Record

Pot (fragment)

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from Midhowe, Rousay, Orkney

Postcard of Pot (fragment).
000-100-035-368-C
© National Museums Scotland

Pot (fragment)

This fragment is the most complete example of six ceramic pots found with a flint knife in the large chambered cairn at Midhowe on Rousay in Orkney. The tomb was used as a communal burial place, and contained remains of over 25 individuals.

Part of the rim and lower body of the fine, decorated 'Unstan' bowl survive. The collar-like rim is decorated on its exterior with incised horizontal and vertical lines. The pot's surfaces had been burnished to make them both shiny and liquid-tight.

Many of Scotland's early farming communities buried their dead in imposing communal tombs. Midhowe is a large 'stalled' cairn, with 12 compartments. The pots had been deposited, probably containing foodstuffs, as gifts for the dead in the afterworld.


Record details

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Online ID: 000-100-035-368-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.EO 461
Date: Between 3500 and 2700 BC
Material: Ceramic, reddish brown; shallow; round based
Dimensions:
What: Pottery / urn / rim fragment / wall fragment
Subject:
Who:
Where: Scotland, Orkney, Rousay, Midhowe Cairn
Event:
Description: Large fragment and rim and wall fragments of a shallow round based urn of reddish-brown ware, from Midhowe Cairn, Rousay, Orkney
References:
  • Clarke, D.V., Cowie, T.G., & Foxon, Andrew (eds). Symbols of power at the time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh: National Museums of Antiquities of Scotland, 1985, pp 24, 235. 
Translations:
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