Tomb of the Eagles

There was a special showing of The Tomb of the Eagles as part of the Orkney Archaeology Conference we were attending.  We had to walk out on farm roads between the barley fields ripe for harvest, which was fun in itself.  It is on the southern coast of South Ronaldsay, looking across at the Scottish mainland. My wife went inside to see the chambered cairn.  It is good to have guides, because much of what they point out is not complicated, and you see it instantly when they put your attention on it.  The entrance to the cairn faces the water and is up on a hill. The natural features were enhanced to make it look more impressive when viewed from the sea. A good thing to notice, that they were not trying to hide this important place from enemies but displaying it to them as a sign of power and control over the area. The tombs of ancestors were an implied claim to the territory in perpetuity. 

Yet from other angles it presents differently, and the current thinking is that it was used for different purposes by different groups, possibly not even related. From the opposite side it looks like the far end of a ritual center where bones of the ancestors were brought. Even the name seems to come from a thousand years later, as the presumed totem animal eagles only arrive at a much later date.  There is also a Tomb of the Otters that may be contemporaneous. 

They were digging some test trenches off to the side, and the two archaeologists, plus a third one being quoted, agreed with some discussion that in the top picture, the upper find showed possible evidence of human enhancement, the other one showed no such signs, and the trench in the bottom photo showed definite signs of human enhancement of the natural features.  They even very nicely pointed out and explained why they thought so. I nodded thoughtfully.

 

This is your cue to nod thoughtfully as well, even stroking your chin if you choose.