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    11 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Fourteen articulated skeletons of men, women and children – two positioned as if they were embracing – have been found inside one of six cells or side rooms.

    Anderson-Whymark recalled the “incredible excitement” as they removed topsoil and could see the outline plan of this tomb, a circular shape with a rectangular chamber surrounded by six cells with curved backs.

    He noted that the corbelled construction involved stones being built up gradually to create cell chambers that narrowed as they rose: “They really are engineering feats.

    These discoveries were reported in a local paper by an antiquary, James Walls Cursiter, who speculated that it was a ruined tomb but did not realise its significance or age, having only seen part of it.

    With the assistance of students from the University of Central Lancashire and local volunteers, a three-week excavation at Holm, East Mainland, unearthed evidence of a substantial cairn.

    Through DNA analysis and other research, there is now the potential to discover if the individuals buried there were all related and their link to other Orkney tombs, some of which might have been used over generations or hundreds of years.


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