Quanterness

The cairn lies at the base of the north side of Wideford Hill, north-east of the Wideford Hill chambered cairn, and overlooks the North Isles. It is one of three chambered cairns found between the towns of Kirkwall and Finstown. The tomb is on private property and is not accessible to the public.

The cairn is now a large grass-covered mound, 30 m (98 ft) in diameter and 3.2 m (10 ft) in height. A long entrance passage led from the east end of the cairn into a long chamber, 6.5m by 1.9 m and 3.5 m high. The primary chamber, rectangular in shape, opened into two cells on each side of the chamber and one on each end. An interesting feature is a small window-sized opening into one of the cells from the main chamber, which may have been an important part of ceremonial functions conducted in the tomb.

The Rev George Barry excavated the monument sometime around 1796 by entering through the roof. The mound then had the shape of a truncated cone, with a height of 4.27 m (14.0 ft). An attempt to dig through the rubble-filled entrance passage was discontinued after 4.27 m (14.0 ft). The floor of the main chamber was covered with a layer of human, animal and bird skeletal remains mixed with soil and rocks.

The site was not excavated again until 1972. From 1972 to 1974 the archaeologist Colin Renfrew investigated it with the goal of studying the mound's interior and obtaining organic material for radiocarbon dating. He showed that the mound covered a rectangular chamber and six side compartments. Renfrew left much of the tomb and its contents, and part of the roundhouse, intact for future investigations.