The Tomb of the Eagles

The Tomb of the Eagles is a Neolithic chambered cairn in Isbister in South Ronaldsay, the southern-most island of Orkney. Unlike most tombs in Orkney, which were either emptied prior to their closure in ancient times or have been destroyed thanks to time, treasure-hunters or clumsy antiquarians, the Tomb of the Eagles survived intact until its careful excavation in the late 20^th century, through which our knowledge of Neolithic Orkney has surged.

The tomb was built around 3150BC, and comprises a stone-built and grass-covered mound which covers a central chamber accessed by a low passage, three metres long, through which visitors have to crawl on their hands and knees. The main chamber contained bodies which were largely intact, perhaps after their excarnation (devouring by carrion-eaters) but before they were deposited with the rest of the ‘ancestors’. It seems the process of death was a long-drawn-out affair in Neolithic Orkney. Side chambers contained unarticulated bones, largely sorted into groups of skulls and other bones. The tomb contained at least 340 people, including men, women, children and babies.

Around 2500BC, the time when bronze started to filter into Britain, the social structure in Orkney collapsed. The tombs which had been used for nearly a thousand years, along with other ritual buildings such as at the Ness of Brodgar, were carefully dismantled or sealed and never used again. The passage of the Isbister cairn was blocked from the inside and the entire tomb was filled with rubble, soil and ancient human bones, perhaps those kept as relics in houses. It was never entered again, although many Bronze Age burial cists nearby indicate the remembered sanctity of the site.

Skulls and round-bottomed Unstan Ware pottery deposited in a side chamber.

Each of the dozens of tombs in Orkney was likely linked to an individual settlement or community, and each seems to have been close-knit and independent. Studies of the skeletons show a high incidence of genetic abnormalities which suggests a large degree of in-breeding. Other Orkney tombs show a different range of abnormalities.

Many are linked to specific and often unique animals or birds which may have totemic links. The Isbister cairn is uniquely associated with sea eagles, which were once common on the high cliffs of the area. Like many of the potential ‘totems’, sea eagles are carrion-eaters and were plausibly used to devour the bodies of the deceased before their interment in the tomb.

Like many Orkney tombs, Isbister opens out across the sea, but the unusual thirty-metre sheer drop is reminiscent of the soaring spirit of the sea eagle.

 A foundation deposit sealed under the flagstone floor comprised bones of humans and sea eagles, dating to 3150BC, and eagle talons were placed with many of the bodies. One had fifteen talons which perhaps formed a necklace. Perhaps eagle-catching was a test of status for the people of Isbister. Scaling the precipitous and sea-lashed cliffs to reach their nesting sites would certainly have tested the physical and mental strength of anybody.

Nearly a thousand years after the tomb was sealed, in 1500BC, a cist grave was inserted in the mound, and this also contained sea eagle bones along with the human remains. Orkney’s status and way of life had changed immensely since the beginning of the Bronze Age, but it seems the people of Isbister had not forgotten their ancient heritage.

White-tailed sea eagle. Jacob Spinks, Wikicommons.