranean, where the first farmers
in Britain are believed to have arrived from. Perhaps time will tell us more
about this enigmatic construction.
The view from
inside the Stane.
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