Cuween Chambered Cairn, Orkney, Scotland

Cuween Cairn, Orkney, Neolithic Chamber, burial

The Cuween Burial Chambered Cairn is accessed by the original doorway, which means that you have to crawl in. I was wary of getting my knees muddy though so I did a sort of elongated crawl, with my legs and arms stretched out.

Cuween Chambered Cairn, Orkney, Scotland, Neolithic

Cuween Chambered Cairn Board

Inside it’s quite roomy compared with some others.

Cuween, Inside cairn, Neolithic, Orkney

There’s plenty of space to stand up in once you get through the tunnel entrance.

Cuween, Inside cairn, Neolithic, Orkney

Cuween, Inside cairn , Neolithic, Orkney

The side chambers are much bigger, I suppose that’s where the people were placed, with animals. I crawled halfway into the one below to get a pohoto of inside it, the dark shadow is my phone! The roof in the side chamber was low, well the dead don’t need to stand up I suppose! I would not have liked to go any further, it felt very claustraphobic – and a wee bit spooky.

Cuween, Inside cairn 3 side chamber

Cuween Chambered Cairn is around 5,000 years old, but wasn’t excavated until 1901. It contained human and animal bones.

Inside cairn, Cuween, Neolithic, Orkney

I don’t think I would have gone into any of these burial cairns on my own, as you can see I had Jack with me. It was definitely worth visiting this one though and it was a plus to have it all to ourselves so we could take our time having a good look at it.

Cuween, Inside cairn, Orkney, Neolithic,