The excavation of two Bronze Age burial cairns at Bu Farm, Rapness, Westray, Orkney

Abstract

Excavation recorded two large cairns with dry stone kerbs and a third, miniature cairn of similar construction. Each of the large cairns contained a central, slab-built cist. Burnt deposits with bone inclusions underlay the basal slabs of both cists. The third, smaller cairn covered a pit which also contained burnt deposits. The cremated remains from the two larger cairns appear to represent a single adult in each case. Faunal remains from Cairn 1 include bones of a range of mammals, birds and fish. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the cairns were built in the mid-to late second millennium BC. Excavation and publication were funded by the former Historic Buildings & Monuments section of the Scottish Development Department (now Historic Scotland).