Maeshowe
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Maeshowe (or Maes Howe) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on mainland Orkney, Scotland. The monuments around Maeshowe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which bears no similarities to any other known chambered cairn design, either in Orkney or elsewhere.
Maeshowe is one of the largest tombs in Orkney. The grass mound hides a complex of passages and chambers built of 30 tons of carefully crafted slabs of sandstone. It is aligned so that the rear wall of its central chamber, a rough cube of 5 yards square held up by a bracketed wall [1], is illuminated on the winter solstice. A similar display occurs in the passage grave of New Grange in County Meath.
Built originally by grooved ware people, the site is close to several other significant ancient monuments thought to be contemporary with Maeshowe.
As described in the Orkneyinga Saga, Maeshowe was looted by Vikings (Earl Harald Maddadarson and Ragnvald, Earl of Moer[1]) in around. 12th century CE. The Vikings left, in their passing, a series of runic inscriptions on the stone walls of the chamber while they sheltered. Over thirty individual inscriptions remain, the largest collection in the world.
The corbelled roof was shattered in 1861 by overenthusiastic archaeologists, who also discarded all the material found in the tomb (including possible artifacts). They did relatively little structural damage, however, and the site still represents a standard of exacting design and construction not found anywhere else in the British Isles.
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[edit] Toponymy
The origin of the name Maeshowe is uncertain. While the second element is certainly from the Old Norse haugr, usually meaning a burial mound, there have been several different theories postulated for the first element, maes.
These include:
- Celtic origins. The Welsh word 'Maes' meaning 'field' or 'area of activity'; it is typical for 'maes' to be followed by an adjective, such as 'fair field', 'Maes teg'. 'Maeshowe' might then mean 'the burial mound field', or 'the area around the cairn'. Due to the rarity of surviving pre-Norse elements in Orcadian placenames, this theory does not enjoy much support.
- A personal name. 'Maeshowe' could simply be a corruption of 'Tormis' Howe', meaning it was the burial mound of someone called Tormis. Some other cairns in the area do seem to be named after individuals, and 'Tormiston' is immediately adjacent to the tomb.
- Old Norse for 'The Maiden's Tomb'? This would be meyjarhaugr or maerhaugr.
- Old Norse for 'The Great Tomb'? This would be mestrhaugr. Interestingly, Maeshowe is called Orkahaugr in the Orkneyinga Saga. The first element of that name, orka, signifies power or greatness.
[edit] References
- ^ A History of Britain, Richard Dargie (2007), p. 12
[edit] See also
- Newgrange, another winter-solstice-aligned passage tomb
- Ring of Brodgar
- Skara Brae
- Standing Stones of Stenness
- The Stone Lud
- Heart of Neolithic Orkney
