Holm of Papa Westray Chambered Cairn
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Property in Care (PIC) ID: PIC171 Designations: Scheduled Monument (SM90163) Taken into State care: 1930 (Guardianship) Last reviewed: 2003 HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE HOLM OF PAPA WESTRAY CHAMBERED CAIRN We continually revise our Statements of Significance, so they may vary in length, format and level of detail. While every effort is made to keep them up to date, they should not be considered a definitive or final assessment of our properties. Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH HOLM OF PAPA WESTRAY CHAMBERED CAIRN BRIEF DESCRIPTION Known as Holm of Papa Westray South Chambered Cairn. The monument comprises a large neolithic sub-rectangular chambered cairn which is sited on the Holm of Papa Westray, a small uninhabited island off Papa Westray. The tomb contains 12 corbelled side cells - two of which are double - which radiate off a long central chamber, subdivided by two cross-walls. It falls into a broad tradition of stone-built chambered cairns which started in Scotland in the 4th millennium BC. The enterprising visitor now enters the monument via a hatch and ladder through its modern concrete roof, rather than the original, low entrance passage. All side- chamber lintels within the tomb are very low, making its full exploration a real adventure. CHARACTER OF THE MONUMENT Historical Overview • 1849 excavation by Captain F.W.L.Thomas, an antiquarian and commander of the Royal Navy ship Woodlark who was responsible for work on a lot of Orcadian sites. Thomas recorded a number of peck-decorated stones, with further examples identified and published by Georgie Petrie in 1857. • Monument deteriorates badly before coming into guardianship in 1930. Concrete roof constructed over the chamber in 1931, set back from the original walls which received minimal restoration. An early example of a cover house ensuring ongoing safe public access to an Orcadian site. • The ‘Disses o' the Holm’ was the name given to the mound of the ruined chambered cairn by fishermen at sea, who used it as a navigational aid. In Old Norse, ‘dys’ was a cairn. i Archaeological Overview • The antiquarian excavators found no evidence for human burial, but this function can be inferred by analogy with other sites. • Few finds were recorded from this site, consisting only of animal bone, antler and shell. These are now lost, and there is insufficient detail to ascertain whether their deposition was contemporary with the use of the cairn. • One of a small group of ‘Maeshowe-type’ cairns found in Orkney that can be dated to c. 3500-2400 BC. • Unusual concentration of chambered cairns on this small island (with one definite, and another probable example), while Papa Westray to its immediate west has no known examples. Were these a single land mass in the neolithic? Either way, this has implications for how we infer how land might have been divided for different purposes. • Evidence for the sophisticated and developed nature of early society in Orkney and its technological achievements. • Contains large and diverse number of neolithic carvings (pecked and incised), including cup-marks and so-called scratch art, e.g. double-ring and inverted V- motif, pecked dots and arcs, zig-zag and circle motifs. Artistic/Architectural Overview • Unusual example of Maeshowe-type tomb in that the ground plan is roughly rectangular, and the large central chamber is itself subdivided by two enormous cross-walls with openings at the bottom to allow access between compartments – begs questions about the classifications that archaeologists are using. A good example of neolithic design and fine drystone construction. • The entries to the side cells are arranged irregularly around the central chamber, which, at c22m long, is a particularly elongated example. • Some of the neolithic carvings have parallels in Irish tombs and may be part of a neolithic art-style common to a wide area of Atlantic Europe (so-called megalithic art). The ‘eyebrow’ motif (comprising two circular ‘eyes’ under a double-arc) is strikingly similar to the stylised representations of human faces seen on the engraved chalk Folkton drums, and the figurine known as the ‘Westray Wife’, found at the Links of Noltland on the neighbouring island of Westray. This rare anthropomorphic representation from the British Neolithic dates from c2900-2600BCii. A further decorated stone from the same site also has a clear likeness to the eyebrow motif seen in the tomb. Social Overview Not assessed. NB uninhabited island, but access is now provided via the Papay Development Trust’s boat. Spiritual Overview Not assessed. Aesthetic Overview • The individual neolithic carvings are of aesthetic interest, and a full survey of the detail, location and condition of the art has been undertaken by Dr Antonia Thomas, in order to situate the motifs within the wider context of Neolithic art recorded at sites such as the Ness of Brodgar and Skara Brae. • Situated on the highest part of the island, the long green mound of the tomb is visible for some distance from the sea and over the Holm (a small island). The upper profile of the mound is artificial, and results from the 20th century roofing, and associated interventions. • Arguably the interior of the tomb is rather marred by the greening effect of algae, a direct product of how the site was conserved in the 20th century. This impairs appreciation of certain carvings (and the impact of the algae on the condition of the carvings requires further assessment). What are the major gaps in understanding of the property? • Owing to the unscientific nature of the early excavation of this site, appreciation of the site’s full archaeological significance is not possible. No scientific dates exist for the tomb’s construction or use. • Very little is known of the archaeology in the immediate vicinity of the tomb or the community who built it (but note work on nearby stalled cairn at Holm of Papa Westray North). As a minimum, this needs to be considered in context of neolithic activity on Papa Westray and its Holm as a whole, not least since these may have been connected in Neolithic times. ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Key points • Geographical outlier of a group of exceptionally well-preserved and internationally renowned Orcadian monuments that embrace and continue to illuminate in an unparalleled fashion the complexities and sophistication of daily life amongst some of the earliest agricultural communities in Scotland. • Large and highly eccentric Maeshowe-type tomb. • All known Scottish examples of art in neolithic architecture are from Orkney. Of these this is the largest and certainly the most diverse collection of in situ neolithic carvings in any tomb (note: as the monument was exposed for 80 years prior to coming into state care, some carved stones were unfortunately lost or had significantly deteriorated, leaving few of the carvings now visible). • High concentration of burial monuments on one small island, although this may originally have been a promontory of Papa Westray. • Nearly half the 12 known Maeshowe-type tombs are in state care. Doubts about the relevance of this classic categorisation, due to their great variety. Associated Properties Chambered cairns of Cuween Hill, Maeshowe, Wideford Hill, Quoyness, Vinquoy; Broadly contemporary burial monuments of different type in Orkney include Mid Howe, Knowe of Yarso, Blackhammer, Taversoe Tuick, Knowe of Unstan and Isbister. Second example of a chambered cairn on the small islet: Holm of Papa Westray North, with a probable third example known as the Holm of Papa Westray Centre. Broadly relates to neolithic houses at Links of Noltland, Skara Brae, Ness of Brodgar and Barnhouse. Particularly fine but ex situ neolithic megalithic art from Pierowall, Eday Manse and Pickaquoy now in museums including the Westray Heritage Centre, and Tankerness House.. Keywords neolithic, chambered tomb, Maeshowe-type, side chambers, megalithic art, neolithic art, scratch art, Captain Thomas. i Hugh Marwick, 1925, ‘Antiquarian Notes on Papa Westray’, Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society, III (1924-5), p46 ii Antonia Thomas, 2015, Art and Architecture in Neolithic Orkney: Process, Temporality and Context, PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, p46 .