Rennibister Earth House is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

underground sructure known as a

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ''sous terrain'', meaning "under ground") is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northw ...

.It is located on the Mainland of

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The monument was discovered in 1926 when a

threshing machine A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that threshes grain, that is, it removes the seeds from the stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed, threshi ...

caused the roof to collapse. During excavation, the skeletal remains of six adults and twelve children were uncovered. Historic Environment Scotland established the site as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

in 1928.

Description

The earth house is located in a farmyard near the southeastern shore of the Bay o' Firth, on the Mainland of

, in Scotland. Access to the underground monument is by ladder to a hatch in the roof. The souterrain has an entrance passage which is long with a drop of around to the floor of the chamber. The chamber is hexagonal in shape and measures , and is in width. The walls were built with a combination of slabs laid on edge and rough masonry. The corbelled roof is supported by four stone pillars.The walls are lined with five small alcoves.

History

The Iron Age monument was discovered when a

caused the roof to collapse on 12 November 1926. During the initial examination of the structure, the chamber floor was covered with a large number of skeletal remains, and an ox-scapula, which was probably used as a spade. In all, the disarticulated skeletal remains were determined to be six adults and twelve children, probably belonging to two or three family groups. The remains have been dated from the middle to late Iron Age, several hundred years after the earth house was initially constructed. Rennibister lies close to the shore of the Bay of Firth, a fertile area of land which has been in continual use as a settlement since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

era. Nearby, are three Neolithic chambered cairns, including

Wideford Hill chambered cairn Wideford Hill chambered cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn on Mainland, Orkney in Scotland. The tomb dates to around 2000 BC, and is similar in design to the Maeshowe chambered cairn on Orkney. Historic Environment Scotland established the ...

and the

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn () is a Neolithic chambered cairn on Mainland, Orkney, Mainland, the main island of Orkney, Scotland, about 6 miles west of Kirkwall. It dates to around 3,000 BCE, and is similar in design to Maeshowe, but on a smalle ...

. Another earth house, the Grain Earth House was discovered in the 19th century between Rennibister and Grain. Both earth houses are dated to the first millennium, probably around 400 BC. The site has been in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a

since 1928.

References

External links

Ancient Scotland

{{Prehistoric Orkney Archaeological sites in Orkney Historic Scotland properties in Orkney Subterranea of the United Kingdom Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Orkney Prehistoric Orkney Mainland, Orkney