Stone objects and a bone pin

These two carefully shaped stones of unknown function and the bone pin were placed as grave goods in a communal monumental tomb at Quoyness on Sanday in Orkney. They date from between 3100 and 2500 BC.

The bone pin is highly polished and has a knob on one side, probably to secure clothing. The stone objects are of slate, ground into distinctive shapes. They are similar to examples found at the contemporary settlement at Skara Brae.

Many early farming communities commemorated the ancestors by building monumental communal burial sites, where the bones of the recently dead were mingled with those of the long-dead. Many were built to resemble the houses of the living.

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