Pot (fragment)

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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: 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
  Pottery / urn / rim fragment / wall fragment
  
• 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. 
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