Maes Howe

Maes Howe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney (off northern Scotland). The monuments around Maes Howe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maes Howe Type of chambered cairn, which bears no similarities to any other known chambered cairn design, either in Orkney or elsewhere.

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Built originally by the people/">Grooved Ware People, the site is close to several other significant ancient monuments thought to be contemporary with Maes Howe.

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It was looted by Vikings (possibly Earl Rognvald) in c. 12th century CE, who left, in their passing, a series of runic graffiti on the central supporting stones of the chamber while they sheltered. It is the longest runic inscription known so far.

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The corbelled roof was shattered in 1861 by overenthusiastic "archaeologists". Luckily, they did relatively little structural damage and the site still represents a standard of exacting design and construction not found anywhere else in the British Isles.

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Neolithic: The Neolithic, (Greek neos=new, lithos=stone, or "New Stone Age") was a period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age. The name was invented by John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. The term is more commonly used in the Ol...

Chambered cairn: A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable (usually stone) chamber was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves....

Passage grave: A Passage grave (sometimes hyphenated) or Passage tomb is a tomb, usually dating to the Neolithic, where the burial chamber is reached along a distinct, and usually low, passage. Variants include those with sub-chambers leading off from the main burial chamber, called Cruciform passage graves, Undif...

Maes Howe related Images and Photos (experimental)

Howe & Howe Tech Season 1 DVD Set	Actor James Wong Howe Starring in "Rickshaw Boy"	Miniature of William Howe de Lancey	Lord Howe and the Comte d'Estaing Off Rhode Island 9th August 1778
Detroit Red Wings Player Gordie Howe Sitting in the Dressing Room	British Navy under Lord Howe Sailing from Spithead for Battles Off the Coast of France c.1794	British Navy under Lord Howe Sailing from Spithead for Battles Off the Coast of France c.1794	Banchory Dandy Owned by Lorna Countess Howe