NMS


 

Record

Bowl

< 1 of 1 > Back

From Unstan, Orkney

Bowl
Add to album

This ceramic bowl is one of a number of pots found in a chambered cairn at Unstan on Orkney. It was placed as a grave gift inside the tomb, and probably contained an offering of food or drink. The bowl dates from between 3400 and 2900 BC.

The large globular bowl is undecorated and restored. It is of fine black fabric, surface burnished, but mostly scorched to a buff colour from a fire lit in the tomb, probably during its use as a tomb.

Many of Scotland's early farming communities buried their dead in imposing communal tombs - stone chambers, covered with mounds of earth or stone, linked to the outside of the mound by a passage or forecourt. The tombs were used over several generations.

Record details

To search on related items, click any underlined text below.


< 1 of 1 > Back