Heart of Neolithic Orkney
Four Neolithic monuments on Orkney's Mainland, designated in 1999.
Heart of Neolithic Orkney is a group of Neolithic monuments on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. UNESCO proclaimed these sites as a World Heritage Site on 2 December 1999.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Orkney, Scotland
- Includes
- Maeshowe
- # Stones of Stenness
- # Ring of Brodgar
- # Skara Brae
- Criteria
- (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
- Extension
- 2015
- Area
- 15 ha / 0.058 sq mi
- Buffer zone
- 6,258 ha / 24.2 sq mi
Facts from the source article.
Grouping
The site comprises four locations. Maeshowe is a chambered cairn and passage grave aligned to illuminate its central chamber on the winter solstice; it was looted by Vikings, who left one of the largest collections of runic inscriptions in the world. The Ring of Brodgar is a stone circle 104 metres in diameter, originally of 60 stones set within a circular ditch up to 3 metres deep and 10 metres wide, estimated to have taken 80,000 man-hours to construct. Skara Brae is a cluster of ten structures forming Northern Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic village.
History
The Ness of Brodgar, an archaeological site between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, has yielded evidence of housing, decorated stone slabs, a massive stone wall with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic cathedral. Although not part of the World Heritage Site, Historic Scotland states that the Ness of Brodgar contributes greatly to understanding the WHS. In 2008, UNESCO expressed concern about local council plans to erect three large 72-metre wind turbines to the north-west of the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. A 2019 risk assessment by Historic Environment Scotland, the Orkney Islands Council and others concluded that the entire World Heritage Site, particularly Skara Brae, is extremely vulnerable to climate change due to rising sea levels, increased rainfall and other factors, and highlighted the risk that Skara Brae could be partially destroyed by one unusually severe storm. The first application of the Climate Vulnerability Index to a Cultural World Heritage property took place at the Heart of Neolithic Orkney in April 2019.
More in World Heritage Sites in Scotland
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