8 stops
Orkney
A route through Orkney's Neolithic heartlands, linking a stone-built village, stone circles, a winter-solstice cairn and chambered tombs.
Stop 1
Skara Brae
c. 3180–2500 BCERadiocarbon datingMeasured
A stone-built Neolithic settlement on the Bay of Skaill where ten structures and four passageways survive; radiocarbon results place its occupation from about 3180 BC for roughly six hundred years.
Stop 2
Ring of Brodgar
c. 2600–2250 BCEStated by the sourceEstimated
A Neolithic henge and stone circle on a narrow isthmus between two freshwater lochs, whose ring is 104 metres across and was left with 27 of its original stones still standing.
Stop 3
Ness of Brodgar
c. 3000–2235 BCERadiocarbon datingMeasured
A 2.5-hectare Neolithic site between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, excavated from 2003 to 2024 and then reburied, with decorated slabs, a six-metre-thick wall and buildings painted with ochre.
Stop 4
Stones of Stenness
c. 3100–2170 BCERadiocarbon datingMeasured
A Neolithic monument northeast of Stromness, possibly the oldest henge site in the British Isles, whose four surviving stones are about 5 metres high and once formed a circle of up to 12 stones.
Stop 5
Watch Stone
Est. 2800–1800 BCEType comparisonTypical for this type
A menhir more than 5.6 metres high that once had a companion, standing at the southern end of the Bridge of Brodgar where the Loch of Stenness and the Loch of Harray meet.
Stop 6
Maes Howe
c. 3250–2800 BCERadiocarbon datingMeasured
A Neolithic chambered cairn whose grass-covered mound rises 7.3 metres, with a passage about 11 metres long leading to a square chamber lit by sunlight at the winter solstice.
Stop 7
Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn
c. 3000–1975 BCERadiocarbon datingMeasured
A Neolithic chambered cairn west of Kirkwall, similar to Maeshowe but on a smaller scale, where excavation in 1901 found at least eight burials and the skulls of 24 small dogs.
Stop 8
Quanterness
c. 3400–700 BCE
A Maeshowe-type chambered cairn of around 3400 BC whose chamber gave up the remains of 157 people, and which now stands on private land closed to the public.